Google My Business updates the directions heatmap in Insights reporting

Google My Business has updated the Insights analytics tool within Google My Business to let business owners see a heatmap of locations from which searchers request directions to their businesses.

Allyson Wright, the community manager for Google My Business, announced that Google has “made some changes to your directions heatmap.” Specifically, the new directions heatmap should allow businesses to track which areas customers are requesting directions from and show that to you on this map at various zoom levels. “Direction requests from some post codes may appear as blank due to user privacy consideration but are included at the city level,” Allyson said.

The help document was updated and now reads:

This section shows where on the map people request directions to your business. You’ll see your location pinned on the map, and a map that shows the most popular places from which people ask Google Maps for directions to your address. You may also see the total number of requests broken down by city or neighborhood.

On the map, you can zoom in and out on the map using the + and – icons on the bottom-right corner.

Here is a screen shot of what I see in this specific report for my business:

This information should help businesses get a better handle on the geographies from which they are attracting customers, allowing them to tailor their operations or marketing outreach accordingly.

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Barry Schwartz

Barry Schwartz a Contributing Editor to Search Engine Land and a member of the programming team for SMX events. He owns RustyBrick, a NY based web consulting firm. He also runs Search Engine Roundtable, a popular search blog on very advanced SEM topics. Barry's personal blog is named Cartoon Barry and he can be followed on Twitter here.