As your trusted Google experts, we want to inform you of an update that changes how you view your performance metrics in your Google Business Profile (GBP). Since July 2022, Google has added, updated, and deprecated metrics. The official deprecation date for the old metrics is Monday, February 20, 2023.*
Google will now be tracking the following data: website link clicks, calls, messages, bookings, directions, and Business Profile impressions, which is the number of unique visitors to your profile in a given day.
Previously, Google recognized every single view of your profile as 1 impression each. Now, they’re recognizing when one unique user views your profile each day. For example, if I view your profile 3 times throughout the day, they will now recognize that as 1 impression, whereas previously, they would have recognized that as 3.
Since this new measurement represents the number of unique users as opposed to the overall number of views, the number of views recorded on your Business Profile will appear lower than the previous data shown. Essentially, Google is measuring people, not clicks. As a result, you will see true organic traffic, and the data will no longer be skewed by situations where a single user engages with your profile multiple times.
This update is just another example of how Google is becoming more focused on User-Generated Content (UGC), and RealWork Labs is already at the forefront. Real content such as reviews, photos, and videos made by real people is the future of search and will lead how businesses like yours get found. As Google evolves, we will be the company you can trust to evolve with it.
Our developers are hard at work to make sure your historical data matches up with the new Google update, and we are continuing to explore ways to bring you valuable insights. As of today, Google is only showing data as far back as September 2022 on their Business Profile insights; however, at RealWork Labs, we are still able to pull some historical data for some customers, which will be visible on our platform.
You can find more information about this update below:
*On February 17th, 2023, Google pushed the official deprecation date back to March 20th, 2023.