How to connect Google Business Profile to SEO Ops

Plan: Premium. The Free plugin does not include the Google Business Profile connection. See pricing.

Google Business Profile covers the local side of SEO: profile views and the actions people take. This guide shows how to connect it to SEO Ops for clients who rely on local search.

What it does

Once connected and set up for a website, SEO Ops fetches profile views, calls, website clicks and direction requests from Google Business Profile and shows them as measures on the client page, in reports and in the client portal. A daily job refreshes every client, and you can refresh by hand at any time.

A figure is either a real value from Google Business Profile or Unavailable, with the reason. It is never shown as zero or estimated, a good value is never replaced by a failed refresh, and the current month is labelled “month to date”.

One extra thing to know about Google

Google restricts the Business Profile APIs. You may need to request access to them for your Google Cloud project before sign-in works for your account. If Google shows an access error during the steps below, that is the first thing to check. It is a Google requirement, not something SEO Ops controls.

Before you start

• You need to be an administrator of your WordPress site, with permission to manage integrations in SEO Ops.
• You need a Google account that can open the Google Cloud Console, and that has access to the Google Business Profile data you want to use.
• Your site must be served over HTTPS. Google will not send people back to an insecure address.

Step 1: Open the Integrations screen and copy the redirect address

1. In SEO Ops, go to Settings › Integrations.
2. Find the card for Google Business Profile under Data sources and choose Client credentials.
3. Copy the Authorised redirect URI. It is the address of your own site ending in /wp-json/seoops/v1/integrations/oauth/callback. You will paste it into Google in the next step, so leave this window open.

Step 2: Create an OAuth client in Google Cloud

1. Open the Google Cloud Console and create a project, or choose an existing one.
2. Go to APIs & Services › OAuth consent screen and set up the consent screen. Give it your company name and a support email address.
3. Go to APIs & Services › Credentials and choose Create credentials › OAuth client ID.
4. For the application type, choose Web application.
5. Under Authorised redirect URIs, add the address you copied from SEO Ops, exactly as shown.
6. Create the client. Google shows a Client ID and a Client secret.
7. Go to APIs & Services › Library and enable the Business Profile Performance API, the My Business Account Management API and the My Business Business Information API. SEO Ops cannot read any data until these are enabled for your project.

SEO Ops asks Google for one permission only: https://www.googleapis.com/auth/business.manage. That is management access to Business Profile data.

Step 3: Save the credentials in SEO Ops

1. Back in the SEO Ops window, paste the Client ID and the Client secret.
2. Choose Save. The secret is stored encrypted and is never shown again.

Step 4: Connect

1. On the Google Business Profile card, choose Connect with Google.
2. Sign in with the Google account that has access, and approve the permission.
3. Google sends you back to SEO Ops, and the card changes from Not connected to Connected.

Step 5: Choose the data for each website

1. Open the client, then the Websites section, and choose Data sources next to the website.
2. Pick the Business Profile location from the list of what your connected Google account can see (Or choose from your account), or enter it yourself.
3. Save. Then on the client page choose Add standard measures to add the usual set for every connected source, and Refresh data to fetch the figures now.

After that a daily job keeps every client up to date.

If something goes wrong

• The property list is empty or a figure is Unavailable: check that the Google APIs from step 2 are enabled, and that the Google account you connected has access to the property.
• “Google sign-in did not complete”: check that the redirect address in Google matches the one in SEO Ops exactly, including https and the path.
• Status shows Expired: access was revoked or has lapsed. Choose Reconnect. If your Google consent screen is still set to “Testing”, Google expires access after about a week, so publish the consent screen or reconnect when it happens.
• Status shows Error: SEO Ops could not reach Google or Google rejected the request. Check your client ID and secret, then reconnect.
• Keys will not save: the plugin could not create its encryption key. See Settings › Security, and the overview guide linked below.

To disconnect

Choose Disconnect on the card. The stored credentials are deleted, and any figures that came from this service show as Unavailable.

Use the Google account that manages the client’s profile, so it can see the right locations.

See also: connect Google Search Console.