What actually happens after seven days
A Google Business Profile "update" post, the plain kind with text and a photo, is shown on your profile's main view for seven days. After that it is not deleted; it moves to the full posts list, which a customer can only reach by tapping through, and in practice almost nobody does. On the profile as most people see it, on Google Maps and in the search panel, the post is gone.
Google has never given a detailed public reason. The behaviour is consistent with what posts are for: they are meant to be news, and week-old news is not news.
Which post types expire
| Post type | Visible for | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| Update ("What's new") | 7 days | Then archived. The most common type and the one that catches people out. |
| Offer | Until the end date you set | Needs a title, dates and optionally a coupon code and terms. Shown with an offer tag. |
| Event | Until the event end date | Needs a title and start and end dates. Shown with the date. |
| Photos and videos in the gallery | Do not expire | Separate from posts. Visible above posts on most profiles. |
| Products and services | Do not expire | Also separate. Menu items for restaurants live here too. |
Why it matters more than it sounds
The posts tab is one of the signals a customer uses to judge whether a shop is open and attentive, and one of the signals Google uses to judge whether a profile is active. A profile whose last update was eight days ago shows an empty posts area. Multiply that by the number of weeks a busy owner forgets, and the profile looks dormant most of the year even though the shop is busy.
Four ways to keep the profile from going quiet
- Post an update every week. Same day each week. Weekly is the floor precisely because of the seven-day window. More in how often to post.
- Keep one Offer running at all times. An offer with an end date a month or two out stays on the profile through the weeks you miss. Renew it before it ends.
- Attach a real photo to every update. The post expires; the photo stays in the gallery. Over a year that is fifty photos of real work on the profile.
- Schedule the updates in advance, so the weekly post does not depend on remembering. Google has no scheduler; the options are in how to schedule Google Business Profile posts.
How to check when a post will expire
Open the profile manager, go to Posts, and look at the date on each update. Add seven days. If the newest date is more than seven days ago, the public profile is showing no posts right now, whatever the manager view suggests. On a phone, the quickest check is to search your own business name in Google Maps while signed out and scroll to the Updates section: what you see there is what a customer sees.
Things that are not expiry
Sometimes a post disappears immediately, or never shows. That is not expiry; it is a rejection. Common causes: a phone number in the text, all-capital words, a stock photo Google recognises, a link that redirects, or a phrase in a policy-sensitive category. Google usually marks the post as "not approved" in the profile manager, but it does not always tell you. Check the profile the day after posting until you trust the pattern.
Expired posts and ranking
An expired post does no harm; the profile simply has no current post. What helps ranking is the pattern of activity over months, the photos that accumulate, and the service and place names in the text. A weekly update that names your town and your service, plus a running offer, is the cheapest way to have all three. If you would rather have that done for you, it is what the Google Business Profile scheduler is for.
See it on your own profiles
We are onboarding a small group of shops now, one at a time. Tell us about the shop and we will connect your accounts with you.