[Ed. note: The following is a guest article written for Local U by Chris Ratchford of Sterling Sky]
How To Export Google Business Profile Data
One of the biggest challenges agencies face working with small businesses is reporting. Historically, the process required to export Google Business Profile data has been complicated, and hard to find. However, this method used to export Google Business Profile data is simple, easy, and stress-free. It’s not a new feature added to the Insights section. In fact, it’s as easy as copy and paste.
As we all know, some of the most important data that business owners need from their GBP relate to views, clicks, driving direction requests, and phone calls. In order to show how valuable your work is to your client, you’ll want to report on these numbers and at least show that your exposure is growing. It’s also important to understand the definitions and caveats behind these metrics. For instance, views are not reported in accurate and precise figures, as the metric focuses on the GBP profile views, as opposed to overall views of the business on Google. Therefore, this number may be lower than the actual number of views of the business on Google. It’s these small discrepancies that require small business owners to know how to read and report on the data they export from their GBP. Read on to learn how to export Google Business Profile data, as well as how to understand these metrics in order to serve your prospective clients.
Steps To Export Google Business Profile Data
Tracking Google Business Profile performance and viewing insights are extremely important for business owners. Insights can be managed in individual profiles or managed in bulk profiles all at once. These insights are then downloaded to a spreadsheet to be analyzed.
GBP insights are only offered to those with verified Google Business Profiles. The following steps for how to export Google Business Profile data are:
- Sign In To Business Profile Manager
- The first step is to sign into the Business Profile Manager to ensure that the right profiles appear.
- Select Profiles
- Once signed into the Business Profile Manager, you must select the Google Business Profiles that you wish to receive bulk insights for.
- Click Download Insights
- “Download Insights” should appear right above the list of locations. Click this to obtain bulk insights for selected profiles.
- Get The Report You Want
- Once the download has started, a new screen will open with a list of reports for the preselected profiles. Get the report you want by clicking on “Get Report” next to the profile you wish to view the report for.
- Choose Time Frame
- Once you’ve opened the report you wish to view. It’s important to change the time frame of the insights data to whatever is needed. Once this is done, click “Download” at the bottom right of the screen.
- View Report
- Once the download button is clicked, the report will automatically begin to download in a new tab. Once the report has finished downloading, the tab will be closeable.
From here, business owners will be able to analyze the information that they have exported from GBP.
Export Google Business Profile Data – How To Analyze The Data
The information provided in the downloaded GBP insights will appear in the form of a spreadsheet. This spreadsheet will host a variety of helpful information and data pertaining to the GBP profile selected. Here’s what all the information means, and how to utilize it.
- Identifying Information – The first things listed on the spreadsheet will include identifying information about the listing. This is helpful when looking at multiple listings all at once:
- The name of the business
- The address of the business
- Any labels
- Overall rating of profile
- Search Types – The second set of information provided in the insights download will include data pertaining to searches. There are three types of searches pertaining to the GBP including:
- Total Searches – This is the total number of searches for the GBP on Google and Google Maps.
- Direct Searches – These are the number of searches for the GBP where the specific business name or address is searched on Google or Google Maps.
- Discovery Searches – This type of search is related to the number of times a potential customer has found the listing by searching for a product, category, or service on Google or Google Maps.
- Views – The next set of data that is included in the insights spreadsheet pertains to views of the profile. There are different areas of Google in which a user can see a GBP, therefore there will be data pertaining to these areas. This can include:
- Total Views – This includes the total amount of views the GBP has received
- Search Views – Search views pertain to searches of the business conducted in Google Search.
- Maps Views – This pertains to the number of GBP views on Google Maps.
- Actions – The final set of data provided in the insights download includes data pertaining to actions taken by potential clients when searching for their business either on Google Search or Maps. These actions are broken down into 4 terms, including:
- Total Actions – This refers to the number of times customers have taken action on the listing either in Google Maps or Search.
- Website Actions – This refers to the number of times customers have visited the website from the GBP listing.
- Directions Actions – This is the number of times searchers have requested directions to the address of the GBP listing.
- Phone Call Actions – This data refers to the number of times a phone call to the business has been made from the GBP listing.
Closing Thoughts On How To Export Google Business Profile Data
Being able to export Google Business Profile data is essential for business owners. Insights give us at least a bit of an edge in seeing how often our listing shows up and whether potential customers are clicking on our page. Not only does this data assist business owners in quantifying their engagement, but it also gives them insight into what SEO factors they need to adjust or target with their GBP. This data allows business owners the ability to identify how often their listing appears, as well as whether potential customers are clicking on their GBP or website. We also provide more information and tips on how to operate the New Merchant Experience dashboard for GBP.
