Google My Business Insights Study – Benchmark Your Business’s GMB Insights

Key Findings

• The Google My Business Insights Study explores 45,000 anonymous listings across 36 industries to help local businesses benchmark their Insights against the wider industry
• The average business is found in 1,009 searches per month, with 84% of these coming from discovery searches
• 49% of businesses receive more than 1,000 Views on Search per month
• Car dealerships receive the highest number of calls and website visits from GMB, while hotels have the highest views on Search and Maps
• 5% of Google My Business listing views result in a website click, call, or direction request
• Local businesses have a median of 11 photos on Google My Business
• Between Q4 2017 and Q4 2018, direct searches grew by 38%, while website clicks from GMB listings grew 29%

Why are Google My Business Insights Important?

Google My Business Insights are far from perfect. As with any tool, these are merely a benchmark that points you in a direction. GMB Insights, in particular, can sometimes suffer from data outages. However, they can give you an indication of how you are doing, helping to benchmark performance and judge the efficacy of local marketing efforts.

How Customers Search for Your Business

In Google My Business, local businesses can find out the types of search that customers use to find their listings. For this study, we explored how many direct and discovery searches the average business receives, as well as how this differs by industry, country, and over time.

Direct search: A customer directly searched for your business name or address.

Discovery search: A customer searched for a category, product, or service that you offer, and your listing appeared.

Proportions of Direct and Discovery searches per Google My Business listing

Key Findings

• The average business is found in 157 direct searches each month, and 852 discovery searches. This totals an average of 1,009 searches per month
• 84% of searches are discovery, while 16% are direct
• Businesses in the UK see the highest proportion of direct searches
• 34% of local businesses are seen in more than 1,000 discovery searches per month
• Car dealerships receive the most direct searches each month, while hotels have the highest discovery searches per month
• Discovery searches grew 6% between Q4 2017 and Q4 2018

Average Monthly Direct and Discovery searches per Google My Business listing

Grouped Average Monthly Direct and Discovery searches per Google My Business listing

Average Monthly Views on Search and Maps Per Google My Business Listing

On average, businesses receive 943 Search views and 317 Maps views each month.

Grouped Average Views on Search and Maps per Google My Business Listing

Google My Business is clearly a critical channel, with 96% of local businesses being viewed at least 25 times per month in Search results, and 86% receiving more than 25 in Maps.

The Most Common Actions Customers Take on Listings

Visit your website: A customer views the business’s website. Request directions: A customer requests directions to the business. Call you: A customer clicks on the listing to call the business.

Proportion of customer actions per Google My Business listing

Average Monthly Customer Actions per Google My Business Listing

Average Number of Photos per GMB Listing

• Google My Business listings have an average of 11 photos
• Hotels have the most photos on GMB, with a median of 150 each

Google My Business Insights Per Industry

Methodology

For this study, we explored anonymous data for 45,264 local businesses across 36 industries in the USA, Canada, Australia, and the UK.
Businesses that received no active GMB data during the period of analysis were removed from the dataset. Average values and comparisons are made based on median values.