RankNest

Scheduling GBP Posts

Compose Google Business Profile posts, schedule them on the calendar, batch-create a month at a time, and handle failed publishes.

The Posts tab of GBP Management is where you compose and schedule Google Business Profile posts for a client. You can write posts one at a time, or select a set of dates on the calendar and build a whole month in one batch. Scheduled posts publish automatically. See GBP Management Overview for the status lifecycle and connection prerequisites.

Where to find it

Open the client, click GBP Management in the sidebar, and stay on the Posts tab (it is the default). The tab requires a connected Google Business Profile with a location assigned. See Google Business Profile.

How to create a post

  1. Click New Post (available in both the calendar and list views), or click any day on the calendar to start a post scheduled for that date.
  2. Pick a Post Type:
    • Update: share news or a general announcement.
    • Event: promote an event with a start and end date.
    • Offer: share a deal or coupon.
  3. Write your text in Post Content, up to 1,500 characters. The counter below the field tracks it. You can also use AI Assist: type a topic and click Generate, or click Surprise Me to let the AI pick a topic. The Profile link opens the client's settings page, where the business context the AI writes from lives. See Client Settings.
  4. For an Event or Offer, fill in the details section: the Event Title or Offer Title (required) and the Start Date / End Date. Offers can also carry Coupon Details: a Coupon Code, a Redeem URL, and Terms & Conditions.
  5. Add an image (optional but recommended). Click Upload Image for a JPEG or PNG up to 5MB, or Generate with AI to create one from your post content, with a Standard or Fast quality option. Videos are not supported by Google's API and must be posted in Google Business Profile directly.
  6. Add a Call to Action (Update and Event posts only): Learn More, Book, Order, Shop, Sign Up, or Call. All options except Call take a URL, which RankNest checks live. A green check means the URL responds. Call uses the location's registered phone number, shown next to the selector. Offer posts have no call-to-action button; Google renders the redeem link instead.
  7. Set the Schedule Date & Time. A preview card below shows the post roughly as Google will render it.
  8. Finish with one of:
    • Schedule Post: queue it for the chosen date and time.
    • Post Now: publish immediately.
    • Save as Draft: keep it without queueing it.

Calendar view and list view

The toggle in the toolbar switches between two views of the same queue.

Calendar view shows the month grid with a colored dot per post: gray for drafts, blue for scheduled, green for published, red for failed (the legend sits above the grid). Days with more than three posts collapse to "+N more". Click an empty day to start a post on that date. Click a post chip to open it. Drafts and scheduled posts open in the composer for editing; published and other locked posts open a read-only detail card.

List view shows a table of every post with Date, Status, Content, and Type columns, plus filter chips: All, Scheduled, Published, Failed, Drafts, and Archived. Click a row to open the post's detail card.

From a post's detail card you can Edit, Post Now, or Cancel a draft or scheduled post, Delete a draft, and Archive anything already published or failed.

How to batch-create posts

  1. In calendar view, click Batch. The calendar switches to selection mode.
  2. Click each date you want a new post on. You can also click existing draft or scheduled posts to pull them into the same editing pass. The selection bar tracks your picks.
  3. Click Continue to open the batch composer, which shows one card per post.
  4. Use the shared controls, which act on every card at once:
    • Default time applies one publish time across the batch.
    • The Types toggles control which post types (Update, Event, Offer) the AI mixes into the batch.
    • Suggest Topics fills a topic into every card.
    • Generate All Content writes every post from its topic.
    • Generate All Images creates an image for every post that has content.
  5. Edit any card by hand. Every field from the single-post composer is there. Remove a card if you don't want it.
  6. Finish with Schedule All or Save as Drafts. You can also hand the batch off for client approval with Export to Google Docs (copies all posts for pasting into a new doc) or Export XLSX (downloads a spreadsheet).

Batch work autosaves in your browser. If you navigate away or refresh with an unfinished batch, a banner offers Resume or Discard when you return. Captions, topics, and uploaded images are all preserved.

Failed posts and retries

If Google rejects a publish attempt, RankNest retries automatically a few times with increasing delays. A post that still won't publish is marked Failed, with Google's error message shown on its detail card. Fix the cause (a dead call-to-action URL is the usual one) and click Retry.

Tips

  • Posts with images stand out more on the listing. Use the AI image generator when the client hasn't supplied photos.
  • Scheduling a large batch for the same minute is fine; posts publish in quick succession rather than all at once.
  • The Archived filter in list view is where cancelled and archived posts live. Nothing is lost when you archive.

Troubleshooting

My post is stuck on Failed after retrying. Read the error on the detail card. If it mentions authorization, your Google connection has lapsed. Reconnect via Agency Settings → Integrations, then retry. If it mentions the URL, open the call-to-action link in a browser and fix or replace it.

The call-to-action URL field shows a warning icon. RankNest checked the URL and it didn't respond. You can still schedule the post, but Google may reject it, so fix the URL first.

Generate with AI writes generic content. Fill in the client's AI content profile in Client Settings, and give the AI a specific topic instead of using Surprise Me.

Last updated 2026-07-25