The short answer
- Google Business Profile posts come in three types: updates, offers and events.
- Posts older than 6 months are archived unless they carry a date range, so a profile needs a steady cadence. Once a week is a practical rhythm for most local businesses.
- Good posts are specific: one service, one season, one offer, one clear button. Skip phone numbers in the text and use the call button.
- Posts keep a profile current and give searchers a reason to act. Google does not list them as a ranking factor, so treat them as conversion content, not a ranking trick.
Google Business Profile posts are short updates you publish directly to your profile on Google Search and Maps. They come in three types, each with its own fields, and they are archived after 6 months unless you set dates.
Here is how each type works, what to post, how often, and examples by industry.
The three post types
Google's Business Profile help center lists three post types:
| Type | Use it for | Required | Optional |
|---|---|---|---|
| Update | News, new services, seasonal reminders, finished jobs | Description | Photo or video, action button with a link |
| Offer | Discounts, deals, limited promotions | Title, start and end dates and times | Description, photo or video, coupon code, link, terms |
| Event | Open houses, classes, launches, tastings | Title, start and end dates and times | Description, photo or video, action button |
Offers and events carry their own date range, so they stay visible until the end date. Updates do not, which is why updates are the type that ages out at 6 months.
Hotels are the exception: Google does not let hotels create offer posts, or any post that mentions deals, promotions or discounts.
What posts do and don't do
What they do. Posts appear on your profile where searchers see them next to your reviews and hours. A good post answers the question a searcher had ("do they do furnace tune-ups?"), shows current proof of work, and puts an action button in front of them. Google describes the button as a link to a page where the customer can make a booking, order online or learn more.
They also signal an active business. A profile whose latest post is five months old reads differently from one posted to last Tuesday.
What they don't do. Google's list of local ranking factors is relevance, distance and prominence, and its advice on improving ranking names verifying the business, keeping information current, responding to reviews and adding photos. Posts are not on that list. Do not expect a post to lift you from position eight to position two. Expect it to turn more of the people who already see you into calls and clicks. The ranking work is in our Google Business Profile optimization checklist.
What to post
Five kinds of posts cover almost every local business:
- Service spotlight. One service, what it includes, who it is for, and a button to book. Rotate through your service list.
- Seasonal reminder. The job customers forget until it is urgent: AC tune-ups in April, gutter cleaning in October, back-to-school checkups in August.
- Proof of work. A photo of a finished job with one line on the problem and the fix. Real photos beat graphics.
- Offer. A real, dated promotion with terms. Use the offer type so the dates and coupon code display properly.
- Event. Anything with a date: a class, an open house, a holiday menu, a community event you sponsor.
Writing a good post
- Put the point in the first sentence. The preview shows only the opening lines.
- Name the service and the area the way customers say them: "drain cleaning in Mesa", not "comprehensive plumbing solutions".
- One post, one action. Pick the button that matches the goal.
- Use your own photo, sized cleanly, with no text baked into the image.
- Leave phone numbers out of the text. Google may reject posts with phone numbers it cannot verify as connected to the business, and says a verified call button can be used instead.
- Add UTM tags to the link so post traffic shows up separately in analytics.
How often to post
Updates are archived after 6 months unless a date range is set. That is the floor: at least one current post at all times.
A practical rhythm for most local businesses:
| Business type | Cadence | Why |
|---|---|---|
| Restaurant, cafe, bar | 2 per week | Menus, specials and events change often |
| Home services (HVAC, plumbing, roofing) | 1 per week | Seasonal demand plus a steady stream of job photos |
| Dental, medical, med spa | 1 per week | Treatment spotlights and booking reminders |
| Legal, accounting, B2B services | 2 per month | Fewer timely hooks; deadlines and updates matter most |
Consistency matters more than volume. Twelve months of weekly posts beats a burst of twenty in one week followed by silence.
Examples by industry
HVAC
Update, April: "AC tune-ups for Gilbert and Chandler homes are open for April and May. A 45-minute check covers refrigerant levels, coils, the condensate line and thermostat calibration, so the unit is ready before the first 100-degree week." Button: booking link.
More ideas in our HVAC marketing guide.
Dental
Update: "New patients can now book cleanings online, including Saturday mornings. Most PPO plans accepted; ask the front desk to check yours before your visit." Button: booking link.
Offer: "Teeth whitening, 20% off through November 30 for existing patients. Code WHITE20 at booking." With dates and terms filled in. See dental marketing for the wider plan.
Restaurant
Event: "Thanksgiving prix fixe, Thursday November 26, seatings at 1pm, 4pm and 7pm. Four courses; vegetarian option available." Button: reservation link. More in restaurant marketing.
Plumbing
Update with a job photo: "Replaced a 15-year-old tank water heater with a tankless unit in Tempe this week. The homeowner gets endless hot water and back about 10 square feet of garage." Button: learn-more link to the water heater service page.
Law firm
Update: "We now take estate planning appointments by video. Wills, trusts and powers of attorney, with documents signed in person at our downtown office." Button: booking link.
A worked month of posts
Here is a four-week plan for a dental practice with four core services. It takes about an hour to write in one sitting.
| Week | Type | Topic | Button target |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Update | Saturday hygiene appointments now open | Online booking page |
| 2 | Update | Invisalign: what the first consultation covers | Invisalign service page |
| 3 | Offer | Whitening for existing patients, dated, with terms | Booking page with the code |
| 4 | Update | Use your remaining insurance benefits before year end | Insurance page |
Each post names one service and links to the page about that service, not the homepage. That makes the click count in analytics, and it gives the reader the answer they came for.
How to tell if posts are working
Google's profile performance view reports calls, website clicks, direction requests and the search terms that found you. Compare the four weeks after you start posting with the four weeks before, and check UTM-tagged post clicks in your analytics. If clicks rise on the services you posted about, keep the rotation. If nothing moves after two months, the issue is usually the offer or the landing page, not the post.
Mistakes to avoid
- Only posting offers. A feed of discounts trains customers to wait for one.
- Stock images. They tell the searcher nothing about your business.
- Generic copy. "We value our customers" earns no clicks.
- Restricted content. Google's content policies apply to posts. Regulated goods such as alcohol, tobacco and pharmaceuticals carry restrictions.
- Letting it lapse. The most common failure. Batch a month of posts at once.
Publishing posts with Sprites
Sprites' proprietary marketing agent writes and publishes Google posts to your Business Profile. It reads the profile's performance data and the search queries that found you, so posts can target the services people are actually searching for. Each post comes to you as an editable approval card and goes live only after you approve it.
The same agent replies to Google reviews and keeps the description, website, phone number and regular hours current. For the site those posts link to, Sprites for SEO writes and publishes pages to WordPress, Webflow, Shopify and Framer. Plans are on the pricing page, with a 7-day trial for $1.
Start by writing four service-spotlight posts this week, one per service, and schedule one a week for the next month.