1. Google My Business (which used to be known as
   Google Local and Google Places) is the platform that powers
   Google's business listings and that gives your business the
   opportunity to show on the local pack, as well as appear in a
   number of different results and manage how their information
   is displayed on each.
   It is a platform that every local business owner should be aware of and
   use given that the information which you submit to your listing can
   appear in a number of different ways on the search engine.
    

2. The average business is found in 1,009 searches per month,
   with 84% of these coming from discovery searches 49% of
   businesses receive more than 1,000 views on search per
   month
   We really recommend businesses have a Discovery goal of over 90%
   because that means people found their service without knowing the
   business already.
    

3. Car dealerships receive the highest number of calls and
   website visits from GMB, while hotels have the highest views
   on search and Maps.
    

4. 5% of Google My Business listing views result in a website
   click, call, or direction request.
    

5. Local businesses have a median of 11 photos on Google
   My Business.
    

6. Between Q4 2017 and Q4 2018, direct searches grew by 38%,
   while website clicks from GMB listings grew 29%.
    

7. A Direct search is when a customer directly searched for your
   business name or address.
   It is essential to provide accurate information for the customers
   to see.
    

8. A Discovery search is when a customer searched for a
   category, product, or service that you offer, and your listing
   appeared.
    

9. Branded searches: A customer searched for your brand or a
   brand related to your business (i.e., the search query
   "Burger King" displayed your restaurant in Google Maps).
   If your listing has appeared at least once in a branded search, you'll see
   it in your reports.
    

10. Total searches is the total number of direct, discovery, and branded searches.
     

11. Google allows both businesses with a physical location and those without to use Google My Business.
    In order to qualify for a Google My Business listing, a business must make in-person contact with customers during its stated hours.
     

12. Complete and accurate Google My Business listings get 7x more clicks than those missing information and are 70% more likely to attract location visits.
    One great practice is to make sure that all the information are complete and accurate when doing Google My Business Listings to get more clicks and visits.
     

13. If you’re just getting started with local SEO, your Google My Business listing is a great place to focus your early efforts. 
    When people search for a product or service near them, they’re usually very close to making a purchase. One in two people who conduct a local search (think “watch repair near me”) visit a store that day. 
     

14. You can add photos and videos (though only short ones of 30 seconds or less) to your listing. The public can add photos, as well, and so does Google.
    Google My Business listing with photos and videos outperforms those without. This makes sense from an SEO standpoint.
     

15. Google My Business dashboard is your main control center. 
    It allows you to control how Google displays your business information across the web.
     

16. Using the Messaging capability within the Google My Business app, you can easily add a “Message” button to your mobile listing.
    This allows customers to communicate with you via text message in just one click.
     

17. Google My Business is a free service, including the Website Builder. 
    For businesses especially those start-up businesses, Google My Business is one of the best marketing strategies you can take advantage of because it is free of charge.
     

18.  Google recommends a 1:1 square ratio for photos posted to your Google My Business Listings.
    The recommended resolution is 720 px wide by 720 px tall in either JPG or PNG format. 
     

19. Google offers three types of users for Google My Business profiles: Owner, Manager, and Site Manager. 
    Each type of user comes with varying functionalities, so make sure to review the capabilities of each role before assigning them. 
     

20. Google automatically identifies Facebook accounts associated with Google My Business pages.
    Just make sure the details on both pages are exactly the same. 
     

21.  84% of people trust online reviews just as much as the word of a friend.
    A listing packed with 5-star ratings and glowing feedback is one of the cornerstones of a solid search engine strategy. 
     

22. If you run and manage multiple businesses that meet the criteria for being listed on Google My Business, you will be able to list more than one location from within a single account.
    By being able to list more than one location within a single account, the person who manages the account will have an easy and less confusing way of managing multiple business locations. 
     

23.  97% of the customers say that reviews influence their buying decision, so review management has to be a top priority for every customer-facing business.
    Brands need to be engaging and interacting with consumers to create an open channel. If you do not respond to the reviews, there is a risk of increasing your customer churn by 15%.
     

24. Statistics show that of the customers who got a response from a company after posting a negative comment, 33% turned around and gave a positive review, while 34% of the people deleted the original negative review. 
    Responding to negative reviews can create positive results.
     

25. 60% of consumers prefer images that will enable them to have a 360º view of the product. 33.16% of the consumers want to see multiple photos of the product, and only 0.52% of the customers want to see a single product photo.
    To avoid product returns and eventually losing customers, it is recommended to add multiple photos of the products.
     

26. Google recommends that the product’s images should be no less than 75% and not more than 90% of the full image.
    Except for the main image of the product, back views and close-ups can be used as additional images online.
     

27. Businesses are 70% more likely to attract local visits from browsers.
    Utilizing Google My Business will surely help businesses in creating traffic to the websites resulting in more exposure which will eventually lead to profit generation.
     

28. Mobile devices have 52% of global internet traffic. 
     

29. A recent report says that US mobile search is roughly 58% of overall search query volume. 
     

30. Food & Beverage has the highest percentage of mobile search volume with 72% and Banking has the lowest mobile search volume with 39%(61% on desktop). 
     

31. Another interesting fact is that mobile queries are slightly longer than PC search queries.
     

32. Also 50% of “near me” Google searches done through mobile results in a store visit.
     

33. 95% of mobile searches in the US are captured by Google.
     

34. 65% of the paid clicks on Google search results are from mobile devices.
     

35. 68% of consumers left a local business review when asked
     

36. 30% of consumers say they’ve judged a business based on its responses to reviews
     

37. “Near me” or "close by" type searches grew by more than 900% over two years. 
    “Near me” queries usually help consumers find a local business that sells the product/service that they are interested in.
     

38. 78% of location-based mobile searches result in an offline purchase.
     

39. 18% of local smartphone searches led to a purchase within a day, whereas only 7% of non-local searches led to a sale. 
     

40. By 2021, mobile devices will influence more than $1.4 trillion in local sales.
     

41. 61% of mobile searchers are more likely to contact a local business if they have a mobile-friendly site.
     

42. 97% of people learn more about a local company online than anywhere else.
     

43. 72% of consumers that did a local search visited a store within five miles.
     

44. 46% of all Google searches are looking for local information. 
     

45. Search result information will send 70% of consumers to a physical store.
     

46. 92% of searchers will pick businesses on the first page of local search results.
     

47. Global retail ecommerce sales will reach $4.5 trillion by 2021.
     

48. 4 in 5 consumers use search engines to find local information.
     

49. Recently Google announced and added to the Google My Business suite, called Google Posts.
    This feature allows businesses to publish short posts with links to news, events, or offers about their products and services, directly in the Google search panel, that displays on the right side in the Google search results.
     

50.  Google My Business report allows you to view key metrics such as key page facts, reviews, average rating, star rating (overall), star rating, sentiment analysis (overall), and sentiment analysis.
     

51.  Key Page Facts shows the following details: 
     

52. Overall Reviews: Total number of reviews from the account creation date. 
     

53. Overall Rating: Overall rating for the business from the account creation date. 
     

54. Total Reviews: Total number of reviews in the selected time period. 
     

55. Average Rating: Average rating for the business in the selected time period.
     

56.  Google My Business reports also allow you to export as Excel or PDF. 
    When you select Export as Excel, the file will download in the browser and if you select Export as PDF, it will send the downloaded document to the respective account Email.
     

57. On Google My Business Report, Reviews function displays the number of reviews posted in the selected time period.
     

58. On Google My Business Report, Average Rating shows the average rating for the business in the selected time period.
     

59. Star Rating (Overall) shows the distribution of star ratings from the account creation date.
    Star Rating (Overall) Per Star = round( (100 * Rating Count Reviews Per Star)/All Reviews Count, 1)
     

60.  Star Rating shows Star rating for the business in the selected time period.
     

61. Sentiment Analysis (Overall) shows the distribution of sentiment analysis from the account creation date.
    Sentiment (Overall) Per Type = round( (100 * Sentiment Count Reviews Per Type)/All Reviews Count, 1)
     

62. Sentiment Analysis shows sentiment analysis for the business in the selected time period.
     

63.  Review statistics displays the review statistics with highest rating and lowest rating.
    Rate Of Change = ((Old time period Reviews - Selected timePeriod Reviews)/(Old time Period Reviews)) * 100
     

64. 64% of consumers use Google My Business to find contact details.
    People want a simplified life where they Google a product, service, category or business and a list of local business contacts pops up. 
     

65. They say “Google is your friend”. If you’re a business owner or manager, you may want to change that to “Google Search is your best friend”. 
    That’s because up to 75% of your Google My Business listing views will come from Search. The remaining 25% originates from Google Maps for local business.
     

66. People who view your GMB listing will soon after visit your website. 56% will check out your website, 24% will give your business a call and 20% will ask for directions.
    Most customers who view your Google My Business listing will check out your website.
     

67. Google My Business allows customers to book your service or make an appointment with just one click.
    There’s a built-in scheduling tool for easily organizing, tracking and managing your bookings in one place.
     

68. Besides giving customers an online place to review your business, Google My Business lets you respond to those reviews.
    This is critically important because you want to be able to react to both positive and negative reviews.
     

69. One of the best things about Google My Business Q&A is that it allows you to pin frequently asked questions.
    Respond to questions so that customers can know more about your business, it’s products and services.
     

70. Posts provide an easy way to give customers updates on your Google My Business listing.
    It’s the perfect place to announce a new product, available offers, promotions etc.
     

71.  The Google My Business marketing site saw a nearly 2X increase in organic traffic, partly attributed to implementing web fundamental best practices.
     

72.  80% of shoppers surveyed say getting shopping done as quickly as possible is important to them when deciding which brand or retailer to buy from.
     

73. 83% of shoppers surveyed say the ability to make easy returns is important to them when deciding which brand or retailer to buy from.
     

74. 48% of shoppers surveyed say they use Google to get helpful recommendations or suggestions on what to buy.
     

75. Search is the No. 1 channel high-value travelers turn to.
     

76. Consolidating content and focusing our energy on one great website doubled Google Retail’s call-to-action click-through rate and increased organic traffic by 64%.
     

77.  Google is the number one review platform; 63.6% of searchers search for reviews on Google before visiting a business.
     

78. There are 3.5 billion searches every day. That volume grows by 10 percent every year.
     

79. Google accounts for 57.5% of all reviews worldwide, across all review platforms. Facebook accounts for 19%, TripAdvisor 8.4% and Yelp with 6.6%. Other platforms account for a modest 8.6%.
     

80. 25.12 to 27.94% of your local search rankings (local pack + localized organic rankings) are dependent on your Google My Business profile according to a 2018 ranking factors study by Moz.
     

81. Online reviews make up another 6.47 to 15.44% of local search ranking factors.
     

82. 42% of customers expect a response to their review in 60 min or less.
     

83. 57% of the customers above expect the same response times on nights and weekends.
     

84. 30% of local customers feel reading your response to reviews is key to judging your business.
     

85.  Google receives over 63,000 searches per second with an average of 3-4 searches each day per person.
    This means that Google is every businessman’s asset that he can take advantage of free of charge.
     

86.  Roughly 75% of clicks go to the first page on Google’s SERPs(Search Engine Results Pages).
    The more clicks means more business leads which eventually lead to sales.
     

87. Google My Business automatically connects to the Google Maps app to provide users with a route to your business.
    This is a great feature of Google My Business to ensure that users/customers will be fully guided with accurate information.
     

88. Google search users (your customers) can add images of your location, products or services.
    This is one great advantage for business owners because this offers free content for the business.
     

89. Google My Business listings that use and optimize photos are 35% more likely to drive user clicks to their website. 
    This provides you with a much higher chance of acquiring a sale. 
     

90. Google is at the center of the internet and has a market share of over 88% as a search engine.
     

91. Businesses with photos receive 42% more requests for driving directions to their location from users on Google, and 35% more clicks through to their websites than businesses that don’t have photos.
    Your unique photos are to help identify your business and the quality of your location and work. With new images slamming the internet every second of every day, users expect to see photos of your business.
     

92. Google My Business adds messaging to the desktop interface. 
    Businesses can now message with customers through their web browser, not just the mobile app.
     

93. Even as more people shop online, searches for ‘available near me’ up over 100% vs. last year.
    Despite new state lockdowns and significant e-commerce growth over Black Friday weekend, large numbers of consumers continue to shop offline.
     

94. 80% of shoppers will consolidate shopping to make fewer trips than in previous years.
    This drastic change was caused mainly by COVID-19 Pandemic.
     

95. 67% of shoppers plan to confirm online that a desired item is in stock before going to buy it.
    Nowadays, People limit themselves to go out to avoid the risk of being infected with the COVID-19 virus that is why it is very important to make sure that businesses put all the accurate information online to properly guide the customers.
     

96. Most businesses in the U.S. fall into a category that some call “very small businesses” (VSBs). In fact, roughly 90% of businesses verified in Google My Business have only one location.
    It’s critical for businesses of all sizes to actively manage their reputations on Google and other review platforms.
     

97. 92% of online buyers like to compare brands online before buying something.
    And most of them head to Google Search to find businesses they’d like to purchase from.
     

98. 49% of all Google My Business listings get more than 1000 searches every month, while 96% of the listings are seen 25 times per month, at least.
     

99.  82% of consumers read online reviews for local businesses.
    This is why it is recommended to encourage the previous and satisfied customers to leave reviews online to bring in good reputation to the business.
     

100.  There are over 3000 Google My Business categories as of 2021 (3942 to be exact).
     It is very essential to select the exact category for your business to ensure that you will be reached by your potential customers.
      

101. Google allows you to select up to 10 categories for your business.
     
      

Sources:

Bright Local, Melanie Deardorff, Podium, Semrush Blog, Daily Blogging, Impact Plus, Hubspot, Embed Social, Mav Social, 360Pix, Think with Google, Grade Us, Beyond Blue Media, Search Engine Land, Kinsta and Oberlo