If you are an electrician or any other tradesperson relying on Google to bring in local jobs, your Google Business Profile insights dashboard is one of the most valuable screens you will ever ignore. It tells you exactly how customers find you, what they do next, and where you are losing opportunities. The problem is that Google presents this data in a way that feels like it was designed for marketing analysts, not people who spend their days on site.
This guide walks through the dashboard section by section, translating every metric into something useful. If you have already read our companion piece on how to read your GBP insights, think of this as the visual tour — we are going screen by screen through the interface itself. And if you would rather have someone interpret these numbers for you each month, here is how our managed service works.
Where to find the dashboard
Log into your Google Business Profile at business.google.com or through the Google Maps app. On desktop, click "Performance" in the left-hand menu. On mobile, tap "Profile" then scroll to "Performance insights." Google has moved this around several times over the years, so if you cannot find it, search for your business name in Google, click "Manage your Business Profile," and look for the Performance tab.
The dashboard defaults to the last 28 days. You can change this to 7 days, 3 months, or 6 months using the date selector in the top right. For most trades, the 3-month view gives the clearest picture because it smooths out the quiet weeks.
Overview: the numbers at the top
The first thing you see is a row of headline figures. These typically include total interactions, direction requests, calls, website clicks, and bookings (if you have that feature enabled). Each figure shows a percentage change compared to the previous period.
Calls, direction requests, website clicks, and bookings combined into one total.
A green arrow means growth. Red means a drop. Compare like-for-like periods to account for seasonality.
Do not panic if the percentage change is red. Seasonal dips are normal. A heating engineer will naturally see fewer interactions in July than in January. What matters is the trend over three to six months and whether your numbers compare well against others in your trade. We cover benchmarks in detail in our guide to how many GBP views a tradesperson should get each month.
How customers search for you
This section breaks your visibility into three categories: direct searches, discovery searches, and branded searches. Understanding the difference changes how you think about your profile.
- Direct searches happen when someone types your exact business name. These are people who already know you exist — perhaps from a recommendation or a van they spotted.
- Discovery searches happen when someone searches for a service or category, such as "electrician near me" or "emergency plumber Cardiff." These are the high-value searches where you win new customers.
- Branded searches are less common for sole traders but appear when someone searches for a brand you are associated with.
For most tradespeople, discovery searches should make up at least 60-70% of your total. If direct searches dominate, it usually means your profile is not ranking well for general service terms. We break this down further in our article on search vs maps vs direct traffic, which explains what each traffic type signals about your visibility.
A strong business description packed with the right service keywords is one of the simplest ways to increase discovery searches. If your description reads like a generic company bio, you are leaving those searches on the table.
Where customers view your profile
Google splits views into two sources: Google Search and Google Maps. The search figure tells you how often your profile appeared in regular search results or the local pack (the map with three listings that shows above organic results). The maps figure tells you how often someone found you while browsing Google Maps directly.
For service-area trades like electricians and plumbers, search views typically outweigh maps views by two or three to one. That is because most customers start with a Google search rather than opening Maps. If your maps views are unusually high relative to search, it could mean you have a strong physical presence but weak search optimisation — or that competitors are outranking you in the local pack.
What counts as a view
A view is counted each time your listing appears on screen, whether or not the customer clicks on it. This means your view count is really an impressions figure. A high view count with low interactions suggests your profile is showing up but not compelling people to act. Common causes include a missing profile photo, too few reviews, or an incomplete listing.
Customer actions: calls, directions, and clicks
This is where the dashboard gets practical. Google tracks four main actions:
- Phone calls — taps on your phone number
- Direction requests — taps on the directions button
- Website clicks — taps through to your website
- Bookings — if you use a booking integration
Each action tells you something different. Calls are the most direct indicator of a potential job. Direction requests suggest the customer is planning to visit your premises or meet you on site. Website clicks mean they want more information before committing.
If your call numbers are low but website clicks are high, your profile might be missing key information that would let customers call straight away. Check that your services, hours, and service area are fully filled in.
For service-area businesses, direction requests can be misleading. If you travel to the customer rather than having them come to you, a low direction request count is perfectly normal. Do not chase a metric that does not match your business model. Our guide on service area settings explains how to configure this properly.
Photos and media performance
Scroll further down the dashboard and you will find data on your photos. Google shows how many times your photos have been viewed and how your photo count compares to similar businesses in your area.
This section is more useful than it looks. Businesses with more photos than the local average consistently get more interactions. Google itself has published data showing that profiles with 100+ photos get 520% more calls than the average listing. Even if that figure has shifted since, the principle holds: real photos of your work, your team, and your van build trust faster than any written description.
If your photo views are climbing but your calls are flat, it might mean people are browsing but not converting. That is a signal to look at other parts of your profile — reviews, description, and services — to close the gap.
Popular times and busy periods
If your business has a physical location that customers visit, the dashboard shows estimated busy periods based on aggregated location data. For most tradespeople who work on site at customer properties, this section will either be empty or irrelevant. Do not worry about it if it does not apply to you.
However, if you run a trade counter, showroom, or workshop that customers visit, this data is gold. It tells you when footfall peaks, which helps you plan staffing and opening hours.
Putting the numbers to work
Reading the dashboard is only useful if you act on what it tells you. Here is a simple monthly routine that takes ten minutes:
- Check your discovery search percentage. If it is below 60%, your profile needs better keyword coverage in your description and services.
- Compare total interactions month on month. A steady upward trend means your profile is healthy.
- Look at your call-to-view ratio. If fewer than 5% of views result in a call, something is putting customers off before they pick up the phone.
- Review your photo count against the local average. If you are below it, add five to ten new photos from recent jobs.
- Note any sudden drops. If interactions fell sharply, check whether your profile was edited, whether a competitor launched nearby, or whether it is simply a seasonal pattern.
For a deeper look at what healthy numbers look like across different trades, read our benchmarking guide on how many views you should expect per month.
Let us handle the numbers
If this feels like a lot to track on top of running a business, that is because it is. Most tradespeople we work with tried monitoring their dashboard for a month or two before deciding their time was better spent on the tools.
We monitor your Google Business Profile insights dashboard every month, flag anything unusual, and make the changes needed to keep your numbers moving in the right direction. If you want to see where your profile stands right now, grab a free audit for your trade — it takes two minutes and shows you exactly what Google sees when customers search for what you do.