Author: ljasem@support.websitepro.hosting

Changes to Google Insights Metrics

If you’ve noticed a drop in some of your Google Business Profile (GBP) metrics (previously Google My Business), you might be wondering what’s going on. Maybe you’re wondering “why have my Google profile views decreased?”

Rest assured, there’s no need to panic—the cause is a recent Google API update that’s designed to improve data integrity and show accurate search terms for local businesses. To help you make sense of the Google Business Profile performance insights update, keep reading to learn more.

What is Google Business Profile Insights?

GBP Insights provides data about a business’s local search performance, such as the number of profile views, how searchers find the business, and how they engage with the profile. Unlike other free Google tools such as Google Search Console and Google Analytics, Google Business Profile Insights focuses solely on local search presence and performance. 

By consistently measuring local performance, businesses can gain valuable insight into their local search performance across mobile and desktop surfaces, including understanding how frequently certain search terms find their Business Profile. 

The feature also offers a range of search-based metrics to measure customer engagement and performance and can be used by organizations of all sizes, from small businesses to multi-location enterprise brands.

The Google Business Profile Insights changes and what they mean for you

Google made some changes to its APIs that impact how it defines certain metrics on GBP, including profile views, searches, and direction requests. This update was made to increase the quality of data available to you on GBP.

Google has since removed certain data points from its Business Profile performance insights dashboard.

These include:

  • Post views and clicks
  • Query volumes grouped by direct, brand, and discovery
  • Views across photos uploaded by users

As such, businesses will no longer have the same visibility into how their Posts and photos are performing.

However, businesses will still have access to:

  • Map views (desktop and mobile)
  • Search views (desktop and mobile)
  • Website clicks
  • Call clicks
  • Driving direction clicks
  • Keyword queries

The biggest change here is that, previously, if a business profile simply appeared on Search or Maps, it would count as a view. If a customer then clicked on a GBP to check out reviews and then hit ‘directions,’ it would count as two additional views. But now, all those interactions are wrapped up into a single unique user interaction over a 24-hour period. So no matter how many times a customer may find or click on a local business’ GBP, it’s all being counted by Google as just one view. As a result of this change, you may notice a decrease in profile views compared to previous periods, but the quality of data now reflects a more accurate representation of your customer interactions.

What can you expect to see?

With Google’s new API update, your Google Insights page will now include a search breakdown, allowing you to see the specific search terms that led customers to your GBP. This new data is a valuable opportunity for you to gain insight into your search engine optimization (SEO) and the keywords that are driving traffic to your business.

You can also expect to see the following new insightful customer interactions: 

  • Business Bookings: Number of bookings received from the business profile
  • Food Orders: Number of food orders received from the business profile
  • Business Conversations: Number of unique conversations received through the business profile 

5 Reasons To Use an Online Scheduling Tool

Whether you’re sceduling client bookings for a salon or scheduling a meeting with a colleague in a different time zone, manual appointment scheduling is time-consuming. It’s also a process that’s prone to human error. Double-bookings can be common, which can lead to a negative online review and impact search engine optimization (SEO) performance.

In this guide, we explore five reasons to use an automated booking software, allowing you to reduce the risk of scheduling errors while improving customer experience, employee productivity, and cash flow.

1. Generate bookings and leads 24/7

Did you know 4 p.m. to 8 p.m. on Sunday is the most popular time to book an appointment?With most staff typically working from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m., responding to a backlog of appointment requests submitted over the weekend can take time and frustrate customers. 

A survey by GetApp found 94 percent of customers are more likely to choose a new service provider if that provider offered an online booking option.

Automated scheduling software provides the benefit of allowing customers to:

  • Book at a time convenient for them
  • Select a particular person they want to receive the service from, and view their real-time availability
  • Reschedule without needing to call

These features can help prevent you from being bombarded with back and forth messages or phone calls about booking an appointment. Plus, it can help prevent the loss of prospects who were keen to book outside work hours but lost interest because that business didn’t have online scheduling functionality.

This is supported by research from salon software as a service company Phorest, which shows nearly 50 percent of all bookings in the spa and beauty salon industry happen online when businesses are closed.

2. Impress new clients

Informing new clients and prospects about what to expect ahead of their first appointment can create a good impression and help boost productivity.

You may send the standard “thank you for booking” confirmation email, but when additional information about a customer is required, smart scheduling software allows you to:

  • Add questions to meeting requests
  • Collect key attendee details
  • Process payments

This can help save you the headache and staffing time required for menial tasks like confirmation calls and chasing up invoices.

3. Deal with fewer phone calls

Given the popularity of platforms like Airbnb, Uber, and OpenTable, customers are increasingly expecting frictionless and digitized booking experiences for services they wish to access.

Consider the following data points from various surveys:

  • 59 percent of the general population are frustrated with waiting times and the inconvenient office hours related to scheduling appointments by phone (GetApp, 2021)
  • 75 percent of Millennials (born between 1981 and 1996) avoid phone calls because they are “too time-consuming” (BankMyCell, 2020)
  • 81 percent of Millennials feel anxious before making a call (BankMyCell, 2020)

These statistics are a clear indication that local businesses should be evolving their tech stack and aligning their customer journey to evolving preferences. Even better, less time spent on the phone dealing with appointment queries is better for businesses as owners and employees can spend time undertaking more valuable tasks.

4. Save costs and reduce “no-show” risk

Software consulting giant Accenture’s research found that the United States healthcare system would have saved $3.2 billion in 2019 alone if more people booked appointments online.

It takes under a minute to schedule medical appointments online, compared to 8.1 minutes on the phone, with staff transferring calls 63 percent of the time, resulting in more booking-related paperwork and less time on patient care.

“Just as consumers use online tools to book restaurant reservations or request a cab, patients want the same experience in self-booking a doctor’s appointment,” Accenture’s report noted. 

Furthermore, appointment reminder functionality typically built into scheduling software more than halves the risk of a no-show, according to a separate analysis of customer behavior by 10to8.com.

5. Increased employee productivity

In a Udemy 2018 report, 60 percent of employees said that poorly scheduled and unorganized meetings distract them from working efficiently and productively. 

That’s why meetings and how they are scheduled should not be taken for granted, especially for rapidly-growing SMBs with hybrid work environments and employees who reside across different states and countries. 

Automated meeting scheduling can eliminate behaviours such as: 

  • Employees asking each other “when are you free?” to initiate a meeting
  • The need to check calendars throughout the day
  • Attaching video conferencing links to meeting events manually
  • Manually working out time zone differences to hold meetings with colleagues across different jurisdictions

A suitable scheduling tool should handle most meeting-related logistics, including adding video conferencing links, finding a time to meet, and meeting preparation tasks.