Google is sitting on a list of the exact words people type before they call your restaurant, book your clinic, or walk into your shop. It is not a rumor and it is not a paid tool. It is a free report inside your own Google Business Profile, and Whitespark's breakdown of the Performance dashboard confirms most owners never open it (whitespark.ca).

That report is called Search Terms. It sits inside the Performance tab, and it shows the real queries that triggered your listing on Search and Maps. Not guesses from a keyword tool. Actual customer language. If you run a local business, this is the closest thing to reading your customers' minds that exists for free.

What the search terms report actually shows

Google's own help documentation describes the Searches metric as "the search terms people used to find your business," updated at the start of each month, with data that can take up to five days to appear (support.google.com). You cannot edit these terms or choose which ones show up. They reflect what actually happened, which is exactly what makes them useful.

According to Digital Applied's 2026 feature guide, Google now splits this data into three buckets (digitalapplied.com):

  • Direct — searches for your business name. People who already knew you existed.
  • Discovery — category or service searches, like "dentist open Saturday" or "vegan restaurant near me." People who did not know your name but found you anyway.
  • Branded-adjacent — searches that included a competitor or a related brand name alongside yours.

Discovery is the one that matters most, because it is new demand you did not have to buy an ad for. And discovery is bigger than most owners assume. Birdeye's State of Google Business Profile 2026 report found that 86 percent of GBP impressions come from category-based searches rather than branded queries (birdeye.com). Most of the people finding you have never heard your name before they see your listing.

How to find it, step by step

  1. Log into your Google Business Profile at business.google.com.
  2. Select your location if you manage more than one.
  3. Click Performance in the left menu.
  4. Scroll to the Overview section and find Searches Breakdown on the right side of the dashboard, per Whitespark's guide to the Performance tab (whitespark.ca).
  5. Click See more to open the full list of ranking terms rather than the short preview.
  6. Export the list to a spreadsheet. Whitespark recommends doing this monthly so you can track how the discovery share of your traffic moves over time.
  7. Repeat every month and keep a running log. One month of data is a snapshot. Six months is a pattern.

Turning real search terms into local SEO wins

Once you have the list, the work is matching your website, your Google Posts, and your GBP attributes to the language customers actually used, not the language you assumed they'd use.

Restaurant example. If "gluten free pasta Antwerp" or "restaurant private room dinner" shows up repeatedly, that belongs in your menu page copy, your GBP services section, and your next Google Post, not buried in a PDF menu Google cannot read well.

Clinic or practice example. Terms like "dentist emergency Saturday" or "botox consultation price" tell you exactly which FAQ entries and service pages to build. If pricing questions show up in the search terms report, an honest pricing page answers the question before the call, which is also the format AI answer engines prefer to cite.

Retail or shop example. "Wedding gift shop open Sunday" or "custom engraving near me" point straight at which product categories deserve their own landing page instead of living inside a generic catalog.

Agency or service business example. If "web design agency Antwerp pricing" appears, that is a signal your pricing transparency page is doing its job, or that you need to build one.

In every case, the fix is the same: pull the exact phrase from the report, use it as a heading or FAQ question on your site, and answer it in plain language within the first two sentences. That is also the structure large language models and AI Overviews pull from when they answer local questions, so this report doubles as a research tool for AI visibility, not just Google Maps ranking.

Monthly checklist

  • Open Performance > Overview > Searches Breakdown, click See more.
  • Export the full list, not just the top few terms shown by default.
  • Separate direct, discovery, and branded-adjacent terms into three columns.
  • Flag any discovery term that is not already a heading, FAQ, or service line on your website.
  • Add the top 3 to 5 new discovery terms to your next batch of Google Posts.
  • Compare this month's discovery share to last month's. Rising discovery share means new customers are finding you who never knew your name.

FAQ

How often does the search terms report update? Google updates the Searches metric at the start of each month, and new data can take up to five days to appear, according to Google's own support documentation (support.google.com).

Can I influence which search terms show up? Not directly. The report reflects real searches that triggered your listing. What you can influence is how well your website, posts, and profile answer those terms once you see them, which affects future ranking and click-through.

Is this only useful for Google Maps ranking? No. The same customer-language terms that improve your Maps ranking are the terms AI answer engines look for when they decide which local business to mention in response to a question. One report, two visibility channels.

Most local businesses spend money guessing which keywords matter. Google already told you. Creative Hero builds local SEO and AI-search visibility programs around exactly this kind of first-party data instead of assumptions. If you want your next website update or content plan built on what your customers actually typed, that is a conversation worth having.

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