Google Posts are almost like a ‘mini-advert’ or ‘social media post’ that shows up in Google search in your Google My Business listing – in the Knowledge Panel and on Google Maps.
Google My Business is Google’s one-stop shop to manage how your business will look and perform in the search engine. It is an essential tool to find out and adjust how your site shows in Maps, the Knowledge Graph, Google+ and organic search results.
To get started with Posts, log in to your Google My Business dashboard and you’ll see the Posts option on the left-hand side:
You can enhance your Google My Business Posts by adding an image, a call-to-action, and even including a link to another page or website.
Not sure what type of Post you should make? Here are just a few Post ideas:
- If you’re having an event (like a webinar or a seminar about your business) you can set up an event Post with a date and time, then add a link to the registration page.
- Do you have a sale going on during a specific time? Create a ‘sale’ event Post.
- Boost your latest blog post. Add a short description and link to the post on your blog.
- New product you want to feature? Show a picture of this cool gadget and link to where people can make the purchase.
- Spread some goodwill and give potential customers a holiday message.
The possibilities are endless! Posts show up prominently in your business’ Knowledge Panel, so don’t miss this opportunity to stand out.
TIP: To grab a searcher’s attention, you want to include an image in your Post, but on Google Maps the Post image can get cut off. You might have to test a few Post image sizes to make sure it’s sized appropriately for Maps and the Knowledge Panel on desktop and mobile devices.
Posts stay live for seven days or ‘go dark’ after the date of the event. (However, the old posts still appear in your Google My Business listing – they’re just pushed down by the new posts.)
If you’re forgetful, Google is great about sending you reminders when it’s time to create a new Post.
And remember, Posts show up prominently in mobile searches, so make your website stand out among search results by keeping your Posts ‘topped off.’