Year-over-year GBP comparison eliminates seasonal noise and reveals your actual long-term trajectory. A business that grew from 200 calls in May 2025 to 340 calls in May 2026 has genuinely grown 70% — without the distortion of comparing summer to winter. This guide shows you exactly how to run this analysis.
Why Year-Over-Year Matters More Than Month-Over-Month
Month-over-month comparison is great for spotting short-term problems. But it has a critical flaw: seasonality. A restaurant's January numbers will almost always be worse than December's — not because the strategy failed, but because people eat out less after the holidays. Year-over-year comparison solves this by comparing identical seasons.
How to Run a Year-Over-Year GBP Comparison
Pull the same metrics for this month and the same month last year
Focus on: Discovery impressions, Profile views, Phone calls, Direction requests, Website clicks, Review velocity (new reviews per month), Average rating, Average rank position
Calculate growth rates
(This year − Last year) ÷ Last year × 100
Segment by organic growth vs activity-driven growth
Some improvements come from Google naturally building your authority. Others come from specific actions. Knowing which allows you to invest correctly.
Compare your growth rate to market growth
If the 'dentist Ahmedabad' category grew 30% in searches this year, a 15% growth in your impressions means you are losing market share even though your numbers went up.
Year-Over-Year Benchmark Performance
| Growth Rate | Interpretation | Priority Action |
|---|---|---|
| 30%+ growth | Excellent — compounding strongly | Maintain; expand to new keywords and service areas |
| 15–30% growth | Healthy — consistent improvement | Continue current strategy; look for highest-leverage acceleration |
| 5–15% growth | Average — keeping pace | Identify which specific signals are lagging |
| 0–5% growth | Stagnant — activity without progress | Full audit needed; review quality and frequency of all activities |
| Negative | Declining — serious issue | Immediate audit; check for penalties, competitor moves, or major algorithm changes |
Year-Over-Year Metrics That Reveal the Most
Review velocity: Are you getting more reviews per month than you were a year ago? A business getting 2 reviews per month for two years straight while competitors grow to 8 per month is slowly losing trust authority.
Average rank position: Position 6 in May 2025 versus position 2 in May 2026 is a transformative change. Most businesses do not track this systematically and miss the story it tells.
Discovery impressions: Growing discovery impressions year-over-year means your profile is being found for more search queries — you are expanding your organic reach without paying for advertising.
How Ampli5 Pulse Maintains Year-Over-Year Data
Google's native GBP tools only show 6 months of data. Ampli5 Pulse stores your data from the day you connect your profile, building a permanent historical record that enables true year-over-year analysis. The annual performance review report (available on request or as a scheduled delivery) shows your long-term trajectory with every key metric compared month by month across the previous 12 months.