A new button appeared in Google My Business this summer: Create a post. A photo, a few lines of text and, optionally, a button such as "Book" or "Learn more" appear directly in the business listing, in search results and on Maps, at no cost.
When dive operators ask whether the feature is worth the effort, our answer is clear: it is free space at the top of Google, and it should be used.
Most businesses have not yet adopted it. Among the listings around Lembongan and Penida, very few contain any posts.
What are Google My Business posts?
Short updates with a photo, displayed directly in the business listing. The Google listing, meaning the panel that appears on the right when someone searches the business name or the card in Maps, has always been fairly static: name, address, hours, photos and reviews. It could be edited, but it offered no way to communicate.
Posts change that. A business can publish a short update with a photo: a special offer, an event, a new course, or a notice of closure for a ceremony day. The post appears in the listing, where people are already looking, with no advertising budget and no followers required. Anyone who searches for the business, or finds it on the map, can see it.
There is one constraint. Regular posts disappear from the listing after seven days, while event posts remain until the event date has passed. The feature therefore requires ongoing attention: keeping the space filled means posting every week.
This is likely why so few businesses use it: one more weekly task alongside Facebook, Instagram and TripAdvisor replies. The concern is understandable, but in our assessment these are the most valuable five minutes of the three.
Why should a dive centre use Google posts?
Because the people searching the business name are often close to booking. They heard about the centre from a friend or saw it on TripAdvisor, and they are checking it before sending a message. What they see at that moment matters considerably.
A listing with a recent post, a good photo of the week's conditions and a note that two places remain on Saturday's trip to Manta Point signals an active business. A listing with nothing but a two-year-old photo of the shop front raises doubt.
The same applies to a warung, a homestay, a surf school or a spa. People who search a business's name are its warmest prospects, and they should see current information.
How should a small business use Google posts?
By posting weekly, keeping each post focused, and making full use of event posts.
How often should a business post?
Every week. The seven-day expiry effectively requires it; one missed week and the space is empty again. We recommend choosing a fixed day, such as Monday morning after the boats leave, and scheduling the task like any other routine operation, such as filling the tanks.
What makes an effective post?
One photo and one action. Effective posts share the same structure: one strong photo taken by someone at the business rather than a stock image, a few sentences conveying a single message, and one button with a single purpose, such as "Book," "Sign up" or "Learn more," linking to the relevant page of the website rather than the home page.
Ineffective posts try to say everything at once: the week's specials, a new course, the staff party and a link to the Facebook page. Such posts are not read on a phone, nor on a computer.
The photo crop also deserves attention. Google crops the image in the listing, and a wide shot of a manta can end up as a close-up of blue water. The result should be checked after publication.
Why are event posts particularly useful?
Because they remain visible until the event ends. The event format is especially well suited to dive centres: a night dive, a beach cleanup, or a Specialty course starting on a set date. Once dates are entered, the post stays up until the event is over. For a small business with a regular calendar, this amounts to nearly free advertising, and it bypasses the seven-day limit.
Every item on the calendar is a potential post: full moon trips, a ceremony day when the centre is closed, the start of manta season, a new boat.
What remains uncertain about Google posts?
Their effect on rankings. SEO professionals are already asking whether regular posting improves local rankings. The effect may be small or nonexistent. The feature is too new for reliable evidence either way, so we do not recommend relying on it for that purpose.
The more likely value lies in conversion rather than ranking: a prospective customer finds the business, sees that it is open and active, and taps "Book." That is the objective. Any ranking benefit would be an additional advantage.
Google is also clearly developing the listing into something larger. Messaging is beginning to appear, allowing people to text a business directly from its listing, and a questions and answers section is appearing on listings in Maps, where anyone can ask and anyone can answer. The latter requires vigilance: if a business does not answer questions about itself, someone else will, possibly incorrectly. It should be monitored.
All of these developments point in the same direction. Google intends the listing to become the place where people interact with a business, before they reach its website. Reservations about this trend are reasonable, but the listing should nonetheless appear active.
How can a business start this week?
By verifying the basics, then publishing a first post. Log in to Google My Business. If the account has not been reviewed recently, first check the fundamentals: correct hours, correct phone number, an appropriate category and recent photos. These form the foundation of local SEO and matter more than any post.
Then publish one post: one photo taken by the business, two or three sentences and one button. Google's help page on how to create posts explains the process step by step, including event and offer posts.
If the weekly habit is the difficulty, the task can be handled like the rest of the business's social media: prepare four posts at once on a quiet afternoon and publish one each week. The method is simple, and it is far more effective than posts that are never written.