Google has just rolled out yet another useful tool, especially for small business owners: Google Posts. This is an easy and effective way to help your potential customers to learn more about your company, brand or products & services. Google Posts are basically small pieces of information, including a picture, of any of your products or services that you would like your customers to know about. Think of it as something like a Facebook post, only that they show up on your listing on Google Maps or besides your listing in the Google Search results (see example below).

It’s a great way to show them your top products, tell them about any upcoming events, show daily specials or anything else you would like to share with potential customers. You can use up to 300 words and an image. If you want to promote an event you can add the event dates as well. As an example for this tutorial I will promote an upcoming Google AdWords Certification course to show you how it works.

Google Posts are free, but you need to have an existing ‘Google My Business’ account. If you don’t have one read our tutorial on how to set one up here (it’s also free!): How to make a Google My Business Page. Then come back here and write your first post.

To get started, log into your Google My Business account. In your account click on the ‘Posts’ link on the left, and a small pop-up will appear.

Click anywhere on the box and a new window will pop out. It will ask you to add a photo. This is optional, but I highly recommend to add an image to attract attention in the listing later. You can upload an image from your computer. The image should be square, if it isn’t you will need to crop it to a square shape. Once done click on the bottom left to upload your photo. Below the uploaded image you can now write your content. In my example I want people to register for our course, so I write about the benefits and ask them to register.



If you want to promote an event you can move the switch and enter your event’ start and end date. In my case I want to leave the date open, so I can use this post for future courses as well.

The last part is the ‘Call to Action’ button. This will be useful if you want people to click on your Google Post and go from there straight to your website to read more details. For example, if you promote a product you can tick the ‘Buy’ button, or if you want people to make a reservation at your restaurant you can tick the ‘Reserve’ button. In the space below to the ‘Call to Action’ put the website link to which you want the user to go after they click on the button. Important: don’t send people to your home page. For example, if you promote a particular product from your website send them straight to that page. To do so go to your website and open the page with your product on it. Click in the address bar in your browser, this will highlight the web address (called URL). Right-click your mouse and select copy. Now go back to your Google Post, move your mouse to the section for the link, right-click and select ‘Paste’. Once done click ‘Preview’ on the top right. If you’re happy with it (make sure no spelling errors) click ‘Publish’, other wise click the arrow on the top left and go back to make any edits.

To see what it will look like click on the post and select ‘View’. This will open a new window and show how your post will appear. Here is my example on a desktop view:




If you have put in a link make sure you click on the button to ensure it works correctly. If anything is not right go back to the page where you made your post, click ‘Edit’ and make your changes. That’s it, hope it works for you. You can make multiple post, and Google will select which ones to display.