Google Adds Post View Counts to Business Profiles

Google has officially confirmed the global rollout of view counts for Business Profile posts, a feature that practitioners first observed during limited testing phases last month. This update marks a significant return to transparency, arriving roughly three and a half years after Google removed post-level view reporting from its platform. The company’s API deprecation schedule had previously indicated that both post views and post button clicks would cease functioning on February 20, 2023, with no immediate successor listed.

The announcement was detailed in the September edition of the Small Business Bulletin, published on the Business Profile Help Community by Google employee Lisa Landsman. Google refers to this functionality as Google Posts Reporting and explicitly describes these view metrics as “one of our most requested features yet.”

What Is Included in the New Reporting

Within the Business Profile dashboard, users will now see specific view numbers displayed on each individual post card within the Posts section. According to the bulletin, these figures represent the total number of times local customers have viewed a particular post. The new reporting system encompasses three primary areas:

• Historical Data: It covers posts published over the past 18 months, calculated on a rolling basis.While the bulletin states that the feature is “currently rolling out globally,” it clarifies that the data is not yet accessible via the API. As of September 10, official help pages regarding posts and performance metrics did not yet reflect these changes. Although the performance page lists an Offers metric that tracks views and clicks, it does not currently document per-post view counts across the broader spectrum of updates, offers, and events.

Context Behind the Reintroduction

Prior to 2023, Business Profiles provided granular reporting on views and clicks for each post. These metrics were retired alongside photo view counts during Google’s transition to the Business Profile Performance API. At that time, developer documentation offered no replacement for either set of metrics.

Interest in restoring these numbers resurfaced in August when a screenshot circulated on LinkedIn. The image showed view counts appearing on posts for one specific account while other users could not see them, suggesting a restricted beta test. The recent bulletin now provides clarity on the scope and current status of this initiative.

Strategic Importance for Local Businesses

The reintroduction of dedicated local post view metrics addresses a gap left since 2023. For profile managers, these counts offer direct visibility into the performance of individual updates, offers, and events across both Search and Maps interfaces.

However, there are notable limitations. The reporting is currently confined to the Business Profile dashboard and remains unavailable through the API. Additionally, the bulletin focuses solely on views, omitting click data which Google discontinued along with the old post-view metric in 2023.

Open Questions for the Future

The bulletin does not define exactly what constitutes a “post view,” leaving uncertainty about whether the count represents unique individuals or every instance of appearance. For comparison, profile views in the Performance report count each person only once per day. Users should monitor the posts help page for a definitive definition of how these numbers are calculated.

Furthermore, Google is integrating Business Profiles with the Gemini app, which can retrieve performance data from connected profiles. It remains unclear whether post view data will be included in this AI-driven interface, presenting another area to watch as the rollout continues.