October 15, 2026
Google Business Profile Posts: Offers, Events and Updates
When someone searches for a café near them, a salon in their area or "best biryani in Indiranagar", your Google Business Profile is often the first thing they see, before your website or your Instagram. Posts let you put something fresh on that listing: this week's offer, an event, a new product, your festive hours.
Most local businesses never post there. That's the opportunity. Here's how Google Business Profile posts work, Google's rules, and how to keep them coming without logging in every week.
The three types of post
Update. "Share info about your business." News, a new arrival, festive opening hours, a tip. It can carry a button such as Book, Order online or Learn more.
Offer. "Provide promotional sales or deals from your business." It needs a title and start and end dates, and can include a description, photo, coupon code, a link to redeem online, and terms and conditions. Google adds a View Offer button automatically.
Event. "Promote an event at your business." It needs a title and start and end dates and times. If you leave the times out, Google shows the event as lasting the whole day.
Where posts show, and for how long
Live posts are public and show on your profile in Google Search and Maps: on phones in the Updates or Overview tab, on desktop under "From the owner". Google reviews each post after you publish it.
How long they stay up: "Posts older than 6 months are archived unless a date range is set." Offers and events have their dates, so they're tied to the period they cover. Updates stay for six months, but an old update makes a listing look neglected, so post fresh ones regularly.
Google's rules that catch people out
- No phone numbers in the text. Google "may remove posts with unverified contact information", including "phone numbers, email addresses, and social media handles". Use a Call button instead.
- Hotels can't post offers.
- Use good photos. For your profile, Google asks for JPG or PNG between 10 KB and 5 MB, recommends 720 × 720 pixels, and needs at least 250 × 250.
What to post (ideas for local businesses)
- A weekly special as an Offer: "Weekday lunch thali, ₹199, Monday to Friday", with the dates set so it drops off when it ends.
- Festive hours as an Update before Diwali, Eid, Christmas or a long weekend, with a Call button.
- Events: a workshop, a tasting, a sale weekend, a live match screening.
- New stock or a new service, with a photo and an Order online or Book button.
- Proof: a photo of a finished job, a happy customer (with permission), a before and after.
One post a week keeps a listing looking alive. Tie offers to real dates so customers never find an expired deal.
How to schedule Google Business Profile posts in PostStage
1. Open the Google Business composer and choose your location under Post to locations. If you run several branches, tick them all: PostStage creates one post per location with the same content.
2. Choose the post type: Update, Event or Offer.
3. Fill in the details.
- Events and offers need a title (up to 58 characters) and a start and end date. Events can have start and end times.
- Offers can add a coupon code (for example, SUMMER20), a redeem-online URL and terms & conditions.
- Every post needs a Summary, up to 1,500 characters.
4. Add a button (optional). On updates and events, tick Call-to-Action button and choose Book, Order online, Buy, Learn more, Sign up or Call now. Call now uses your location's own phone number, so you don't need a link.
5. Add a photo (optional): one JPEG or PNG.
6. Pick the date and time, and press Schedule post. It goes out at the exact second you set. Plan a month of posts in one sitting, and they appear on your listing week by week.
Bonus: track the visits. Turn on link tracking in your workspace settings, and the links on your buttons get campaign labels, so Google Analytics shows which post sent each visitor to your website.
Post to Google, Instagram and Facebook together
The same offer usually belongs on Instagram and Facebook too. In PostStage's Cross-Post composer you can write it once and tick your Google Business location alongside your Instagram account and Facebook Page, so everything goes out together, each in its own format.
Google Business Profile posting is included on every PostStage plan, Free included.
Frequently asked questions
How long do Google Business Profile posts last? Posts older than six months are archived unless they have a date range, as offers and events do.
Can I put my phone number in a Google Business post? Better not: Google may remove posts with unverified phone numbers, emails or social handles. Add a Call button instead.
Can I schedule Google Business Profile posts? Yes. In PostStage, write the post, pick a date and time, and it goes out then. You can schedule to several locations at once.
What's the best type of post? Offers, when you have a real deal with dates, because they get their own View Offer button. Otherwise, regular updates with a photo and a button.
Do Google Business posts help with ranking? Google doesn't say posts improve your ranking. They do give people who find your listing a reason to choose you: a current offer, an event, proof you're open and active.