Google Business Profile posts: why they matter more than Instagram for local search

If you only have energy for one place to post, make it your Google Business Profile. Not Instagram, not Facebook. Here's why, and what to post there.

Where customers actually find you

Think about how someone finds a local business they haven't used before. They don't open Instagram. They open Google, or Google Maps, and type "mechanic Pukekohe" or "hairdresser near me".

What comes up is a map with three or four businesses on it. Each one shows a name, a star rating, hours, and sometimes a photo and a line of text. People pick from those. Most never scroll further.

That box is your Google Business Profile. It's free. Most local businesses set it up once, when they opened, and never touch it again. Which is exactly why keeping yours current works.

What a post on your Profile does

Google lets you add posts to your listing: a photo, a bit of text, and optionally a button. They show up in the box when people find you in Search and Maps.

Three things happen when you post regularly:

Your listing looks alive. A listing with a post from this week says "open, trading, paying attention". One where the last photo is from 2023 says the opposite, even if you're busier than ever.

You answer the question before they ask it. "Still doing WOFs while you wait, no booking needed." "Open Labour Day 9 to 2." "Winter service special on till the end of July." That's the practical detail that turns a search into a visit.

Google has more to work with. Posts, photos and your replies to reviews all tell Google what your business does and where. We can't tell you exactly how Google ranks local listings, and anyone who says they can is guessing. But an updated listing with real content is the one thing every local business can control.

What to post

Keep it to things that help someone decide to come in or call:

• Hours changes, especially public holidays. Post a week ahead.
• What you're doing this week. A photo of a job, a dish, a haircut. Same photos you'd use anywhere else.
• Capacity. "Two slots left Friday." "Booking for next month."
• A new service or product. One photo, one line, the price if it's simple.
• An offer, if you run them. Google has a specific post type for these with a start and end date.

Don't post things that only make sense to people who already know you. The person reading this found you thirty seconds ago.

How often

Once a week is plenty. Google posts used to expire after seven days; they don't any more, but the most recent one is what shows first, so a weekly rhythm keeps the box fresh.

If you also post on Facebook and Instagram, the same photo and the same line work on Google too. You don't need different content; you need the same content in the place people are actually looking.

Two things most businesses miss

Reply to reviews. All of them, including the bad ones, briefly and politely. People read the replies more than the reviews.

Add photos even without a post. Google lets you upload photos to the listing directly. A dozen real photos of the premises, the team and the work do more for a listing than any amount of text.

If you'd rather not do it yourself

HereFlick publishes to your Google Business Profile first, then Facebook and Instagram, from one photo and one line you send us each week. We write the post, make the image, and you approve it from your phone before it goes anywhere. See how it works.