By Clint Sanchez · Published · Updated · 3 min read
Quick answer
Google Business Profile Insights, formerly Google My Business Insights, show how customers find and use your listing. The key reports are views across Search and Maps, direct versus discovery versus branded searches, where customers see you (Search or Maps), customer actions such as website visits, direction requests, calls, and chats, call volume by day of week, and photo views compared with similar businesses.
Key takeaways
- Total views count how many times a user sees your listing, split across Google Search and Google Maps.
- Direct searches use your business name or address; discovery searches are generic queries like restaurant near me.
- Branded searches come from queries about a related brand where the searcher lands on your listing.
- Customer actions track website visits, direction requests, phone calls, and chats made straight from the listing.
- The phone calls report breaks calls down by day of the week so you can spot your busiest call days.
- Photo views are shown as a comparison with similar businesses, so low numbers are a cue to add better photos.
- Insights can be viewed over one week, one month, or one quarter to track trends.
For a Baton Rouge service company, the discovery-search number is the one to watch. Direct searches mean people already knew your name; discovery searches mean someone in Prairieville typed "AC repair near me" in July and Google showed you. If direct searches climb and discovery stays flat, the profile is coasting on reputation and not winning new neighbors.
How does Google Business Profile Insights work?
Google Business Profile offers plenty of ways for you to understand how customers are finding your listing and how they interact with it.
Here are the many ways you can measure the success of your listing:
- How customers find your listing
- Search queries
- Where customers find you on Google
- Customer actions
- Direction requests
- Phone calls
- Photos
- What your business is known for
Related Reading:
Views.
Total views refer to how many times a user sees the business listing. Views are spread across Google Search and Google Maps.
Want this handled for you? We build and market websites for Louisiana businesses, and we will tell you honestly if you do not need us.
Searches.
A direct search refers to a search using your business name or address. Impressions from a discovery search refer to generic searches like “restaurant near me” or “dress shop open now”.
Activity.
Activity insights show what matters most… which is how searchers are engaging with your listing. This data shows us direction requests, website visits, calls, & photo views.
GBP Insights Graphs.
Google Business Profile insights are also displayed in graphs.
This allows you to check your activity over the course of a week, month, and quarter.
We will go over what these insights mean After all, we are optimizing your listing to see growth in these graphs. 
How Customers Search For Your Business.
The first thing you’ll see on the Insights dashboard is how customers are finding your listing on Google. You can set this to view 1 week, 1 month, or 1 quarter.
- Direct searches are people who have found your business listing by searching your name or location directly.
- Discovery searches are searches where people have found your listing through organic keywords or categories relating to your business.
- Branded searches come from search queries about a brand that is directly related to your businesses, and happens to stumble upon your listing.
Where Customers View Your Business On Google
This section gives you an inside look at your listing’s presence on Google Search and Google Maps.
This helps you better understand how customers are finding your listing, if it’s through search or maps.
Customer Actions.
This is a great tool for your Google Business Profile to better understand where traffic is coming from. You can monitor website visitors, direction requests, phone calls, and chats made directly from your GBP listing.
This also gives you an idea of the performance level of your GBP efforts overall. If you have low website traffic funneling in from your listing, consider creating more posts or updating photos to entice customers to explore your website.
Direction requests.
Direction requests count how many people tapped for directions to your location straight from your listing. Google groups them by the area the request came from, which tells you which neighborhoods and nearby towns your customers actually travel from, useful when you decide where to spend local ad dollars.
Phone calls.
This section gives you an idea of how phone calls are coming in from your listing. You can measure by day of the week, compared to the week, month or quarter.
If you have high call volume in general, measuring this statistic can help you gauge your most active call day or season where you can improve.
Photo Views and Photo Quantity
This section displays the number of times that your business photos have been viewed, compared to other businesses.
Google will also give you a percentage of how many views you receive in comparison to similar businesses.
Let’s sum it up.
Google Business Profile is an awesome (and free), way to view (and measure) how your business is being found, and make necessary adjustments.
Need help with your GBP listing?
We realize that the whole Google Business Profile listing thing sounds complicated. It doesn’t have to be. Get in touch with us, and we would love to help you create, optimize, and analyze your listing.
Looking for a real conversation about your business: no sales pitch, no commitment? Book a free 15-minute Discovery Call.
About the author
Founder & Lead Developer · Denham Springs, LA
Clint has built and marketed websites for 26 years, since founding BlakSheep Creative in 2000. He is also a 29-year firefighter and a 23-year member of IAFF Local 557, which is where the bias toward plain answers over sales copy comes from.
- Veteran-owned
- Firefighter-owned
- IAFF Local 557
Common questions about digital marketing
What is the difference between direct and discovery searches?
Which Google Business Profile metric matters most?
What should I do if my listing gets views but few website visits?
How do I use the phone calls report?
Why does Google compare my photo views to other businesses?
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