How to Create Effective Google Posts for Tradies
Your Google Business Profile (once known as Google My Business) allows you to speak directly to your audience in real-time through posts. Perhaps you’ve been up the creek with this Google Business Profile feature—you don’t know what to post about, and you’ve had posts rejected before. You don’t see tangible results on your business ranking from your posting efforts.
Let us tell you that Google posts are an opportunity to speak directly to current and potential customers; Tradies, you should be making the most of this Google feature. When you make a Google post, Google can review it. So how do you guarantee that your posts are effective? It starts with ensuring they get approved. Google posts are rejected if: they’re not compliant with Google’s Business Profile posts content policy, a post includes auto-rejectable elements, or it is possible for a technical issue to affect a Google post. Google can also block you from the Google post feature.
Creating posts on your Google Business Profile
Before we dive into what not to post, if you’re unfamiliar with the posts feature, it’s located towards the bottom of your Google knowledge panel, underneath your Google Reviews. You can create a post from Google Search. First, locate your Business Profile and click promote. Next, choose if you want to create a post with text, an image or a video in the dialogue box. Finally, click publish in the top right when you’re ready to. Once you’ve created a post, you can check its status for whether it’s live, pending, or if it has been rejected.
Rejected Google Posts
Here's what not to post on your Google Business Profile and the reasoning for why a post might be rejected:
1. Create a post that isn’t compliant with the Business Profile posts policy
All posts must be consistent with the Google Business Profile posts content policy. As the author of posts, it’s your responsibility to post relevant content to the business only. As long as you’re representing your business professionally and not ranting in your communication. Keep in mind that content that’s misleading, low-quality images, duplicate content and random links will be interpreted as spam by Google and result in rejection. Likewise, hateful and discriminatory content is inappropriate, as well as anything explicit or violent and will be rejected. Steer clear of any risky content that’s questionable for its consistency with Google’s policy.
2. Include auto-rejectable elements
Elements of post content such as your business phone number and address shouldn’t be included in posts as they’re also considered spammy. The reason being is that this information can already be found on your Google Business Profile. However, if including this repeat information is part of your marketing and branding efforts, a workaround is to include information in the graphics of posts. For example, if your business phone number spells a word such as ‘1800 PEST’, because you’re a Pest Controller, ‘1800 Pest’ will not be rejected by Google.
3. Get blocked from the Google post feature
If your account has been flagged for breaching Google policy, for example, if you’ve written abuse of some kind before on Google, Google does have the authority to block you from creating Google posts. If this does occur, previous posts you’ve added to your listing will also be blocked. So always keep it clean on Google! Being flagged by Google or blocked isn’t a position you want to be in.
4. Glitches in Google Posts
Plain old glitches can occur with Google posts. At Tradius, we’ve seen different features within Google Business Profiles prone to glitches. The good news is that this issue can be resolved quickly. If you see that your post doesn’t fit any of the above reasons for rejection, reach out to us, and we’ll be able to offer some advice.
Effective Google posts
Now you know how to get Google posts approved and why you should be posting on your Business Profile, take your posts to the next level — effective Google posts start with quality content that’s informative. With the option to create a post with text, image, or video, you should choose the content type you’re most experienced with to ensure quality. In addition, the text should be free from spelling and grammar mistakes, photos should be high resolution, and if they involve people, permission should be sought before publishing.
What Google posts achieve
Effective Google posts achieve your customers' goals: provide COVID-19 updates, promote special offers, or provide general updates such as new service offerings. Including buttons for what actions you'd like customers to make when reading your posts is ideal. Through Google posts, customers are more equipped to engage with and make decisions relevant to your trades business.
Improving the Local SEO of your trades business
When looking to improve the Local SEO of your trades business, ensure you’re utilising Local SEO to its maximum potential. This includes utilising the Google post feature. It may seem that Google posts might not be worth engaging in and just sticking to managing your Google Reviews. However, Google posts are well worth your time. Posting will increase your discoverability for potential customers and create engagement with current customers. Effective posts are a matter of understanding where to focus your efforts and the caution you should take to avoid posts being rejected.
Need help with Google posts? Book a call with our team today!