Many people have tried their hand at creating some form of Google Places reporting to no avail. While the original dashboard did offer insights as far as Impressions and Actions, it didn’t allow you to export that data or even see where the Impressions were coming from or what specific Actions were taken. With Google’s new Dashboard, we’re able to access a variety of metrics that will allow local marketers to give their clients detailed and valuable reports.
Google now provides a wealth of information specifically tailored for your Google Places presence. Below you can see the Impression data broken down day by day.
Next, Google breaks down the actions that have been taken on your listing, including whether people clicked the “More Info” link, the link access your website, and even the amount of people that used the listing to get directions to the business. An example of this report is below.
Also, Google is finally giving us keyword data that drives traffic to your local listing. In the example below you can see how Google displays the amount of impressions your local listing gets.
Finally, and perhaps most importantly, Google provides insights into the amount of people that have used your listing to get directions to the business. This data enables marketers to close the loop from discovery (aka Impressions), to engagement (clicking the “More Info” link), to conversion (using the information to visit the store).
This marks a new era in local marketing. Now local marketers can provide their clients with 7, 30 and 90 day reports and can be accountable for the results of a Google Places campaign. The next major game changer will be when Google includes a data export feature.
These insights haven’t been rolled out to everyone yet, but once it does you need to jump into this report or risk losing ground to other savvy local marketers.
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Kyle Misencik
Senior Campaign Director, Organic Search at Intrapromote
You don't want to mess with Kyle Misencik, another one of our SEO Campaign Directors. He may be able to woo you with all his geeky analytics speak, be warned... he was a bouncer in a former life. Kyle joined Intrapromote in 2011 and has been knocking our socks off since day one. (By the way, Kyle, we'd like our socks back.) Kyle is a huge music fan and his interests lie across a variety of genres. His IP claim to fame lies in the fact that he was born on Star Wars Day (May the Fourth be with you) and when he isn't updating a client's SEO work, he's off snowboarding, playing drums or jumping on the nearest motorcycle he can find.
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