Before I get into the local SEO benefits of Google My Business Posts, let me first show you the easiest way to create a post for your own business.  Creating posts for your GMB listing is pretty straight forward, and there are lots of different use cases for GMB posts.  So it’s worth the time to create posts and split test what’s working best for your business.

How To Post an Article to Google My Business / Create A GMB Post

Step 1.  Make sure you are logged in to the Google account that owns or manages your Google My Business listing

Step 2.  Once logged in, simply Google the name of your business to see the “Create Post” button (see screenshot below):

*** Alternatively, once you are logged into the right Google account that manages the GMB listing, you can simply visit: Google My Business

that will take you to the GMB management dashboard.

Step 3. Click the “CREATE POST” button to start creating your GMB post.

If you went to the GMB dashboard instead, it’s a little more wonky getting to the “Post” editor.

So from your dashboard, click the listing you want to add a post to. Once that opens, I click the “Add Photos” options all the way at the bottom of the page (scroll all the down… you’ll see it).

Once you click “Add photos” it will then take you to a menu list where you’ll see “Posts”

Here’s a screenshot showing what that looks like:

Update 11/15/2017:  One great use we are seeing with Google Local Business Posts is to use reviews as content to share as new posts.  I shared an answer on Quora that speaks to this as well… but I believe you should be replying to every review, regardless if its positive or negative.  And you can then take each of those reviews, along with your reply, and share that as a new posts on your GMB listing.  Another quick review tip that I shared on Quora… you should also include phrases that speak to the business category or topic referenced in the review (product, service, etc…).

Here’s the part of the answer on Quora that gives an example of this:

Use specific product or service phrases in your reviews. So if you are a dentist in Atlanta and a patient just left you a review for the root canal they received at your practice, in your reply make sure you speak directly to the “root canal” and thank them for visiting your “dental practice”, etc… reviews are pieces of content that get attributed to your GMB listing (speaking directly of Google Maps listing) and can add tremendous reinforcement to the influence around categorical or topically related keyword phrases.

Google just released the Google My Business Posts feature to all verified GMB listings.  This new tool was released in Beta to only select, large enterprise brands and celebrities.

In summary, Google My Business Posts allows local businesses to post updates in a similar way you would post updates on your Facebook business page.  Here’s a list of features that Google mentioned in their release update:

• Share daily specials or current promotions that encourage new and existing customers to take advantage of your offers.
• Promote events and tell customers about upcoming happenings at your location.
• Showcase your top products and highlight new arrivals.
• Choose one of the available options to connect with your customers directly from your Google listing: give them a one-click path to make a reservation, sign up for a newsletter, learn more about latest offers, or even buy a specific product from your website.

Google My Business Posts and Local SEO

Sharing relevant content and information about your local business will help make your Google local listing more relevant and active.  This ‘relevance’ factor will, in turn, engage users in a more in-depth way than what was previously available.  Basically, up to now, a visitor from Google Maps would see general meta data about your local business like hours of operations, reviews, address, phone #, etc…

Google My Business Posts now allows you to take that user interaction more further with news, information, videos, and photos.

The sharing of posts will naturally include information about your local business, products, and services as well.  And the more information you share specific to your business and location, the more “location rich” meta data you’ll be building into your Google My Business listing.

And when it comes to local SEO… i.e. ranking in Google local / Google Maps search results, this means building more location authority for local listing.

The more location authority you have, the more presence you’ll achieve in the local search results for a wide range of topically related keyword phrases and searches.

Example of Location Authority Takeoff

Here’s a great example of what happens when your Google Maps listing reaches a certain level, or certain threshold of location authority:

Notice from March 2016 thru October 2016 (7 months), the location authority was slowly building.

But then something between October 2016 and November 2016, this local business reaches a threshold of location authority that drove them into the top rankings in Google local / Google Maps search results.

This local business went from getting 52 calls per month to 359 calls per month, which is a 590% increase in phone calls.

That’s the power of location authority in local SEO.

Adding new posts to your GMB listing is a simple way for any local business to generate new, locally relevant content and publish it directly to your GMB listing.

For any given post you create, you can add context by including relevant information, tags, and keyword phrases.

With all of this new content being published directly on your GMB listing, you will be contributing greatly to building your location authority.

And in turn, helping your local business get found across the thousands of topically related searches that happen everyday as people search for your type of business, products, and services in your local market.

When you share posts on your Google business page, they will appear in the local search results / Google Maps search results as updates that visitors can click and read.

Here’s an example of Bipper Media’s Google Maps listing showing the two latest posts:

And then here’s what the posts looks like when you click on it via desktop:

Resources:

• Google Opens Up Direct-To-Search And Map Posts To Local Businesses (via GeoMarketing.com / Yext)

• Make your business stand out on Google with Posts (via Google Small Business)