Good's banksia grows as a low shrub, either prostrate or with stems up to 20 cm (7.9 in) high, and forms a lignotuber.

[3][4][5][6][7] Banksia goodii was first formally described in 1830 by Robert Brown in the Supplementum primum Prodromi florae Novae Hollandiae from specimens collected by William Baxter near King George's Sound in 1829.

[11] This application of the principle of priority was largely ignored by Kuntze's contemporaries,[12] and Banksia L.f. was formally conserved and Sirmuellera rejected in 1940.

[13] Good's banksia occurs on shallow white or grey sand over laterite, in low forest and woodland in southwest Western Australia between Albany and the Porongorup Range.

[3][14] The main threats to the species include inappropriate fire regimes, road maintenance and land clearing.