Google Business Profile engagement spans discovery searches, profile views, website clicks, calls, direction requests, and review interactions. The benchmarks below combine BrightLocal studies from September 2017–December 2018 and 2024–2026 with Whitespark’s 2024 analysis of 800,000 listings. Because the studies cover different years, populations, and measures, each figure should be read with its stated period and geography.
Contents
- Google Business Profile discovery benchmarks
- Profile views and customer actions
- Action and conversion rates
- Calls, directions, and website-click timing
- Feature adoption, claiming, and review volume
- Reviews and local-search engagement
Google Business Profile discovery benchmarks
BrightLocal’s Google My Business Insights Study – Benchmark Your Business’s GMB Insights measured listing performance from September 2017 through December 2018. In that study, the median local business listing appeared in 1,009 Google searches per month. This total included 157 direct searches, in which the searcher used the business name or address, and 852 discovery searches, in which the searcher used a category, product, or service.
Discovery was the larger source of visibility. Discovery searches represented 84% of the average listing’s searches, compared with 16% for direct searches. Thirty-four percent of businesses appeared in more than 1,000 discovery searches per month, while 83% appeared in discovery searches more than 25 times per month.
The study also reported differences by country. Businesses in Canada averaged 1,229 monthly direct and discovery searches, the highest country total reported. Listings in the United States averaged 1,035 monthly direct and discovery searches. Direct searches grew 38% year over year between Q4 2017 and Q4 2018.
These figures show why discovery visibility matters alongside branded demand. A profile can be found by people who already know the business, but the larger share of searches in this benchmark came from category, product, or service queries. The result is a useful distinction for SEO reporting: branded searches describe existing awareness, while discovery searches describe visibility in broader local intent.
Profile views and customer actions
The same BrightLocal study found that a typical Google Business Profile generated 59 customer actions per month across website clicks, calls, and direction requests. Website visits made up 56% of actions on the average listing, and the average listing generated 33 website clicks per month.
Interaction volume varied substantially across businesses. Sixteen percent of businesses received more than 100 calls per month from their listing, and 19% received more than 100 direction requests per month. At the other end of the funnel, only 5% of listing views resulted in a website click, call, or direction request in the benchmark dataset.
The study’s quarterly comparison gives additional context:
| Measure | Q4 2017 | Q4 2018 |
|---|---|---|
| Average monthly views | 1,370 | 1,325 |
| Average monthly actions | 53 | 64 |
| Listing-view-to-action rate | 3.87% | 4.83% |
The quarterly numbers are averages, while the earlier 1,009-search figure is a median. They should not be combined as if they describe the same statistic. Within the quarterly comparison, average views were 1,370 per month in Q4 2017 and 1,325 in Q4 2018, while average actions increased from 53 to 64 per month.
The practical implication is that visibility and engagement can move differently. A listing may receive fewer views in one comparison period while generating more recorded actions. For performance reviews, views alone therefore do not describe the whole customer journey; actions provide a second measure of whether search exposure led to a measurable next step.
Action and conversion rates
BrightLocal reported a listing-view-to-action rate of 3.87% in Q4 2017 and 4.83% in Q4 2018. Across the full September 2017–December 2018 study period, the rate was 4.68%. The study also described the broader benchmark as only 5% of listing views resulting in a website click, call, or direction request.
Country and action-type differences add detail to the overall rate. Australian businesses had a median of 67 monthly actions, the highest country median reported. U.S. businesses had a median of 14 monthly direction requests.
Between Q4 2017 and Q4 2018, website clicks from listings grew 29% and calls from listings grew 22%. Direction requests declined 13% across the study’s comparison period. Those changes point to a mixed engagement pattern: digital visits and phone interactions increased in the comparison, while requests for navigation moved downward.
The figures should be used as benchmarks rather than universal targets. A percentage based on listing views depends on how views and actions were recorded in the study, and a business’s customer journey may emphasize calls, visits, or directions differently. Reporting the action type next to the rate keeps the measure interpretable.
Calls, directions, and website-click timing
Timing can matter as much as volume when a profile generates phone leads. In the September 2017–December 2018 BrightLocal study, the most likely two-hour window for receiving listing calls was 10 a.m. to noon.
The pattern differed by category. Restaurants received 32% of their listing calls on weekends, and 51% of their listing calls after 5 p.m. Bars received 36% of their listing calls on Fridays and Saturdays. Locksmiths received 34% of their listing calls after 5 p.m., while 8% arrived before 9 a.m.
Some verticals also recorded high monthly interaction medians. Car dealerships had a median of 167 monthly calls from Google Business Profile listings and a median of 576 monthly website visits from their listings. These are category-specific medians and should not be treated as a general local-business average.
The timing statistics support a simple measurement discipline: compare the hours and days when customers interact with the profile against the hours when the business can respond. A call benchmark is more useful when paired with the relevant operating schedule and the action type being measured. The supplied study reports timing shares and medians, not a universal staffing recommendation.
Feature adoption, claiming, and review volume
Whitespark’s GMB Feature Adoption & Trends: What We Learned From Studying 800,000 Listings reported 2024 feature-adoption and profile-content statistics. Only 49% of the businesses studied had claimed their Google Business Profile listing. That leaves a substantial share of listings without a claim in this dataset, although the result is specific to the businesses and methodology in the 2024 analysis.
Review volume was also concentrated at the lower end. Sixty-two percent of businesses had between zero and 10 reviews, while only 11% had more than 100 reviews. Forty-three percent of businesses had ratings above 4.5 stars.
Several profile features showed limited adoption. Only 4% of all businesses studied were actively publishing Google Posts, and only 4% had Products listed on their Google Business Profile.
| 2024 Whitespark measure | Share of businesses |
|---|---|
| Listing claimed | 49% |
| Between zero and 10 reviews | 62% |
| More than 100 reviews | 11% |
| Actively publishing Google Posts | 4% |
| Products listed | 4% |
| Rating above 4.5 stars | 43% |
The adoption figures describe profile completeness and activity, while the rating figure describes an outcome observed in the same analysis. They are not conversion rates. A low feature-adoption share can identify an underused profile capability, but it does not by itself establish how many calls, clicks, or visits that feature produces.
Reviews and local-search engagement
Review behavior provides a more recent view of local-search engagement. BrightLocal’s Local Consumer Review Survey 2024 reported that Google was used by 81% of consumers for reading online reviews in 2024. In that survey, only 47% of consumers said they would use a business that does not respond to reviews at all.
BrightLocal’s Local Consumer Review Survey 2025 reported that only 4% of consumers said they never read online business reviews in the 2025 survey. The measure is not directly comparable with the 2024 Google-platform usage figure, because it describes review-reading frequency rather than use of a particular platform.
The 2026 BrightLocal survey, titled LCRS 2026: Study Shows Reviews Matter More Than Ever, reported several quantified outcomes. In the 2026 survey, 85% of consumers said positive reviews make them more likely to use a business. Fifty-four percent said they check a business’s website after reading positive reviews, 66% conducted further research, and 34% were ready to make a purchase or booking after reading a positive review.
Negative reviews also affected intent: 77% of consumers said negative reviews deter them from using a business in the 2026 survey. Review generation was measurable too. Forty-five percent of consumers left a Google review during the 12 months covered by the 2026 survey, and 83% of consumers who were asked to leave a review went on to leave one.
Response expectations were high. Eighty-nine percent of consumers expected a response to their reviews in the 2026 survey. Thirty-two percent expected a response by the following day, and 81% expected to hear back within a week.
Together, these findings connect review management with several engagement stages: reading a review, researching a website, considering a purchase or booking, and deciding whether a business is credible enough to use. They do not prove that a specific response time or review count will produce a particular number of profile actions. They do show that review visibility, review requests, and responses are measurable parts of the local-search experience.
For reporting, keep the measures separate: discovery searches show how a profile is found; views show exposure; clicks, calls, and directions show recorded actions; and review statistics show consumer behavior and expectations around trust. The source periods and geographies differ, so each benchmark is most useful when compared with the same measure in the same reporting context.