Google is always changing – at times it seems, faster than the weather. Changes to Google Insights, which live within Google My Business, is just the latest update. While we used to have breakdowns of Views & Clicks (below) only, Google Insights is now comprised of three entirely new reports – and this presents an opportunity for brands looking to better optimise local search efforts.

What New Google Insights Reports Show

The first report breaks out how customers found the listing, either by “Direct” or “Discovery”. Direct refers to customers who find the listing searching for the business name or address. Discovery refers to customers who find the listing searching for a category, product, or service. The second illustrates where customers view the business – either on Google search or maps. In the third report, customer actions are broken down by “Visits to the website”, “Request Directions”, “Call You” and “Views Photos”.

How New Google Insights Can Help Grow Business

Metrics that used to be difficult to measure are now at our fingertips. Now that they are readily available, large brands can get a much deeper understanding of user intent and search behaviour, down to each individual business location. The availability of this data helps to reinforce and inform strategies that focus on local search. For example, a business that sees in their metrics that “Maps” searches are driving the majority of customer views could look into expanding into other map channels like “Waze” or ensuring that their latitude/longitude is correct in order to ensure that the pin drops fall in the right place. With new data comes new opportunity. Google has lifted the veil on some of its data and turned it over to businesses for analysis.

For businesses with a local presence or wanting one, updates to Google Insights is a great opportunity to start analyzing this data in order to optimize for user behaviour that is driving business.

This post was created by Kyle Harris, Product Manager at DAC. Interested in finding out more about making the most of local search and keeping up with the latest developments? Contact DAC!