What Google can tell you about your own business, that you have probably never looked at
Your Google profile records how people find you, how many call, and how many ask for directions. Here is where to find it and what the numbers actually mean.
There is a screen inside your Google Business Profile that tells you how many people looked you up last month, how many of them called, and how many asked for directions to your door.
Most owners have never opened it. Which is understandable, because Google does not exactly advertise it, and the labels are not written for people who have a shop to run.
It is worth ten minutes, because it answers a question that is otherwise unanswerable. Not "how is business," which you already know. But "how many people considered us and did not get in touch," which you do not.
Where to find it
Search your own business name while signed into the Google account that manages your profile. Google shows you a management panel directly in the search results. Look for Performance or Insights.
On the Google Maps app, open your business profile and it is under the same heading.
You can look at the last month, the last three months, or a longer stretch. Longer is more useful, because a single month tells you very little without something to compare it to.
The numbers, in plain terms
Searches, split into two kinds. This is the most useful thing on the screen and the most commonly misread.
Direct searches are people who typed your business name. They already knew about you. Word of mouth, a card, a van they saw, a repeat customer.
Discovery searches are people who searched for a category or a service and found you. "Auto repair near me." "Dentist accepting new patients."
The ratio matters more than either number. A business that is almost all direct searches is running entirely on reputation and referral, which is a good thing but a fragile one. A business getting real discovery numbers is being found by people who did not know it existed.
If your discovery number is very low, that is the number your Google profile work should be moving.
Views. How many times your listing appeared. Interesting but not very actionable on its own.
Calls. How many people tapped the call button directly from your listing. Not your total calls, just the ones that started on Google.
Direction requests. People who asked for directions to you. For anywhere with a physical location, this is close to a purchase intent signal. Somebody asking how to drive to you is coming.
Website clicks. People who tapped through to your site.
Messages and bookings, if you have those features turned on.
What to actually do with them
Three things, and none of them require any tools.
Establish a baseline. Write down this month's numbers. That is it. Next month you will be able to tell whether something moved, and in six months you will know what a normal month looks like for you. Without a baseline, every number is meaningless.
Watch the direct to discovery ratio. If you do work on your profile, adding photos, filling in services, collecting reviews, discovery searches are where you should see it show up. That is the number that tells you whether being findable is improving.
Look at when calls happen. Google shows you the pattern by day and hour. If you are getting calls at times you cannot answer, that is a real, fixable problem, and it is a stronger argument for online booking or a contact form than any sales pitch.
The trap in these numbers
Two warnings, because these figures get oversold.
They are Google's numbers about Google. Somebody who found you through a friend and phoned the number on your van does not appear anywhere in here. For plenty of local businesses that is most of their work. Do not mistake this screen for a picture of your whole business.
Month to month movement is mostly noise. Local businesses are seasonal and lumpy. A twenty percent drop in views in February is probably February. Compare quarters, not months.
Why this is the number worth asking for
If you pay somebody to manage your Google profile, this screen is how you check whether you are getting anything for it.
It is also the reason our monthly note to clients includes these figures. Not because the numbers are dramatic, but because a business paying every month deserves to see what changed. Searches, calls, direction requests, and what we did that month. Five lines.
If somebody manages your listing and has never shown you these numbers, ask. The data belongs to your business and it takes about a minute to pull.
What to do this week
Open the screen. Write down four figures: total searches, the split between direct and discovery, calls, and direction requests.
Put the note somewhere you will find it in three months.
That is the whole task. You now have a baseline, which is more than most local businesses have, and in a quarter you will be able to tell whether anything you did made a difference.
If you want a second opinion on what your numbers are saying, that is part of our free review. No pressure and no sales call.
Call +1 506-801-9970 or email info@qhike.ca. We serve Fredericton, Moncton, Saint John and all of New Brunswick.