All GMB Posts Suddenly Rejected

[KymM]

Hi, I've ran into a bit of a weird problem and was hoping someone had some insight as to why. All of the GMB posts on one of our client's profiles were suddenly rejected. We had just posted a new post, which was rejected, as were all of the old posts in the account. There was nothing against the rules in the post, and even if it violated the rules somehow, why would all of our posts be suddenly rejected? My concern is that there is something deeper going on with our listing, but it's live and looks fine at the moment. Has anyone encountered something similar?

 

[Phil Rozek]

@KymM, I've never encountered that problem before, so I don't have an answer offhand, but it's an interesting troubleshooting situation

1. Were the posts removed only from search, or from search and from the GMB dashboard?

2. Were the posts created in a Google account that's used only for those locations of that business, or is there other stuff in the bucket?

3. What happens if a GMB admin who uses a different Google account tries to publish a new post on one of the affected pages?

 

[KymM]

@KymM, I've never encountered that problem before, so I don't have an answer offhand, but it's an interesting troubleshooting situation

1. Were the posts removed only from search, or from search and from the GMB dashboard?

2. Were the posts created in a Google account that's used only for those locations of that business, or is there other stuff in the bucket?

3. What happens if a GMB admin who uses a different Google account tries to publish a new post on one of the affected pages?

1. Both. In the dashboard, they show a blank picture and a rejected badge, and they don't show in search at all.

2. The google account manages many different businesses, but this is the only one affected.

3. Interestingly, the same account was able to create a post a few hours later on the affected listing and it went through just fine. The rest are still rejected though.

 

[Yan Gilbert]

By any chance were the phone numbers in the text of the posts? Those are not allowed anymore but were ok before.

 

[Phil Rozek]

@KymM, in that case, what I'd do is try publishing a new post that is exactly the same as one of the old, now-rejected posts. You'd post it on the same page, but through a different Google account (as a different manager/admin). The idea is to figure out whether it's a problem with the account or with the content of the post(s).

 

[BenFisher]

Yan is spot on, if there is a number in the post that would cause it. Best to NOT include a phone number or URL in posts.

 

[KymM]

@Yan Gilbert Most (but not all) of the posts did have a phone number, it seems like that could be it! Thanks for your help!

 

[Patricia Ptacek]

I have seen 2 instances (different accounts) of all posts in an account being retroactively rejected (were live for months, now marked rejected). Anyone else seeing activity like this?

 

[Phil Rozek]

@Patricia Ptacek, yes, in this thread:

All GMB Posts Suddenly Rejected

Hi, I've ran into a bit of a weird problem and was hoping someone had some insight as to why. All of the GMB posts on one of our client's profiles were suddenly rejected. We had just posted a new post, which was rejected, as were all of the old posts in the account. There was nothing against the...

localsearchforum.com

(If the issue isn't that those posts included a phone number, then it's a troubleshooting matter.)

 

[Patricia Ptacek]

I did see that thread - but these had no phone numbers or urls. We were also able to create a new post with just text and get that live and then add a picture and have that go live as well. I assumed it was a one off bug until it was mentioned by another SEO in another forum (same issue).

 

[Phil Rozek]

@Patricia Ptacek, in that case I'd suggest the troubleshooting steps I suggested in that thread, mostly to determine if the issue is specific to your account, or is an issue with the content of the post(s). Or it could be a bug, of course.

 

[JoyHawkins]

@Patricia Ptacek I think it is happening to listings that just recently got the Google My Business Products feature. See here: What causes the product feature to appear on listings? - Local Search Forum

 

[KymM]

New developments: We realized that the date on all of the photos we've uploaded have been reset to around the time all of the posts were rejected. We also had this issue on another account: all of the posts were rejected yesterday and the date on all of the photos now says "1d" even though some of them are years old. It appears something is going on here but I can't figure out what or what triggered it.

The new listing with this issue didn't have a phone number or URL in any of the rejected posts so it appears that's not actually the cause.

 

[JoyHawkins]

@KymM there were multiple threads about this issue so I just merged them. See my post above ^^.

 

[KymM]

@JoyHawkins I can confirm that the listings with this issue did just get the products feature, so it seems like that's it! Thanks!

 

[JoyHawkins]

I just got an update from Google. They're aware of the issue and working on a fix for it so there is no need to contact support for it.

 

[Yan Gilbert]

Has anyone noticed a maps ranking drop after their posts were rejected?


_

 

[Yan Gilbert]

Rejected posts have been restored on all the accounts that I have checked this morning. Anyone else?

 

[KymM]

@Yan Gilbert I haven't noticed a rankings drop, and all of the posts are back up, though the photo dates are still wrong.

 

[dfranklin]

I have a listing that has had posts back to 2018 to now that have had many rejected out of the blue for no rhyme or reason. They have had the products feature for many months now with products posted. So I can't figure out why at this point.