Google posts, photos and updates on your profile

Your Google Business Profile lets you add posts (short updates, offers and events) and photos, and Google shows them to people who look at your business on Search and Maps. They are worth doing, but in proportion: good photos and correct details do far more than a steady stream of posts. A sensible routine for a busy owner is a few real photos a month and a post whenever there is something a customer would actually want to know.

What you can add to your profile

From your profile you can add:

Updates: a short message with a photo, like news, a seasonal reminder or a new service.
Offers: a discount or deal with start and end dates, and optionally a coupon code.
Events: something happening on a date, like an open house, a class or a tasting.
Photos and videos: of your business, your work, your team and your products.
Products and services: a list of what you sell or do, with descriptions and optional prices.

Each shows up in slightly different places on your profile. Photos are the most visible: they appear near the top, and many customers scroll through them before calling.

How to add a post or photo

The simplest way is from Google itself.

Sign in to the Google account that manages your profile.
Search Google for your business name, or open Google Maps and tap your profile.
You will see owner tools above or on your profile. Look for Add update or Add photo.
For a post, choose the type (update, offer or event), add a photo, write the text and pick a button such as Call now, Learn more or Book.
Tap Publish or Post.

Google reviews posts and photos before showing them, which usually takes minutes but can take longer. If a post is rejected, it is often because of a phone number in the text, a link to a different business, or content Google considers misleading. Put your phone number in the button rather than the text.

Photos: the part that matters most

Customers use your photos to decide whether you look like the kind of business they want. They check whether the shop looks clean, whether the work looks careful, whether the van looks like a real company.

What to photograph

Your storefront or entrance, from the street, so people recognize it when they arrive. Take it in daylight.
The inside, if customers come in: the counter, the waiting area, the workshop.
Your work. Finished jobs, before and after, the cake, the haircut, the patio. This is what sells.
Your team, if they are happy to be shown. Customers like to see who is coming.
Your vehicles, with the logo visible.
Your logo and a cover photo, which Google may use as the main image.

Tips for taking them

Use your phone in landscape for exteriors and interiors, portrait for close-ups of work.
Clean the lens. It sounds silly; it makes the biggest difference.
Take them in daylight or under good light, and turn off the flash.
Avoid adding text, logos or filters on top. Google prefers plain photos, and customers trust them more.
Do not use stock photos. Google may reject them, and customers spot them.

Photos customers add

Customers can add their own photos too. Most are helpful. If one is inappropriate, shows a different business or is offensive, you can report it from the photo's menu. You cannot delete customer photos yourself, so the best answer to a poor one is plenty of good ones of your own.

Posts: when they are worth it

Posts appear on your profile and sometimes in search results, but older ones slide out of view as newer ones appear. They work best as timely notices rather than decoration.

Good reasons to post:

A change customers need to know: holiday hours, a temporary closure, a new location, a new phone number. (Change the hours themselves in your profile too; a post is not enough.)
Something seasonal: furnace tune-ups in September, gutter cleaning after leaf fall, Mother's Day cakes, back-to-school haircuts.
A new service or product, with a photo of it.
An event with a date.
A real offer with a clear end date.

Weak reasons to post: "posting to stay active", generic tips copied from elsewhere, or the same message every week. If you would not send it to a customer who asked, it probably does not need posting.

Writing a good post

Keep it short. The first line is what most people see. Say the useful thing first, then the detail, then the action.

Example: "Booking fall furnace tune-ups now. Most visits take about an hour and include a filter change and a safety check. Call to pick a weekday morning."

Products and services lists

The Services and Products sections are underused. Listing what you do, in the words customers use, helps people see at a glance whether you do what they need. Add a short description to each. Include prices only if they are stable and you are comfortable showing them.

Make sure these lists match what your website says. If the profile lists "water heater installation" and your site never mentions it, customers who click through will not find it. Google Business Profile and your website: how they work together covers keeping them in step.

What posts and photos will not do

Adding posts and photos makes your profile more useful and more convincing to the people looking at it. It does not guarantee you appear higher on the map; nobody can promise that. The things that matter most for showing up are your business category, how close you are to the searcher, and your reputation, including reviews. Google reviews: asking customers the right way is a better use of time than daily posts if you have few reviews.

What to do this week

Look at your profile on your phone as a customer would. Count how many photos are yours and how recent they are.
Take a daylight photo of your entrance and add it.
Add three photos of recent work.
Check your Services list matches your website.
Write one post about something seasonal or a change customers should know.
Set a monthly reminder to add three new photos.

If your profile looks great but the website it links to does not, you can see your site rebuilt first, using the same photos customers already like on your profile.