Google Business Profile Posts: Types, Rules and 12 Ideas for Local Businesses
How Google Business Profile posts work: the three post types, what Google rejects, how long posts stay live, and twelve simple post ideas a local business can use every month.
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Your Google Business Profile is often the first thing a customer sees, before your website. Posts are the easiest way to keep it fresh: a new photo, an offer, an event. They take five minutes, and most of your competitors never use them. Here is how they work, following Google's own help pages, and what to post.
The three post types
| Type | Required | Optional | Button |
|---|---|---|---|
| Update | Text | Photo or video | Your choice, such as Book, Order, Learn more or Call |
| Offer | Title, start and end dates | Description, photo, coupon code, link, terms | "View offer" is added automatically |
| Event | Title, start and end dates and times | Description, photo, button | Your choice |
If an event has no times, Google shows it as lasting the whole day.
Rules that get posts rejected
Google checks every post before it goes live. A post can show as Live, Pending or Not approved, and only Live posts appear on Search and Maps.
- Unverified profile: posts stay pending until the profile is verified.
- Phone numbers in the text can get a post rejected if Google cannot match the number to your business. Use the Call button instead.
- Links must go to trusted websites.
- Keep it clean: no misspellings, no auto-generated filler, nothing that is not family-friendly.
- Regulated products (alcohol, tobacco, gambling, financial services and similar) cannot be the subject of the post.
How long posts last
Posts older than six months are archived unless they have a date range. Offers and events end on their end date. In practice, a profile that posts once a week always looks active.
12 post ideas
- Before and after of a recent job, with one line on what you did.
- Meet the team: one person, one photo, one sentence.
- A customer question you answer often, answered in the post.
- New product or service, with a Learn more button to its page.
- Seasonal offer with clear dates and terms.
- Behind the scenes in the shop, office or kitchen.
- A local event you take part in or sponsor.
- Holiday hours, a week before the holiday.
- A five-star review you are proud of, quoted with permission.
- A quick tip related to your trade.
- Milestone: years in business, jobs completed, a new location.
- Work in progress on a big project, with the finished photo the week after.
Photos that work
Use real photos of your work, your place and your people. Bright, sharp and taken in daylight beats stock images every time. Keep text on the image to a minimum; put the message in the post text.
Make it a habit
Pick one day a week, post one of the ideas above, and answer every review that day too. Our guide on how to reply to Google reviews has examples, and the Google Business Profile monthly checklist covers the rest. Prefer to hand it off? SignTik looks after your social media, SEO and Google Business Profile for you.