Google Business Profile posts are short updates that appear directly on your business listing in Google Search and Maps. Businesses use them to promote offers, announce events, share new products, or post general updates, and posts appear alongside your reviews, photos, and business information right where potential customers are already looking.
You can create a GBP post through the native desktop or mobile interface, or automate the process with Falcon Agent. Below, we'll walk through all three methods, plus what to avoid, where posts show up, and whether they impact your local rankings.
Types of Google Business Profile Posts
GBP posts come in four types, and picking the right one determines what fields and features are available to you.
- What's New: General updates about your business. Use this for announcements, tips, or anything that doesn't fit a more specific category. Supports a photo or video, up to 1,500 characters, and an optional CTA button.
- Event: For time-bound happenings like a grand opening, sale, or workshop. Requires a start and end date/time, and supports the same CTA and character limits as What's New.
- Offer: For discounts, coupons, or limited-time promotions. Includes fields for a start/end date, offer terms, a coupon code, and a link to redeem, in addition to the standard photo/video and text fields.
- Product: For highlighting a specific product or service. Lets you add a product name, price, and description alongside the photo and CTA.
Choosing the type of GBP post that matches your content matters for two reasons: it unlocks the relevant fields (you can't add a coupon code to a What's New post), and it changes how the post displays to searchers, since Offer and Event posts get distinct visual treatment in Search and Maps compared to a standard update.
GBP Post Specs and Expiration
Before you start posting on Google Business Profile, keep these limits and rules in mind:
- Character limit: Post text can run up to 1,500 characters, though Google typically truncates what displays before the "read more" cutoff, so lead with your key message in the first sentence or two.
- Image specs: Photos should be at least 400 x 300 pixels, in JPG or PNG format.
- Video specs: Videos can be up to 30 seconds long, under 100 MB, and in resolution 720p or higher.
- CTA buttons: Options include Book, Order Online, Buy, Learn More, Sign Up, Get Offer, and Call Now, depending on post type.
- Expiration: What's New, Event, and Product posts stay live for 7 days before they're automatically removed. Offer posts stay live until their specified end date, or 7 days if no end date is set. Event posts remain visible through the end date of the event itself.
Because most post types expire after a week, a one-and-done post won't keep working for you. Posting on a consistent schedule, whether manually or through automation, is what keeps your profile active and your updates visible to searchers.
How To Post on GBP: Step-by-Step
You can create GBP posts directly on your profile from either a desktop or mobile device.
However, we highly recommend posting on your Google Business Profile with Falcon Agent, Local Falcon's agentic AI for local SEO. This streamlines and automates what is normally a very manual, time-consuming process. If you manage more than one GBP or want to post more than once in a while, this is the way to go.
We will cover all three options for posting on Google Business Profile below.
Automating GBP Posting With Falcon Agent (Recommended)
Falcon Agent handles GBP posting through natural language instructions, so you can set up a posting cadence once and let it run instead of logging in to create each post manually.
- Tell Falcon Agent you want to schedule GBP posts and specify the location or locations to post to.
- Describe the type of post you want: promotion, service highlight, event, seasonal update, or something else.
- Set a schedule, such as "every Friday at 9 AM" or "first of each month."
- Provide content guidelines: tone, whether to include a CTA, things to avoid, must-mention items, and any example text or specific offer details.
- Falcon Agent generates and publishes posts on your schedule, applying your guidelines to each one.
For businesses managing multiple locations, this also means consistent posting across every profile without manually repeating the process for each one, with the possibility to provide per-location instructions to customize each location's GBP posting schedule and content.
Creating a Google Business Profile Post on Desktop:
- Log in to your Google Business Profile.
- Click on "Add Update."
- Pick the type of post you wish to make.
- Fill out all the necessary information in the dialog box.
- Publish or preview your post.
Creating a GBP Post on Mobile:
- Launch the Google Maps app.
- Ensure you're logged in with the account associated with your Google Business Profile.
- Access your Google Business Profile by tapping "Business" at the bottom right.
- Select "Promote" and choose the type of post you'd like to create.
- To create your post, tap on the elements you want to include (these can be photos, videos, text, events, offers, or a button) and enter all relevant information for each one.
- Publish or preview your post.
Once you publish a Google Business Profile post via desktop or mobile, you'll be able to see its status from your profile. Possible statuses are "Live," "Pending," and "Not approved." Note that if your post is not approved, you can click on the question mark next to the status to see the reason why (i.e., which Google content policy it violates).
Things That Aren't Allowed in Google Business Profile Posts:
Overall, a good rule of thumb is to keep your GBP posts "family-friendly" and avoid any spam tactics to ensure they get approved and published. Here's a list of what Google explicitly says not to include when posting on GBP:
- Spam: Things like duplicate photos, videos, and logos, links to irrelevant sites, misspellings, gimmicky character use, and poor quality/distracting content are against Google's anti-spam guidelines for GBP posts.
- Disrespectful Content: No obscene or offensive language or images are permitted in Google Business Profile posts (this includes profanities and suggestive images).
- Promotion of Certain Regulated Goods/Industries: You can't use GBP posts to promote adult entertainment, tobacco, alcohol, firearms, drugs of any kind, gambling, or any other regulated goods or industries.
Where Do Customers See Google Business Profile Posts?
When searching via mobile devices, potential customers can see your GBP posts in the "Updates" and "Overview" tabs of Google Search and Google Maps. Where and when exactly Google decides to show them your posts depends on specific search signals.
When performing a search on a computer, customers can see your posts in the "From the Owner" section of your Google Business Profile.
The Importance of Google Posts for GBP Ranking and AI Search Visibility
Google Business Profile posts are not currently a direct ranking factor for Google, but they are still a great way to complement your local SEO efforts and generate more local leads.
That being said, by regularly posting relevant content on your GBP listing you can help your business stand out among the competition and get more engagement with your business listing on Google, and engagement does tend to help you rank better.
Not only that, but generative AI can potentially surface information from your GBP posts in AI-generated overviews, answers, and recommendations. With Google's AI-powered Search agents and agentic booking capabilities, customers could even automatically act on a special offer or promotion.
Getting the Most Out of Google Business Profile Posts
GBP posts are a low-effort (especially if automated), high-visibility way to keep your Google Business Profile active and relevant to the people already searching for businesses like yours. The key is consistency: pick the right post type for what you're announcing, stay within Google's specs and guidelines, and post often enough that your profile doesn't go stale between updates.
If manually creating and scheduling posts across one or more locations isn't realistic for your team, Falcon Agent can handle the entire posting cadence for you, so your GBP stays active and engaging without adding to your neverending to-do list.
