We spend a lot of time getting our college websites ready for visitors. But what happens when someone searches and never makes it there?
A 2026 SparkToro analysis of Similarweb data found that 68% of U.S. Google searches ended without a click during January through April. The study covered desktop and mobile browser searches, excluding the Google mobile app. It wasn’t specific to higher education, but it raises a useful question for college marketers: how much can someone learn about your college without visiting your website? Read the research.
Think about your next open house. You’ve built the registration page, sent the emails, and created social posts. When someone searches for your college, can they also discover that event through your Google Business Profile?
The conversation about AI Overviews has brought more attention to what happens before the click. Your Google Business Profile is one place where you can make useful information available, introduce something people may not know you offer, and give them a reason to visit your website.
For colleges, especially community colleges with so much happening on campus, that deserves some attention.
Your profile can help people discover more than your college’s name
Google Business Profiles appear in Search and Maps, including local searches for the kind of institution or place someone needs. A person searching for “community colleges near me” may encounter your profile before they know your name. Google’s local results depend mainly on relevance, distance, and prominence; complete and accurate information helps Google understand your institution. How local ranking works.
Now think about all the other reasons someone might look for your college: summer camps, career training, a theater performance, an art exhibition, or a place to take an evening class.
Your profile is another opportunity to make those offerings visible and help people take the next step.
The challenge is finding time to keep it useful
My guess is that Google Business Profile hasn’t made it onto many college marketing teams’ content calendars. Some may not have considered it a place to share updates. Others already have more channels to manage than people to manage them.
That’s understandable. Another platform can sound like another assignment.
Start with the information and content you already have. Your event calendar, program announcements, campus stories, and community offerings provide plenty to work with.
Start by looking at your profile with fresh eyes
Search for your college as a prospective student or community member would. Check the website link, phone number, address, and any displayed regular or special hours. Look at the photos. Consider whether the information helps someone understand what’s available and where to go.
Make sure someone on your team has access to manage the profile. If an existing listing is unclaimed, work through Google’s claiming and verification process before creating another one.
Check that the primary category accurately describes your institution, such as “Community college.” Review the available accessibility details, including entrances and parking. For separate campus locations, those details should describe that specific destination. Google’s category guidance and accessibility attributes explain the available options.
Be thoughtful about hours. Google generally advises schools and universities against displaying one overall set of business hours. Eligible department profiles can provide their own visiting hours where appropriate. A library schedule, for example, may be very different from the college’s class schedule. Google’s hours guidance.
Include photos that help people recognize where they’re going: the building entrance, parking area, admissions office, theater, or athletic field. Think about someone arriving for an evening class or performance for the first time. Would your photos help them find the right place? Google recommends exterior photos from different approaches and at different times of day. Photo guidance.
Take five minutes to check your college’s profile.
- Does the website link go to the right page?
- Are the phone number, address, and any displayed hours accurate?
- Do the photos help someone recognize the location?
- Is there a useful, current update?
- Can someone easily figure out what to do next?
Quick tip: Make those website visits easier to track. Add UTM parameters to the website link in your Business Profile so you can identify that traffic in Google Analytics 4.
For example, replacing example.edu with your college’s website:
Use a different utm_content value for each profile, such as main_campus, arts_center, or athletic_field. Review the campaign and content values in GA4 to distinguish those website visits. You can create the link with Google’s Campaign URL Builder.
Think about the different places people visit on your campus
Someone attending a concert may search for the performing arts center. A family arriving for a game may search for the athletic field. Those visitors need information about their destination.
Review whether distinct public-facing locations, such as an arts and performing center, athletic field, library, or child development center, qualify for their own profiles. Check for existing listings first.
Google allows separate profiles for qualifying departments that operate as distinct public-facing entities. They need their own real-world names and appropriate categories, and typically have separate customer entrances. A degree program or classroom doesn’t automatically qualify for its own listing. Google’s department guidelines.
Carroll Community College offers a useful example: its Google Maps directory includes the college’s bookstore, theatre, Scott Center for the Fine and Performing Arts, and Business Solutions. Each represents a different reason someone might engage with the college. View Carroll’s profile.
Help people understand what your college offers
Where the Services feature is available, use it to describe relevant educational and community offerings in plain language. Availability depends on the profile’s category. How Google’s Services feature works.
Depending on your college, that could include:
- Education: degree and certificate programs, transfer pathways, career training, GED preparation, and ESOL classes.
- Career and business support: professional development, business training services, and customized workforce training.
- Student support: admissions assistance, financial aid guidance, and career services.
- Families and young learners: summer camps, dual enrollment, and child development center services.
- Community learning: personal enrichment classes and travel programs.
- Arts and entertainment: theater performances, art gallery exhibitions, and music concerts.
- Campus resources: library services and athletic field access, where available.
Only include offerings that apply to the location, and make eligibility or access requirements clear. A library open to community members needs different information from a facility available only to enrolled students.
For academic programs, focus on service descriptions and useful posts. Google’s in-store product features are designed for retail offerings. Google’s product guidance.
Give people something useful to act on
Google Business Profile supports updates and event posts with text, images, and links. Event posts can include dates and times. Their placement varies across Search, Maps, and devices; on desktop, visitors may find them under “From the owner.” Google’s posting guidance.
Choose content that answers a question or creates a clear next step:
- An open house with a registration link.
- A program information session explaining who should attend.
- Summer camp registration with ages, dates, and a link to available camps.
- A theater performance with ticket information.
- A professional development course with a practical benefit and start date.
- A financial aid workshop explaining what participants should bring.
For example, an update promoting a nursing information session could say:
Thinking about a career in nursing? Join our upcoming information session to learn about admission requirements, clinical experiences, and the application process. Meet the program team and get your questions answered. View the date and reserve your spot.
Pair it with an appropriate image and link directly to the session’s registration page. Make it easy for someone to finish the action you’re asking them to take.
You can also reuse a college story. Carroll’s music program update links from its Google profile to an article about Music Technology & Sound Recording. That’s a practical way to give existing content another place to reach people.
Build profile updates into the calendar you already use
When you’re planning an open house, summer camp registration, or a new program announcement, include a Google Business Profile update in the same plan. You already have the dates, images, and website link. Preparing the update at the same time gives you one less thing to remember later.
A simple month could look like this:
- Week 1: An upcoming event. Link to the registration or ticket page.
- Week 2: A program or student story. Link to the relevant program page or article.
- Week 3: A community offering. Link to a camp, concert, enrichment, or travel page.
- Week 4: A support opportunity. Link to workshop or service information.
Adjust the timing around your college’s calendar. Share registration opportunities while people still have time to act. Choose the profiles relevant to each update.
One useful update a week is a manageable starting point. Adjust the frequency around the information you have to share and your team’s capacity.
This is the work we want to make easier with College Crusader’s new Google Business Profile scheduling tool. It helps colleges schedule event posts and updates across an unlimited number of Google Business Profiles, so teams can prepare content ahead of time and keep their locations’ profiles current.
Google also offers native scheduling. College Crusader provides another option for teams managing this work across their college’s profiles. We’re planning additional automation for the future; the current tool focuses on scheduling posts and events.
Check what happens after people find you
Once a month, look at the searches that brought up your profile and the actions people took. Website clicks are one part of the picture. Requests for directions and clicks on the call button can also help you understand how people use the information.
Review the search terms for clues about what visitors are trying to find and where your profile could be more helpful. These interactions are useful signals, but they aren’t confirmed campus visits, inquiries, or enrollments. Google’s performance guidance.
Use your tagged website links to explore what those visitors do next in GA4, including registrations or inquiry submissions when you have tracking configured.
You can also link Google Business Profile to GA4 to bring profile metrics into Analytics. If you connect several profiles, Google combines their metrics in that integration; it doesn’t currently let you filter those metrics by individual profile. Distinct UTM labels remain useful for separating website traffic from each location. How to connect GBP and GA4.
Your next step can be small: search for your college, fix one confusing detail, and choose one upcoming event or existing story to share.
Your college already has things worth discovering. Give people another opportunity to find them.
Want help keeping your profiles current? Talk with College Crusader about scheduling your college’s updates and events.