This week's two updates fix the two biggest blind spots in Google Business Profile. One protects the accuracy of your listing. The other finally tells you which posts get seen.
1. The new Collected Info tab is live
What it is: Under Edit profile → Collected info, Google now shows you the raw data its automated assistant collected about the business, from automated calls, texts, and WhatsApp verifications, plus licensed data and web finds. Each entry shows the source, the collection date, and the original language.
It rolled out with limited availability, select regions, languages and categories first, so if you manage multiple profiles you won't see it everywhere yet.
What it does NOT do: Deleting an item only removes it from Google's collected records. It does not auto-correct your live profile. You still have to fix the public field separately.
This is huge because wrong collected info is how you get phantom hours, services you don't offer, or accessibility attributes you never added. Those are all things Google uses to decide if you should surface for a query.
The September audit playbook
Check one location per owner: Look for entries that came from a front-desk person answering an automated call. That's where bad hours and services slip in.
Delete outdated, then fix live: Delete in Collected Info, then immediately check the Search and Maps view and edit the actual profile field if it's still wrong.
Create your source-of-truth lock: Document correct hours, services, and attributes in a sheet. Use it to train staff: "If Google auto-calls, this is the answer."
Make it an SOP: Add "Collected Info review" to your onboarding and quarterly audit checklist. It's now your early warning before Google auto-updates a listing to blue text.
2. Post view counts are back
After being killed on February 20, 2023, per-post view counts returned in the September 10 Small Business Bulletin posted by Google's Lisa Landsman.
Specs:
Shows on each post card in the dashboard: Updates, Offers, Events
Rolling 18-month window
Combined views from Search + Maps in one number
Dashboard only, no API yet, so you can't pull it into a reporting tool at scale
Google framed it as taking the guesswork out of which offers and updates resonate best. One caution: Google has not said whether a "view" is a unique person or every appearance, so treat the number as a comparison between your own posts, not a hard audience count.
How to use it
Posts don't rank you directly. But a fresh, active profile is part of what Google reads when it decides who to show, and now you can finally measure what actually gets eyeballs.
Run an 18-month post autopsy: Sort by views. Check whether your winners are Offers with a price and photo, or Events with local keywords, and see how your text-only Updates stack up against them.
Double down on format: Whatever wins, schedule more of it. Stop guessing.
Create proof-based posts: Make a post template: "This week in [your city]: [post topic], viewed 1.2k times this month." View counts become social proof.
Manual tracking until the API lands: Screenshot view counts monthly into a sheet. Track post type, keyword in the first 80 characters, photo vs video, and views. After a few months you'll know what your local market responds to.
Bottom line
Collected Info protects accuracy. Post views optimize freshness. Do both this week and you're working the two levers Google just made visible. One stops you from being filtered out for wrong data. The other tells you what content actually keeps you visible.
Want to see how this fits the full Local Guide Method, where your customers do your SEO for you? Join me this Wednesday.
Own the map. Own the market.
Google Greg