301 redirect vs. UTMs in the GBP website link

[Brian - TGL]

Does anyone have any experience or thoughts about adding UTM parameters to the URL in the GBP (website.com/?utm_source=gbp) vs using a 301 redirect like website.com/gbp which then forwards to website.com/?utm_source=gbp?

This is in the case that there is not a specific page yet to direct the GBP traffic to (a clean services page etc.)

I like to be able to see the traffic source in Fathom Analytics but I hate how sloppy a URL looks in the profile with UTM parameters (I think the longer a URL is the less likely people are to click on them).

Eventually, once a destination page is made, the redirect could then be updated to the destination page is my thinking, but I'm wondering if there are any aspects of that process that might interfere with what Google is expecting.

 

[Professor M]

301 redirect is not allowed on a GBP

 

[Brian - TGL]

301 redirect is not allowed on a GBP

I have been searching for that information, do you have a link to where that is referenced in the TOS?

 

[JS Girard]

I have been searching for that information, do you have a link to where that is referenced in the TOS?

Whether it is referenced is irrelevant: as far as I can tell Google automatically deletes them from the GBP as is. What you can do is have a delayed meta refresh to the redirect URL. That doesn't get Google's panties in a bunch.

 

[Brian - TGL]

Whether it is referenced is irrelevant: as far as I can tell Google automatically deletes them from the GBP as is. What you can do is have a delayed meta refresh to the redirect URL. That doesn't get Google's panties in a bunch.

I have a 301 redirect on several GBPs including my own:

The Groovy Lab

maps.app.goo.gl

The 301 has been on that GBP for almost 2 years:

2023-09-18_08-26-21

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app.screencast.com

It's definitely not something that gets automatically deleted . . . I'm just trying to figure out if there are any downsides from a visibility & relevance point of view that have a real-world effect on a GBP.

 

[mblumenthal]

Typically Google doesn’t like redirects to a different domain. I have no experience with same domain redirects. The URL that is used for the GBP is the one that assigns prominence to the listing. So you want to pick one that has the most strength.