Google Business Profile Posts: A Guide for Irish Businesses
Google Business Profile posts are short updates, offers and event notices that appear on your listing when someone finds you on Google Search or Maps. They are free, they take about ten minutes to write, and they give you a way to tell a customer something current at the moment they are deciding whether to contact you. This guide covers what the three post types do, how to publish one, how often to post, what to write and which rules get a post rejected.
TL;DR
- Posts are free updates shown on your Business Profile in Search and Maps. Google offers three types: Updates, Offers and Events.
- Google lets you schedule posts weekly, monthly or on a custom recurring pattern. It does not set a required frequency, so choose a rhythm you can keep up.
- Treat posts as a way to win the click and the enquiry, not as a ranking trick. Each post should give one clear reason to act and one button.
- Keep to Google’s content rules: professional tone, no unverified phone numbers in the description, nothing about regulated products.
- A post is only as good as the page it sends people to. Point the button at a page that finishes the job.
Table of Contents
- What Google Business Profile posts are
- The three post types and when to use each
- How to publish a post
- How often should you post?
- What to write: ideas that suit Irish businesses
- The anatomy of a post that gets enquiries
- Rules that get posts rejected
- Do posts help local SEO?
- Our view: posts are a habit, not a campaign
- Getting the profile and the website to work together
- A simple monthly routine
- FAQ
- Sources
What Google Business Profile posts are
A post is a piece of content you publish from your own Business Profile. According to Google’s Business Profile Help, posts let you share announcements, offers, updates and events on Search and Maps, and they help customers decide whether to visit.
They show up when someone searches for your business by name or finds you through Maps. On mobile, Google shows them in the Updates or Overview tab. On a computer, they appear in the section called “From the owner”. They are not a social media feed that people follow. They are a small noticeboard attached to your listing, seen by people who are already looking at you.
That is why they are worth the effort for a new business. Someone searching for a plumber in Galway or a physiotherapist in Cork often compares two or three listings in quick succession. A listing with a clear, recent message and a button can tip that comparison. A listing with nothing on it gives the visitor less to go on.
Posts sit on top of a profile that is already set up properly. If you have not yet claimed or verified yours, start with our guide to Google Business Profile setup in Ireland, and if verification is the sticking point, this walkthrough on verifying your profile will help.
The three post types and when to use each
Google supports three post types: Updates, Offers and Events. Picking the right one matters because each carries different fields and a different button.
| Post type | What it contains | Best for |
|---|---|---|
| Update | Description, photo or video, optional action button | News, finished jobs, new services, seasonal notices, changes to opening hours |
| Offer | Title, start and end dates and times, a View Offer button added automatically | Time-limited deals, introductory prices, seasonal discounts |
| Event | Title, start and end dates and times | Open days, workshops, launches, pop-ups, talks |
Updates
This is the workhorse. An update can include a description, a photo or video and an action button. Most small businesses will use updates for 80 per cent of what they publish: a completed job, a new service, a reminder that you are taking bookings for next month, or a note about bank holiday hours.
Offers
Offers need a title and dates, and Google adds a View Offer button for you. Because the dates are built in, offers suit anything with a genuine deadline. If your offer has no end date or is really just your standard price, an update is the honest choice.
Events
Events need a title plus start and end dates and times. A hair salon running a late-night evening, a garden centre hosting a planting workshop or an accountant running a sole-trader tax clinic all fit. If you are not running anything with a start and finish time, skip this type.
How to publish a post
Google’s own instructions are short:
- Find your Business Profile on Google Search or Maps while signed in to the account that manages it.
- Select Posts or Add post.
- Choose the post type: update, offer or event.
- Add the elements you want, such as a photo or video, dates for offers and events, and an action button.
- Write the post information: a title where the type asks for one, and a clear description.
- Click Post.
Before you press the button, read the post once as a stranger would. Does it say who you are, what you are offering and what to do next? If any of those is missing, fix it before publishing.
Google also lets you set posts to repeat on a weekly, monthly or custom schedule. That is useful for a recurring message, such as a Friday opening notice or a monthly booking reminder, but do not let it become a substitute for fresh content. A post that repeats unchanged for six months stops being news.
How often should you post?
There is no official number. Google gives you the tools to post weekly, monthly or on a custom pattern, and it does not say that any particular frequency is required. We have not seen Google document posting as a direct ranking rule, so be wary of anyone who sells a magic number.
What works in practice is a rhythm you will actually keep. For most Irish small businesses, that looks like this:
- Busy trades and local services (plumbers, electricians, cleaners, landscapers): one post a week or fortnight, usually a finished job with a photo, or a note on availability.
- Shops, cafés and salons: one or two a month, tied to something real such as a new menu, seasonal stock or a offer with an end date.
- Professional services (accountants, solicitors, consultants): one a month, tied to a deadline or change your clients care about.
A plain, steady routine beats a burst of ten posts in January followed by silence until summer. If you only manage one good post a month, that is better than weekly filler. Put it in your calendar alongside your invoicing.
Seasonal hooks are easy to find in Ireland: the lead-up to the Christmas period, bank holiday weekends, back-to-school, the end of the tax year, and the first cold snap that sends everyone looking for a boiler service. Write for the moment your customers are in.
What to write: ideas that suit Irish businesses
The hardest part is not the button clicking, it is knowing what to say. Start from the question a customer would ask before ringing you.
Finished work
A photo of a completed job with two sentences: what it was, where (the town or area is fine, not the customer’s address), and what the customer needed. For a tradesperson this is the single most useful post, because it shows real work in the places you serve. Always get the customer’s agreement before you show their property.
Availability and lead times
“We are booking kitchen fitting for next month. Call or send an enquiry to hold a slot.” This answers a question every buyer has and nudges them to contact you now rather than keep browsing.
Seasonal and practical advice
A short note such as “Check your gutters before the autumn storms” from a roofer, or “Book your first-year accounts early” from a bookkeeper. Keep it to a few lines and link the button to a page that explains more.
Offers with a real end date
An introductory price for new customers, a free quote for a limited period, or a seasonal service bundle. Use the Offer type and set honest dates.
Team and community
A new hire, a local sponsorship, a charity fundraiser you took part in. Keep it relevant to the business. Google expects posts to be about the business, so leave out personal and family news.
Changes to hours or service area
Bank holiday hours, a new service area, or a temporary closure. These are low effort and prevent wasted trips and calls.
Reviews and thanks
A short thank-you that mentions a type of job rather than naming a customer. It also reminds readers that people rate you. If you want more reviews to go with your posts, our guide to getting more Google reviews in Ireland covers the practical steps.
The anatomy of a post that gets enquiries
Google’s guidance on effective posts comes down to a few habits: use the post type that matches the message, add a descriptive title, include a photo or video, give complete dates and relevant details, and add an action button that links to a trusted website where the customer can complete the action.
In practice, build each post in this order.
1. One message. A post that tries to announce a new service, a discount and an open day will do none of them well. Pick one.
2. A strong first line. Visitors often see only the start of the text. Put the useful part first: “Boiler servicing slots free this week in Limerick city.”
3. A real photo. A clear picture of your work, van, shopfront or team beats a stock image. Use landscape or square images with the subject visible, and avoid heavy text overlays.
4. One button, one destination. Choose the action that matches the goal: book, order online, learn more, or sign up. Send it to the most relevant page, not automatically to your homepage. A post about a bathroom installation should land on your bathroom page or a contact form, not a general landing page.
5. Complete details. For offers and events, set the dates and times properly. For updates, include price information or availability when you can.
The point about the destination is where many small businesses lose enquiries. A good post gets the click, but the page decides whether the visitor becomes a lead. If the page loads slowly on a phone, buries the phone number or has no enquiry form, the post’s work is wasted. We cover this in more detail in our local SEO service, where profile, website and enquiry path are treated as one system.
Rules that get posts rejected
Every post goes through a Google content review. The published guidance asks for the following:
- Professional, respectful and family-friendly content. No offensive material and no links to malware.
- No unverified phone numbers in the description. Posts that include a phone number may be rejected if Google cannot verify that it belongs to your business. Use the action button or the phone number already on your profile instead.
- Complete, relevant information. Vague or half-finished posts are more likely to be a problem than detailed ones.
- Care with regulated industries. Businesses in regulated sectors can still post, but must not include content about the regulated products themselves.
If a post is rejected, edit it to remove the likely cause and resubmit. The usual culprits are a phone number in the text, promotional language that looks like a different business type, or a link to a page that does not match the claim.
Keep your posts consistent with your profile categories too. A post about a service you do not list is confusing for both customers and Google. If you are unsure about your categories, see our article on choosing Google Business Profile categories.
Do posts help local SEO?
The honest answer is: not in the way many guides suggest. Google describes posts as a way to share information that helps customers decide whether to visit. It does not state that posting lifts your position in the local results. Treat any claim of a ranking boost with suspicion.
What posts do reliably is work at the conversion end. Someone has already found you. A fresh post with a photo, a price or an available date and a button gives them a reason to choose you and an immediate way to act. That is worth having whatever it does for rankings.
The rankings themselves rest on the fundamentals: an accurate profile, the right primary category, consistent name, address and phone details, reviews, and a website that confirms what the profile says. A profile that is set up once and never touched is common among local businesses, and the profile owners who do the simple things regularly stand out against it. Our pages on local SEO in Ireland and location pages explain how the pieces fit together.
Using AI to draft posts
AI tools can help you turn a job note into a clean paragraph in a minute or two. Use them for the first draft only. Add the real detail: the town, the type of job, the actual price or lead time. Posts that read as generic are easy to spot and add nothing. Our piece on AI workflows for local SEO sets out sensible ways to do this without losing your own voice.
Our view: posts are a habit, not a campaign
We build websites and set up profiles for new Irish businesses, sole traders and tradespeople, and the pattern we see is consistent. Owners either over-think posting and never start, or start with enthusiasm and stop after three weeks. Neither helps.
Our advice is to make it small enough to survive a busy week. Take one photo at the end of a job, write two sentences on the phone, and publish. If you can do that twice a month, you are ahead of many competitors in your area.
The second point is where the click goes. We would rather a business had three posts pointing at a clear, fast service page with a visible enquiry form than thirty pointing at a homepage with no obvious next step. That is why we treat the Business Profile and the website as one job. The profile gets people to look, the site turns the look into an enquiry, and the post is the small piece that connects the two.
Finally, be honest in what you publish. Real jobs, real prices where you can give them, real availability. Customers can tell, and so can Google’s review process.
— niall
Getting the profile and the website to work together
If you are setting up a business and want the profile, website and enquiry route built to work together, we do this for Irish small businesses at fixed prices. Our website packages start with the Launch Website at €499 one-off, the Business Website is €799 one-off and the Growth Website is from €1,295 one-off. Ongoing care starts at €29 per month. We also provide Google Business Profile support and local SEO foundations, so the pages your posts point to are ready to take enquiries. If you already have an outdated site, our website redesign service can fix the destination before you invest time in posting.
A simple monthly routine
Here is a routine that takes about 30 minutes a month:
- Week one: Photograph a recent job or product. Write and publish an update, with a button to the relevant service page.
- Week two: Check your profile for new reviews and reply to them. Check opening hours for any upcoming bank holiday.
- Week three: Publish a second update or an offer with real dates, if you have something to say.
- Week four: Look at your enquiries. Which posts and pages led to calls or messages? Do more of those.
If you skip a fortnight, carry on. There is no penalty that we know of in Google’s published guidance, and the next real post is still worth more than a late apology.
FAQ
How often should I post on my Google Business Profile?
Google offers weekly, monthly and custom recurring schedules but sets no required frequency. For most small businesses, one post every one to four weeks is realistic. Choose the pace you can keep up, because steady, relevant posts are more useful than a burst followed by silence.
Are Google Business Profile posts free?
Yes. Posting is part of the free Business Profile you manage through Google Search or Maps. The only cost is your time, or whoever you ask to write and publish them for you.
Where do my posts appear?
They appear on your Business Profile when someone finds you on Google Search or Maps. On mobile, they show in the Updates or Overview tab, and on a computer they appear under “From the owner”, according to Google’s help page.
Why was my post rejected?
The most common reasons are a phone number in the description that Google cannot verify as yours, content that is not professional or family-friendly, or content about regulated products. Remove the likely cause, check that the details are complete and relevant, and publish again.
Do posts improve my Google ranking?
Google does not say that posting improves your ranking, so do not count on it. The clearer benefit is that a current post with a photo and a button gives people who already found you a reason to contact you.
Sources
- Create & manage posts on your Business Profile, Google Business Profile Help
- Create & manage posts on your Business Profile (English version), Google Business Profile Help