Create and Schedule Google Posts

Post types

• Hotels and other lodging profiles cannot post offers, and their posts may not mention deals or discounts. Google does not allow either, so both are refused before sending

Text rules

• Up to 1,500 characters. Autopilot and Write It for Me aim for 40 to 80 words, with the point in the first sentence
• Phone numbers and email addresses are stopped before sending. Use the Call button for the phone number
• A link or @handle you type gets a heads-up: Google Business Profile may not show links in the text. Use the button instead. It goes out if you release it. AI-written text never includes them
• AI-written posts carry no hashtags by default. To end every post with the same tags, set a fixed list under Hashtags in the playbook or in Voice and Instructions. A hashtag you type yourself gets a heads-up and goes out if you release it
• The Checks panel lists what Must be fixed: and what to Check this: while you type

Photo

• One photo per post: Choose from Library, or Upload a Photo, or drop or paste a photo into the box. Uploads stay in the library for later posts. A post can also go without one
• Use real photos of the business, its work and its team. Google asks businesses to avoid stock photos and heavily edited images
• Upload JPEG, PNG or WebP photos up to 20 MB under Posts -> Media (iPhone HEIC photos too, where supported), with a description of what each one shows
• A 4:3 photo fits Google's post layout best. Set a focal point (Edit on the photo, then click the part that matters most) so crops keep it in view
• The copy sent to Google is a JPG, and the camera's own location is removed. Your original stays as you uploaded it
• With Photo Location on (the default), each copy sent with a post is tagged with the business's town, name and services. See Photo Library and Photo Location

• Photo Library and Photo Location

Button

• Updates and events take one button, or No button. An offer uses Google's own offer layout: put the offer's page in Where to redeem it
• Links get tracking tags when the post is scheduled: utm_source=google, utm_medium=organic and utm_campaign=gbp-post-update (or -offer, -event). A tag already on your link is kept as it is

Write It for Me

Type a topic in What Should the Post Be About? (optional: Leave it empty and the draft uses the business facts.), and click Write It for Me. A draft is written on your AI key from the facts confirmed under Posts -> Settings, Business Facts. It takes up to a minute, and a finished draft shows Why This Post.

• Needs an AI provider. Without one, customers read Ask followed by your agency name to switch on AI writing, and can still write by hand
• Every draft counts toward AI drafts per location per month (30 by default). Drafts made with Open dashboard never count. Work done with View as customer counts, as the customer's own would
• Every number, price and date in an AI draft is checked against the confirmed facts. When you approve it, anything not on the facts shows as Check these are right before it goes out: .... You decide, and your approval records what you saw
• Numbers in text you wrote yourself are never checked against the facts
• Autopilot drafts and assistant drafts that still miss a fact stay with you under Needs Attention and are not emailed to the client
• If the post already has text, you are asked Replace your text with a new draft?. Keep My Text leaves it alone
• If writing fails, your text stays: Writing failed. Your text is unchanged. Try again.

• OpenRouter: Setup & Features
• OpenAI: Setup & Features
• Business Facts and Post Voice

When it goes out

• Under When: Schedule for later (pick a Date and Time), Publish now, or Save as draft (no time yet)
• The composer shows Who approves, with Change in Settings, and a live Preview of the Google post
• Save Draft keeps the post. Request Approval sends it to the location's approvers and needs a time first (Pick a time first. The approver sees when it goes out.)
• Approve and Schedule releases the post for its time and Publish Now sends it at once. Both need the Schedule posts permission
• Times are the location's local time, with the zone shown. A time that does not exist on the clock, such as 02:30 on the night the clocks go forward, is refused
• Scheduling ahead needs a confirmed time zone (Confirm the time zone to schedule posts.)
• The calendar has Month and Week views. Click the + on a day for a new post on that date, and drag a post to another day to move it. It keeps its time of day, and moves to today or a later day
• An empty calendar offers Write the First Post for Me
• Editing a post that was approved or is waiting sends it back for approval (Saving sends this post back for approval.)

• Approve Google Posts by Email Link

Monthly limits

• When the plan sets Posts per location per month, a post counts in the month it is scheduled for, in its own time zone: a post written in October for 3 November counts in November
• At the limit, customers read This month's posts are used. Next post followed by the first day of next month
• Posts made with Open dashboard and shared review images never count. Work done with View as customer counts, and so do Autopilot's posts
• Failed, cancelled and expired posts do not count
• With no limit set, posts are unlimited

Images shared from Social share

Review images shared to Google from Display -> Social Proof -> Social share also appear under Posts, with their history. They are sent at once and do not count toward the monthly post limit.

• Share a Review Image to Google

Common questions