This chart is only reporting on\u00a0impressions<\/u>\u00a0(not clicks).<\/p>\n
![\"GMB-Insights-How-Customers-Search\"](\"https:\/\/www.beingdigitalz.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/09\/GMB-Insights-How-Customers-Search-300x143.png\")
<\/p>\n
- \n
- Direct<\/strong>\u00a0= People that are searching for your business by name or location. \u00a0I would say you can attribute these impressions to other forms of marketing since the person has already heard about you. A lot of these impressions are most likely existing customers as well. \u00a0These are searches that return a knowledge panel of your business. I got confirmation from Google that impressions will count in this section when the search results only list a single business listing (so this could be misleading in cases where you see a one-box for a non-branded query).<\/li>\n
- Discovery<\/strong>\u00a0= People that are searching generic categories and see your listing (auto insurance, dentist near me, italian restaurant etc). \u00a0These are impressions you can most likely attribute to your SEO efforts.<\/li>\n
- Branded<\/strong>\u00a0= These are searches for a brand your business sells that return a set of results (you are not the only one listed).<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n
What is The Difference Between Branded & Direct Searches?<\/strong><\/h3>\n
We often see a lot of confusion around the difference between branded & direct searches so I\u2019m going to give some examples.\u00a0\u00a0This is a car dealer\u00a0that sells for Nissan (a brand) in Woodbridge, VA.\u00a0 When you are located near the dealership and you search \u201cNissan dealer near me\u201d, you get a single result.\u00a0 This would be counted under\u00a0direct<\/strong>.<\/p>\n
![\"Knowledge-Panel\"](\"https:\/\/www.beingdigitalz.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/09\/Knowledge-Panel-300x148.png\")
<\/p>\nHowever, if you move a little further away from him and do the same search, you now get a 3-pack.\u00a0 This would be counted as\u00a0branded.\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n
![\"Nissan-Dealer-Near-Me-example\"](\"https:\/\/www.beingdigitalz.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/09\/Nissan-Dealer-Near-Me-example-300x243.png\")
\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\nFor more examples of what is considered branded vs direct, see\u00a0this forum thread.<\/p>\n
What is The Difference Between Branded & Discovery Searches?<\/strong><\/h3>\n
One way to tell if Google knows a term is branded is to see if the 3-packs have an ABC label on it.\u00a0 \u00a0For example, \u201cbotox\u201d returns a normal 3-pack but \u201cprogressive insurance\u201d returns a branded 3-pack that has the ABC label.\u00a0 For more on these different types of 3-packs see\u00a0this article.<\/p>\n
![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.beingdigitalz.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/09\/Branded-vs-Non-Branded-example-300x131.png\")
<\/p>\nHowever, since this only appears to happen when business names contain the brand being sold, it\u2019s not always the case for businesses that carry products. I\u2019m currently trying to get more clarification from Google on how they distinguish a branded term from a discovery term.<\/p>\n
Where Customers View Your Business on Google<\/strong><\/h3>\n
![\"Where-Customers-View-Business-GMB\"](\"https:\/\/www.beingdigitalz.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/09\/Where-Customers-View-Business-GMB-300x113.png\")
<\/p>\nThis graph is a bit confusing if you don\u2019t understand that when both boxes are checked, the graph is cumulative<\/strong>\u00a0(the top of the graph includes the total of both numbers). \u00a0So, for those of you scratching your head wondering why the heck the graph is up near 60 for July 25th in this picture when you hover over it, it\u2019s saying 17, you\u2019re not alone. Here is how you actually see the numbers \u2013 the total searches on Maps was 41. The total searches on Search is 17. Therefore, the total for the two\u00a0is 58, which is what the graph is showing. Yes, very confusing. To avoid confusion just look at the graphs separately (only click one box \u2013 either Search or Maps).<\/p>\n
Searches on the Local Finder are included in \u201cSearch\u201d since they happen on Google.com and not Maps.Google.com.<\/p>\n
Views in Google My Business Insights are like impressions.\u00a0 They are not clicks, they aren\u2019t reporting on unique users, and they aren\u2019t measuring\u00a0just<\/u>\u00a0searches.\u00a0 \u00a0Any time a user sees your listing represented anywhere on the map; it counts.\u00a0 They are counted\u00a0per view\u00a0so if a user saw the listing on search and then clicked to maps, it would count as 2 views.\u00a0 This section is extremely volatile and we don\u2019t suggest using it for much.\u00a0 See this other article for more on\u00a0how views are calculated.<\/p>\n
Customer Actions<\/strong><\/h3>\n
![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.beingdigitalz.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/09\/gmb-insights-messaging-300x148.jpg\")
<\/p>\nDriving Directions<\/strong><\/h4>\n
This section shows where your driving directions came from if you have enough of them.\u00a0 Google will also show details about the areas where your direction requests come from including a nice heat map.\u00a0\u00a0If driving directions seem high, it\u2019s probably because you are in a building and Google is counting driving directions that were actually to other businesses at the same address.<\/p>\n
![\"gmb-insights-driving-directions\"](\"https:\/\/www.beingdigitalz.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/09\/gmb-insights-driving-directions-300x166.jpg\")
<\/p>\nPhone Calls<\/strong><\/h4>\n
Don\u2019t be surprised if the numbers on this graph don\u2019t match the numbers under \u201ccustomer actions\u201d. This graph shows 4 weeks whereas the actions section shows 30 days.<\/p>\n
As Tim Capper illustrated, you can still copy and paste the\u00a0values into a spreadsheet\u00a0if it\u2019s easier to interpret the data that way.<\/p>\n
Chat To You<\/strong><\/h4>\n
The GMB Messaging feature is the newest feature that generates insights data. You first need to setup the\u00a0GMB Messaging feature\u00a0before Google can collect this data.\u00a0 Additionally, if you are using a 3rd party for the messaging feature, the graph inside GMB Insights might show zero even if you actually have been receiving messages.\u00a0 In this example, the business is using Podium for this feature and has been receiving messages but GMB Insights shows zero.<\/p>\n
![\"Google-My-Business-Messaging\"](\"https:\/\/www.beingdigitalz.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/09\/Google-My-Business-Messaging-300x135.png\")
<\/p>\nPhoto Insights<\/strong><\/h3>\n
Photo Views<\/strong><\/h5>\n
My church (in a very small town) gets an average of 20-40 photo views a day.\u00a0 Their monthly photo views exceed the number of people who actually attend the church.\u00a0 When I asked Google for an explanation for this, they said that \u201cview photos\u201d is counting both impressions (the photo appears in the 3-pack or knowledge panel) and if a user clicks to go to the photos. So these really are\u00a0not<\/strong>\u00a0clicks but rather impressions (and could be very misleading).<\/p>\n
This section will also compare the number of times your business photos have been viewed, compared to photos from other businesses.<\/p>\n
![\"gmb-insights-photos\"](\"https:\/\/www.beingdigitalz.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/09\/gmb-insights-photos-300x153.jpg\")
<\/p>\nPhoto Quantity<\/strong><\/h4>\n
This section compares the number of photos that appear on your business, compared to photos from other businesses. It breaks them out by \u201cCustomer Photos\u201d and \u201cOwner Photos\u201d<\/p>\n
![\"gmb-photo-quantity\"](\"https:\/\/www.beingdigitalz.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/09\/gmb-photo-quantity-300x112.jpg\")
<\/p>\nPopular Times & Visit Duration<\/strong><\/h3>\n
Popular Times data gets pulled into the Insights section of GMB for businesses that have a decent amount of foot traffic. If you have \u201cPopular Times\u201d displaying in your knowledge panel then you will likely see the data in Insights<\/strong><\/a> as well. Visit duration is calculated slightly differently.\u00a0 It\u2019s based on how much foot traffic you\u2019ve received in the last few weeks whereas Popular Times is looking at the data from the last few months (reference<\/a>).<\/p>\n
![\"gmb-insights-popular-times\"](\"https:\/\/www.beingdigitalz.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/09\/gmb-insights-popular-times-300x148.jpg\")
<\/p>\nSearch Queries<\/strong><\/h3>\n
This section focuses on the search terms people typed into Google to find your business.\u00a0 The numbers under Search Queries might appear smaller than other metrics you see in Insights for the following reasons:<\/p>\n
- \n
- Unlike all the other data inside Google My Business Insights, search queries are showing the number of unique users.<\/li>\n
- It only includes queries that meet Google\u2019s privacy threshold.<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n
- Discovery<\/strong>\u00a0= People that are searching generic categories and see your listing (auto insurance, dentist near me, italian restaurant etc). \u00a0These are impressions you can most likely attribute to your SEO efforts.<\/li>\n
![\"GMB-googles-ads-location\"](\"https:\/\/www.beingdigitalz.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/09\/GMB-googles-ads-location-300x144.png\")
<\/p>\n