Gulf business owners often get a long report and still ask, “Is it working?” This guide explains what the two main free Google reports show, using Google's own help pages, so you can follow your monthly summary with confidence. It follows our guide to what a remote team does for your local SEO every month.
1. Report one: Business Profile performance
Google says this data is available only for verified profiles, and you must be signed in to the Google account linked to the profile. It shows how customers find your profile on Search and Maps and what they do next. Only the measures that apply to your business appear. Google lists these:
| Measure | What Google says it counts |
|---|---|
| Views | How many people viewed your profile on Search and Maps. It counts unique visitors, and one person is counted once a day |
| Searches | The search terms people used when your profile appeared. Updated at the start of each month and can take up to 5 days to show |
| Directions | How many people asked for directions to your business |
| Calls | Times a customer clicked the call button. You need a phone number on the profile |
| Website clicks | Times people clicked the website link on your profile |
| Messages | The number of different conversations through messages |
| Bookings | Completed bookings, only when they go through a booking provider |
Google adds that this data includes both organic search results and Google Ads, and that the view count may be lower than the numbers in your email notifications because of how it counts. You cannot directly manage the search terms that show up. You can choose the time period at the top of the report, so compare one full month with the one before.
2. Report two: Search Console performance
Search Console is free and tells you how your website appears in Google Search. Google's Performance report has four measures:
- Clicks: times a user clicked your site from Google Search results.
- Impressions: how many times your site appeared in results.
- CTR (click-through rate): clicks divided by impressions.
- Average position: the average position of the topmost result from your site.
The default view covers the past three months. You can group the table by queries, pages, countries, devices, search appearance or dates, and filter by web, image, video or news search. For a Gulf business, the countries and queries tabs answer two useful questions: are the visitors from the countries you serve, and which words brought them?
3. Three cautions from Google
- A query can appear in your list even if you do not see your site when you search it yourself. Google says results depend on the time, place, device and recent history of the searcher.
- The newest data can be preliminary and may change within hours, so do not judge today's figure.
- Chart totals and table totals can differ. Google says this is usually because of how they are aggregated, by site or by page.
4. A five-minute monthly routine
- Open Business Profile performance and choose last month. Note views, calls, directions and website clicks.
- Compare with the month before. Write down what went up, what went down.
- Open Search Console Performance and check clicks and impressions for the same dates, then the countries tab.
- Look at the top queries and pages. Do they match the services you want to sell?
- Ask your team to explain any big change in plain words and to say what they will do next month.
5. What good reporting looks like
A useful report names the month, shows this month beside last month, says in a sentence what changed and why it may have changed, and lists next steps. It does not hide behind jargon. Any report that promises a number one position is a red flag, because Google says there is no way to request or pay for a better local ranking.
How Futurum Works handles this
Futurum Works is a remote-first digital agency serving Kerala, Bangalore and the GCC. We build websites and custom software and run SEO and Google Ads for businesses in the UAE, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, Oman, Kuwait and Bahrain. Our marketing plan is the Complete Digital Growth Package at ₹2,999 a month, which includes Google Business Profile management with a clear monthly scope. Website and app builds are quoted separately. Message us on WhatsApp and we will tell you what fits. Previous: photos, logo and video on your Business Profile.
Frequently asked questions
Where do I see my Google Business Profile performance?
Sign in to the Google account linked to your verified profile, open your Business Profile and click Performance, then choose a time period and apply it.
What is CTR in Search Console?
Click-through rate: the number of clicks divided by the number of impressions.
Why do my Search Console queries not match what I see when I search?
Google says search results are specific to the time, place, device and recent history of the person searching, so your own search can differ.
Do these reports show a guaranteed ranking?
No. They show what already happened. Google says there is no way to request or pay for a better local ranking.
Sources: Google Business Profile Help: Understand your Business Profile performance & insights; Search Console Help: Performance report (Search results): Overview and basic setup; Google Business Profile Help: Tips to improve your local ranking on Google.
