How often do you post on your Google Business Profile?
Publishing regularly on Google Business Profiles increases organic reach and engagement. It might not boost your rankings, but there are other benefits:
- Google posts can be discovered by potential nearby customers via Explore.
- Posts stop being featured after six months so regular posting is important.
- Google will analyze snippets of your posts and add them to your profile’s justifications.
- More importantly, regular posting will drive traffic to your site and increase your visibility in Google Maps, both of which help improve your ranking.
💡Your Questions Answered
- What kind of posts can I share to my Google Business Profile via Buffer? We currently support What’s New, Offer, and Event type of posts. It's however not possible to include a CTA (call to action) button in your post at this time.
- Can I include media files in my posts? Yes, you can upload one image (currently, carousel posts are not supported). Neither GIFs or videos are supported due to API limitations.
- Should I include a phone number in my posts? No. To avoid the risk of abuse, Google does not allow phone numbers to be included in posts.
- 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]
- When I try to post, I get the error "It looks like we can't publish posts to this Google Business Profile." How can I fix this? 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, please reach out to us at hello@buffer.com and we'll be happy to help!
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.
Connecting your Google Business Profile
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In Buffer, click on your profile avatar at the top right of your dashboard and then click Account from the drop down menu.
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Select the Channels option from the menu on the left hand side of your screen and then click Connect Channel .
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Click Google Business Profile.
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You will be redirected to a window where you can either select the Google account you are currently logged into or log into another one.
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Click Allow.
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Select the Google Business Profile you'd like to connect and then click Add to Buffer.
⚠️ Connection Checklist
- Is the Google Business Profile verified?
- Does the Google Business Profile Manager have "Groups" created?
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 the Google Business Profiles to Buffer.