Using Google Business Profiles with Buffer
Publishing regularly on Google Business Profiles increases organic reach and engagement, ultimately boosting conversions.
Only 21% of brands post regularly to their Google Business Profile. Will you be one of the ones who see the traffic to their site and their visibility in Google Maps increase (both helping to improve your ranking)?
With Buffer, publishing consistently on Google Business Profiles is a breeze. Let’s get started!
This article contains the following sections:
- Connecting and refreshing your Google Business Profile
- Scheduling Google Business Profile posts
- Image specifications for Google Business Profile
- Engaging with Google Business Profile posts
- Google Business Profile analytics
- Google Business Profile error library
These features are available for Google Business Profiles
| Publishing | Analytics | Engagement |
| ✓ |
Connecting and refreshing your Google Business Profile
To connect a Google Business Profile to your Buffer account, you will need to be logged into the Google account linked to your Google Business Profile and your profile must be verified.
You can connect multiple Google Business Profiles to Buffer. To see a step-by-step guide and troubleshooting steps, checkout the article: Connect your channels to Buffer.
If your connected Google Business Profile requires a refresh, check out the article Refreshing a channel in Buffer.
📝 Connection checklist
- Is the Google Business Profile verified (it needs to be)?
- Does the Google Business Profile Manager have "Groups" created? (Jump to the Google Business Profiles Error Library below)
Scheduling Google Business Profile posts
| Features & good-to-knows | Notes |
| Scheduling posts | Checkout our step-by-step guide to scheduling posts on any social channel or peruse Google Business Profile-specific details below. 📝Good-to-knows
|
| Tagging / mentions | Google Business Profiles do not support mentions / tagging. For more information on tagging within other social networks, check out our full guide to adding tags (mentions) here. |
| Hashtags | Google does not hyperlink hashtags, so hashtags sent to Google Business Profile will not be clickable. Learn more about how hashtags work in Buffer here. |
| Daily posting limit | 50 posts per 24 hours. Learn more about Daily posting limits here. |
| Character limit | 500 characters per post. Learn more about character limits for each social network here. |
📝What will be the timezone for my Event and Offer posts? Times for Events and Offers will be the local timezone of your Google Business Profile location. [eg. If you create an Event type post and the event is for 2 weeks from now at 7PM, it would be 7PM wherever the location is set for your Google Business Profile].
Image specifications for Google Business Profile
Google Business Profile supports images. Neither GIFs, nor videos are supported due to API limitations.
| Images | |
| Number allowed per post | 1 |
| File size | between 10Kb and 10 MB |
| File types supported | JPG, PNG, WebP (images uploaded as WebP will be converted to PNG), HEIC |
| Recommended resolution | 720px x 720px |
| Maximum resolution | 10,000px x 10,000px |
| Minimum resolution | 250px x 250px |
| Canva integration | Yes |
| Alt text | Yes. Learn more about adding alt text to your images here. |
Engaging with Google Business Profile posts
Buffer’s engagement features are only available for Facebook and Instagram.
Google Business Profile analytics
We don’t offer Google Business Profile analytics.
Google Business Profile error library
Error when trying to connect channel: "Looks like we hit a snag. Would you mind trying again? Something went wrong while trying to connect your channel. Check out our troubleshooting guide, and if the problem persists, please get in touch"
Unfortunately, we're currently experiencing issues during the connection process when there are "Groups" created within the Google Business Profile Manager. If there is a "Group" established and a connection is attempted, an error message regarding a "Snag" would be encountered. We're aware of this issue and we're working to identify a solution.
The current workaround would be to invite a new Google Account without "Groups" established to manage the Google Business Profiles. This account will then be able to successfully connect your Google Business Profile to Buffer.
Error when posting: "It looks like we can't publish posts to this Google Business Profile."
Please try creating a post natively on your Google Business Profile to see if the post publishes successfully or if Google sends back an error with more information. If you're able to publish directly on your Google Business Profile but not through Buffer, or if you are hitting any other error, email our Customer Advocates at hello@buffer.com for help.
📝Do you have a Google Business Profile feature suggestion? We’d love for you to submit or upvote it here on our feature suggestions board.