Client's Posts Rejected and Photos not Showing on Google Business Profile

[ctrlaltSEO]

Hi everyone,

This is my first post here. Thanks for having me, admins. I'm happy to be here.

I'm posting because I've been dealing with an issue regarding a client's posts and photos on Google Business Profile.

Last week, although it's not possible to say what day exactly, all of the posts suddenly had the red "rejected" notice button on them. Two were posts I had made and posted that week and two were existing ones done by the client from before they signed up for our management service. The client-made Posts were from early January 2022 and August 2021. The screenshot I took shows the four posts in question. With the two posts that I had made, I tried various tweaks as recommended by a team member (editing "call us" to "contact us," changing checkmark emojis to a dash and using a transparent overlay) but the posts were still rejected. I also had other team members look at the Posts and they agreed that there weren't in obvious violation of any Google policies.

In terms of the business's Photos, although they're still viewable to myself and the client in the profile (please see the screenshot), they were wiped from the public profile, as shown in the screenshot showing a Google search of the business (there are two screenshots showing a before and after). Again, I'm not entirely sure when this happened but I imagine it likely occurred when the posts were rejected. All of the photos were uploaded by the client: they aren't stock photos but are actual on-site photos showing various aspects of their business.

I'm not sure what's going on here so I appreciate any insight on this issue here before I post on the Google Business Profile forum. If I've forgotten to mention some detail, please let me know too. Thank you kindly!

 

[ctrlaltSEO]

I wanted to add here that this client has four other locations that use mostly the same photos and style of posts that are still live:

Providence, RI: Ocean Fireproofing · 1496 Broad St, Providence, RI 02905
Lakewood, NJ: Ocean Fireproofing · 315 Monmouth Ave #208, Lakewood, NJ 08701
Denver, PA: ocean fireproofing · 352 Main St, Denver, PA 17517
Alexandria, VA: Ocean Fireproofing · 1727 King St Suite 105, Alexandria, VA 22314

I only manage the aforementioned Connecticut location, however.

 

[Professor M]

Hi @ctrlaltSEO

About the reject posts, try debugging by posting the text only, if that works then the issue is with the images, sometimes the Google AI does not understand well the images.
Other issues, can be an account ban on posting or a bug.
If you cannot solve it then is worth going over to the GBP Community Forum and create a new thread.

About the photos, unfortunately in the last week or so many users have been affected by some sort of bug, where the images uploaded cannot be seen by the public.
You can see in this GBP thread one of the cases: Photos uploaded don’t appear online to the public - Google Business Profile Community

All the best

 

[ctrlaltSEO]

Hi @ctrlaltSEO

About the reject posts, try debugging by posting the text only, if that works then the issue is with the images, sometimes the Google AI does not understand well the images.
Other issues, can be an account ban on posting or a bug.
If you cannot solve it then is worth going over to the GBP Community Forum and create a new thread.

About the photos, unfortunately in the last week or so many users have been affected by some sort of bug, where the images uploaded cannot be seen by the public.
You can see in this GBP thread one of the cases: Photos uploaded don’t appear online to the public - Google Business Profile Community

All the best

Thanks a bunch for the advice! Turns out, text-only posts are okay but aren't what we really want...

I've gone ahead and made support tickets and posted here onto the community forum so we'll see what happens. Really appreciate your time!

 

[Professor M]

no problem! Unfortunately, Google AI can go "wild" filtering images...

The only comments (besides waiting...) I have:
- advise in your GBP Community Post that you already contacted support and add the case number(s)
- keep trying different images

all the best

 

[ctrlaltSEO]

no problem! Unfortunately, Google AI can go "wild" filtering images...

The only comments (besides waiting...) I have:
- advise in your GBP Community Post that you already contacted support and add the case number(s)
- keep trying different images

all the best

I've added the case numbers to that post and I'll keep trying different images.

Thanks for your time and the additional advice!

 

[Professor M]

No worries!

Can you try uploading the photos but using the Google Maps App (not the GMB app)?

1. Open the Google Maps app
   
   .
   • Make sure you're logged in with the account you used to sign up for your Business Profile.
2. To open your Business Profile, in the top right, tap Account Circle
   
   
   Your Business Profile.
3. Tap Promote
   
   Add photos.
4. Choose and add your photo.

 

[ctrlaltSEO]

No worries!

Can you try uploading the photos but using the Google Maps App (not the GMB app)?

1. Open the Google Maps app
   
   .
   • Make sure you're logged in with the account you used to sign up for your Business Profile.
2. To open your Business Profile, in the top right, tap Account Circle
   
   
   Your Business Profile.
3. Tap Promote
   
   Add photos.
4. Choose and add your photo.

I got a reply from Google Support earlier, "We have gone ahead and reinstated all your photos were taken down in your business profile and they were going on live in Google Maps and Search now." Client is happy!

However, for the Google Posts, "For your concern related to the posts, you should hear from me the moment we get an update about the issue being resolved."

At least this is some progress!

 

[Professor M]

At least the photos are showing

I believe Google changed the Image AI Filter Algorithm so it's filtering things should not be filtered... and that applies to posts and photos uploaded.

Hopefully, you will hear from them soon about the rejected posts.

 

[ctrlaltSEO]

At least the photos are showing

I believe Google changed the Image AI Filter Algorithm so it's filtering things should not be filtered... and that applies to posts and photos uploaded.

Hopefully, you will hear from them soon about the rejected posts.

I got an update from Google this morning, "I am delighted to inform you that there are no rejected posts on your profile now."

I've gone ahead and re-added the photos back to my posts where I had reposted them as text-only posts and none were rejected. They're all live now. Client is happy about this too.

I'm glad that both issues have been resolved and it didn't take took long (about a week).

Thanks for all your help again!

 

[Professor M]

No problem at all!
I am happy for you. It's a good win
All the best.

 

[ctrlaltSEO]

No problem at all!
I am happy for you. It's a good win
All the best.

Thanks a lot! I hope it's alright if I ask another question here in the same thread to get your expert opinion again. Actually, just yesterday, I started having a somewhat similar issue with Posts for another client. They aren't being rejected but simply aren't showing properly.

I wonder if you've ever encountered this issue:

Last night (February 04), I uploaded a new Post for the client. Although it showed up in the GBP Dashboard (meaning successful posting), when I went to do my usual check after posting to see whether it was publicly visible on a Google Search for the business and on Google Maps for mobile, it wasn't there. Please see the screenshot showing this Post on the GBP Dashboard and for the sake of brevity, three older ones made by the client before I started managing the profile. When I checked last night on Google Search, under "Updates for North Coast Exteriors," it showed "View previous updates on Google" rather than Posts. Tonight (February 05), on Google search, there's simply nothing after the business description. Please see the two screenshots showing this.

Also, last night after posting, I could at least view any given Post through the GBP Dashboard either when clicking on "View post on Search" or using the link provided by clicking on "Share post" or clicking "View on Google," with this being the only way for me to see the Post. However, currently, I'm unable to do this with any Post. Instead, the "Update your customers" status is shown as though there aren't any Posts at all. Please see the screenshot showing this.

Similarly, when I checked last night on Google Maps after posting, I couldn't see the Post that I had made but I could still at least see previous posts made by the client before I started managing their profile (I forgot to take a screenshot of this). Tonight, there's nothing there but the "Show others what it's like there now" status as though there aren't any Posts at all. Please see the screenshot showing this.

Bizarrely, although no Posts are currently publicly visible, it shows that the one I made has 18 views as of the time of taking that screenshot tonight. I realize Post views aren't hugely important as there are better methods of tracking and due to their inaccuracy but I suppose these came from a short window of time after I uploaded the Post when perhaps it was publicly visible to some?

I saw that there was a thread regarding the same issue here. I tried the other suggestions in that thread with no success but I'm a little reluctant to take the one suggestion in that thread of deleting the COVID update Post made by the client in August 2020 seeing as no Posts as current publicly visible but all Posts are still visible to myself and the client through the GBP Dashboard.

Thus far, I haven't encountered issues with Google Product uploads for this client and the seven that I uploaded yesterday and have since edited are live.

If you have any insight regarding this before I submit a support ticket to Google again, I would be incredibly grateful! Thanks so much again.

 

[Professor M]

I cannot see the Posts or the covid post for that matter on any platform for your client.

This is unlucky but looks like another bug, however before submitting a ticket:
- wait for 48h and check if they go to rejected status or start to show again to the public
- ask the client or another user to publish a post, to check if it is an account ban on posts.

All the best

 

[ctrlaltSEO]

I cannot see the Posts or the covid post for that matter on any platform for your client.

This is unlucky but looks like another bug, however before submitting a ticket:
- wait for 48h and check if they go to rejected status or start to show again to the public
- ask the client or another user to publish a post, to check if it is an account ban on posts.

All the best

Speaking of unlucky, now I'm having a similar issue with Google Posts for yet another client, which including the above two, makes three... I'm also experiencing a Posts issue again with the client from the original post I made in this thread...

I've got three open support tickets so I can only hope that queries won't take Google too long to sort out as they're all similar.

In the meantime, it's annoying but, I'll have to tread carefully with other clients' Google Posts in the case that it ends up adding another problem. Sigh.

Thanks again for your support!

 

[Professor M]

Speaking of unlucky, now I'm having a similar issue with Google Posts for yet another client, which including the above two, makes three... I'm also experiencing a Posts issue again with the client from the original post I made in this thread...

I've got three open support tickets so I can only hope that queries won't take Google too long to sort out as they're all similar.

In the meantime, it's annoying but, I'll have to tread carefully with other clients' Google Posts in the case that it ends up adding another problem. Sigh.

Thanks again for your support!

Ok, now sounds like your account has been flagged As they are different clients and you are having similar issues with posts.
It can happen if the algorithm didn't like some of your posts or Google Maps edits (if you use the same Google account), so anything you post now is in limbo until it is cleared manually by support...
Hopefully, Support will remove the flag when looking at your support tickets.

Do you have an agency account?

 

[ctrlaltSEO]

Ok, now sounds like your account has been flagged As they are different clients and you are having similar issues with posts.
It can happen if the algorithm didn't like some of your posts or Google Maps edits (if you use the same Google account), so anything you post now is in limbo until it is cleared manually by support...
Hopefully, Support will remove the flag when looking at your support tickets.

Do you have an agency account?

Thanks for the reply.

That's really unfortunate... What's interesting is that I have other clients whose Google Posts haven't been impacted and I don't make Google Maps contributions from my work account.

Yeah, I'm still waiting to hear back from Support. I did get a reply regarding one of the clients but they misunderstood my inquiry so I had to basically re-detail what the issue was.

My work account I use on the GBP Dashboard is part of an organization so I guess that would be the agency account? I'm not too sure.

 

[Professor M]

Yes, the Organization Account is the same as Agency Dashboard, in that case, probably you can ask someone else on the same Location Group to try and create the same posts.

Between this and the owner test, you can try to figure out where is the "issue" lies.

Finger crossed, you will get this sorted.

 

[ctrlaltSEO]

Oh okay, I see what you mean, I understand now. Thanks for explaining.

For Posts, actually we mostly use a third-party app that allows us to schedule them in advance so we don't have to do this every week. However, once a Post has been published from this app, you can only change the text, not the image unless you delete it and repost so if the image needs to be changed/updated, it has to be done from the Dashboard. I've done this before, updating the Post image from the Dashboard, for clients where needed/necessary without issue. I've also updated the text in a Post through both the Dashboard and the third-party app where needed/necessary without issue for other clients. I did have an issue with one client recently (the third of my open support tickets) although that Post I updated the text for now appears to be publicly visible for me again (I've yet to hear back from Google to say the issue has been officially resolved). The other client I previously detailed above with all the Posts going missing after I uploaded one seems to have everything reinstated too, although if I use the "View post on Google" option on the third-party app, there is "Only visible to you" below the CTA button for whatever reason (I've heard from colleagues that this doesn't seem to affect things) (again, I've yet to hear back from Google to say the issue has been officially resolved).

I thought that possibly there was an issue between the app and the Dashboard (a syncing issue? or maybe some other technical issue?) but seeing as not all of my other clients and colleagues' clients have been impacted, this might not be the case. I've also posted new Posts for that third client through the third-party app with no problems while I was having the previous issue of one Post no longer showing .

Anyway, we know that Google doesn't tend to tell us what exactly the issue is, so I'll just have to keep waiting until they let me know that issues for all three clients have been officially resolved .

Yes, fingers crossed . Thanks for your time and ongoing interactions with me in this thread! Your insight is really appreciated.

 

[Professor M]

You are not alone in this issue, I see every day other users with similar Posts rejection/visibility issues.
Normally, it is only solved when support is involved and releases the posts.

So either the AI that filters posts/images is not working properly (could be a bug) and when Support releases the posts it should learn and tweak the filtration, or a lot of the time, the user/business has been flagged for however the reason.

All the best

 

[TheRealSocialCompany]

Hello Everyone,

We post thousands of posts a day and this is definitely an issue.

Here is a workaround although it doesn't fix the main issue but might keep your clients.

If you are using post automation - hoot suite, postiebot, eclincher, any of the automation tools - GMB will reject a post if it HAS ANY text. Not in the image, just any text in the text area.

Automated posts will breeze right through if all the information (including phone number) is in the image itself.


I have been on the phone multiple times with Google about the issue and they don't have an answer either, they always refer to policy. I think they just do not realize that something is actually broken.

Anyways, setup your automations to just be an image and you will get through...not a fix but a workaround.

Joey Stardust
The Real Social Company
www.therealsocialcompany.com
614-468-3591