Google Business Profile (GBP) metrics are an essential piece of the customer experience (CX) puzzle unfolding across your brand’s expansive network of locations. With Rio SEO, you gain deep insights that span from individual store performance to broader regional and brand-level perspectives. But how do these metrics fit into the broader landscape of your industry?
Each quarter, we analyze a treasure trove of insights from more than 230,000 enterprise business locations across eight diverse sectors, including restaurants, retail, healthcare, and financial services. These insights go beyond enhancing your brand’s metrics; they shed light on evolving trends in customer experience (CX), paving the way for innovative local marketing strategies.
Quick service restaurants are the stand-out winners in the second quarter of 2024, at least as far as search impressions and conversions measured by clicks. Healthcare was the only other vertical to see quarterly gains in clicks, while hotels and healthcare each report single-digit increases in total impressions in Q2.
Let’s take a closer look at industry-specific insights below. You’ll find tips and expert advice along the way to elevate your local marketing game.
Business services
- Total Q2 2024 impressions –9.9 QoQ and -14.4% YoY.
- Total Q2 2024 clicks -11.6% QoQ and -16.2% YoY.
For the purposes of this research, our business services category includes a variety of multi-location enterprises, including postal services, IT companies, fitness studios, storage facilities, and more. The downward trend from Q1 continues, as both clicks and impressions are down by double digits quarterly and annually.
Total impressions fell 9.9% and impressions 11.6% from Q1 2024. The largest drop in impressions was on Maps > Desktop, at -20.2%, while Maps > Mobile slid -5.1% QoQ. As for clicks, an important measurement of conversion for local brands, clicks for directions were down -21.7%, clicks to website -6.1%, and clicks to call -2.3% compared to the first quarter.
Sometimes searchers find exactly what they’re looking for and don’t need to click through for more information. Meeting customers in local listings with accurate, complete, up-to-**** location data is essential, or they may end up having a poor experience without ever interacting with the brand.
Take a storage facility, for example. Let’s say your prospective customer has searched for storage facilities, and they need one fast. Grandma fell and broke her hip, so the kids have come to town to put her valuables in storage. The trailer is packed and they’ve filtered on Google to see facilities “Open Now.” They viewed the photos on your listing, read your positive reviews, and have already made the decision to give you their business. They take the address from your Google Business Profile listing and put it into their car’s GPS system, and they’re off.
Except… the location is experiencing a staffing shortage and had to temporarily cut back its hours. No one had gotten around to updating the website or local listings yet. The customer arrives, finds the location closed, and leaves in frustration, off to find an alternative. They had a poor experience with your brand, and unless they leave a review, you’ll never know.
Local listings are often the first interaction customers have with your brand. They’re your frontline in CX. Get our complete guide to local listings for service businesses to make sure you’re putting your best foot forward in every local interaction.
Financial services
- Total Q2 2024 impressions: -19.5 QoQ and -8.6 YoY
- Total Q2 2024 clicks: -28.4 QoQ and -4.1 YoY
When we say financial services brands, we’re talking about multi-location banks, investment companies, insurance agencies, and all kinds of other financial institutions. Trust and brand reputation will make or break your business, and it all starts with search.
In Q2, impressions fell -19% and clicks -28.4% compared to the first quarter of the year. Seasonality is playing a role here, as tax time wraps up and summer vacations beckon. Clicks fell -28.4% from Q1, landing -4.1% below the same period one year ago.
The financial services industry is navigating a landscape shaped by high interest rates, intensified regulatory scrutiny, and persistent inflation concerns. Looking ahead, technological disruptions like generative AI, cloud migration, and heightened cybersecurity risks will continue to reshape industry norms.
In the face of all of this uncertainty and change, brands can instill confidence in consumers by meeting them in their moments of need with accurate, complete listings that make it simple to take next steps. On top of listings accuracy, you can improve the customer experience by making it easier for customers to set appointments and book time with you. Both local listings and local pages can integrate booking features, removing barriers to access and friction in the appointment-setting process.
Learn more about local experience solutions built for financial services brands here.
Full-service restaurants
- Total Q2 2024 impressions: +11.5% QoQ and -12.3% YoY
- Total Q2 2024 clicks: +2.6% QoQ and -19.5% YoY
- Q2 2024 food menu clicks -2.1% QoQ and -4.3% YoY
- Q2 2024 bookings: +5.1% QoQ and -9.8% YoY
- Q2 2024 food order clicks: +4.6% QoQ and -19.1% YoY
Enterprise restaurant brands had a good quarter in terms of clicks and impressions, which rose 2.6% and 11.5% respectively. Restaurants have additional GBP performance metrics to consider since Google added food menu, bookings, and food order clicks to restaurant reporting. Clicks for bookings were up 5.1%, while food order clicks grew by 4.6% QoQ.
All types of clicks and impressions were down compared to Q2 2023, but we have to keep in mind the heightened informational needs of consumers in that period when the pandemic was more of a concern.
Restaurants continue to grapple with familiar struggles. In a recent Restaurant365 survey, 32% of restaurant leaders said recruiting and retaining staff remains their greatest challenge. For 30%, sales volume was cited as their most pressing concern.
How your brand meets prospective diners and employees in search factors into both of these issues. Get the definitive guide to online listings for restaurant brands and learn how to get control of your listings, stand out in crowded search results, and sweeten the pot with CX features in local search.
Quick-service restaurants
- Total Q2 2024 impressions: +690.8% QoQ and +931.5% YoY
- Total Q2 2024 clicks: +931.5% QoQ and +549.1% YoY
- Q2 2024 food menu clicks: +9.7% QoQ and +255.5% YoY
Quick-service restaurants saw wild growth in impressions and clicks in Q2, and we see food menu clicks in particular have grown dramatically – over 250% – since the same period last year.
Off-premise sales including takeout, drive-thru and delivery are proving an important revenue stream for restaurants in a challenging market. GuestXM data shows that restaurants with a 68% or greater off-premise sales mix experienced, on average, 3 percentage points higher sales growth than those with under 68%.
Denny’s is capitalizing on this trend with its three virtual brands: The Meltdown, The Burger Den, and Banda Burrito. These virtual brands are helping Denny’s tap into new revenue at different times of the day and appear to previously untapped demographics.
Whether your restaurant has a physical location or uses virtual brands, ghost kitchens, or other innovative ******, you better offer a stellar online experience and have the online reputation profile to match. Competition is fierce, and restaurants rely heavily on their online reputation when hungry diners are making snap decisions in the search results.
Fast review response is table stakes. Improve your game with consistent review monitoring, consistent response, and analyzing review content to identify common themes and other deep analytical insights to transform customer experiences from great to exceptional. What does it look like in practice? Check out how this fast-casual Mexican restaurant brand improved its star rating, grew the volume of 5-star reviews, and eliminated one-star reviews with advanced sentiment analysis.
Hotels
- Q2 2024 impressions: +9.9% QoQ and +7.7% YoY
- Q2 2024 clicks: +8.1% QoQ and +12.4% YoY
- Q2 2024 bookings: -24.7% QoQ and -17% YoY
Total impressions for hotel brands continue their upward trend from Q1, with a further 9.9% growth this past quarter. Clicks are up both quarterly (8.1%) and year-over-year (12.4%), with clicks to call and clicks for directions each gaining over 9% over Q1.
Revenue per available room increased by 3.3%, according to CBRE, who also reported that all location types posted positive RevPAR in May for the first time in 9 months. Their research shows that short-term rentals continue to take share from hotels, with demand growing 13% compared to the 1.5% increase in hotel demand. Hotel brands have just seconds to make an impression with online searchers, and must remove friction in the booking process wherever possible.
Keep property photos fresh and current, making sure each is optimized to support your local presence in search. Using all relevant hotel attributes on each property’s GBP listing is essential, as Google refers to these features and amenities to match locations to people’s queries. There are over 100 hotel attributes available, and they appear on the listing itself, as well.
Another way hotels can fight back against the STR trend is by highlighting the exceptional customer experiences people are having at each location. Having a solid reputation management strategy is essential, and be sure to amplify positive reviews by including them on local pages, too. Get the guide to Google Business Profiles for hospitality brands for tips on these optimizations and more for enterprise hotel brands.
Retail
- Total Q2 2024 impressions: +2% QoQ and -8.9% YoY
- Total Q2 2024 clicks: -3.2% QoQ and -5.9% YoY
Retail impressions rose slightly at 2% over Q1 but landed -8.9% lower than the same period a year ago. Even so, the U.S. Census Bureau finds that retail sales for April 2024 through June 2024 were up 2.5% over Q2 2023.
Close to half of U.S. shoppers (48%) prefer a hybrid experience, up from 43% last year, according to our most recent local consumer behavior study. They want to transition seamlessly between devices, and from online to in-store experiences and back again. Today’s shopper is looking for flexible and convenient delivery ******, too, like buy online, pickup in store (BOPIS) and contactless delivery.
Google Business Profiles make it simple to include this information in your local listings, although it’s difficult to achieve this at scale across hundreds or thousands of stores. And while Google is the dominant search engine in the U.S., it’s not the only place people go to find local businesses to shop with – not by a long shot.
Maintaining your brand’s integrity while empowering online visibility, conversions, and revenue in every location calls for an enterprise-built platform. It’s where you can manage your brand’s listings, local pages, reviews, and reporting all in one place – and it’s called the Local Experience (LX) Platform.
Healthcare
- Total Q2 2024 impressions: -11.9% QoQ and +7.4%YoY
- Total Q2 2024 clicks: -17% QoQ and +14.5% YoY
The upward trend in impressions and clicks for healthcare brands, which have been on the rise since Q4 ‘23, ended this past quarter. Clicks fell -17% in Q2, while impressions dropped to a slightly lesser extent at -11.9%. Even so, both are up year-over-year.
Healthcare is another vertical where trust is essential. Google’s emphasis on information accuracy reflects the higher stakes involved in searches for healthcare services – in fact, having inaccurate information displaying to searchers can prevent your listings from showing up at all. Google calls this Your Money or Your Life (YMYL) content, and the trust bar is higher than for lower stakes topics.
That means local listings accuracy is even more important. Local reviews carry great weight, as Google seeks to understand the experiences patients are having with your clinics, doctor’s offices, and other facilities. Patients are looking for instant answers as to whether you take their insurance, are open when needed, are close enough for them to get there, can provide the care they need, and a lot more.
They’re looking in different places, too. In addition to Google, Apple Maps, Bing and the like, healthcare brands need an active presence on websites like WebMD, Healthgrades, and Vitals. Learn more about local experience solutions for healthcare brands here.
Multi-family residential
- Total Q2 2024 impressions: -14.5% QoQ and -18.2% YoY
- Total Q2 2024 clicks: -20.5% QoQ and -3.5% YoY
For the first time since 2021, U.S. multi-residential vacancy rates declined and settled at 8.6% in Q2 2024. The average monthly asking rate grew to $1849.36, although this is the fifth straight quarter of sub-2% rent growth, according to Cushman & Wakefield’s U.S. Multi-family MarketBeat.
“While the construction pipeline has dwindled and few new projects are breaking ground, approximately 695,000 units remain under construction, which will create more competition for leases over the next 18 months,” their report notes.
Consumers want to explore every inch of an available unit online, making high-quality local photos mission critical. Building features and amenities should be listed in Google attributes, and giving searchers the ability to convert to a booking without leaving the local listing platform can further help increase conversions to an on-site visit.
Look for more data-backed insights to fuel your local search strategy? Download our 2024 Local search consumer behavior study to get the latest trends in search discovery, online reputation, and customer experience insights.
