Enable "web crawlers" to make a Knowledge Panel URL revision

[Wary Goose]

Hi all-

Has anyone ever heard of Google Support requiring "web crawlers" be enabled in order to revise an "old" URL in a Knowledge Panel?

We've been trying for weeks to revise an old URL to reflect new content (including multiple edits from multiple users with multiple Google accounts) without success; Support says we need to "Kindly contact your webmaster and check if the "web crawlers" is enabled or not on your website" and once web crawlers have been enabled, our changes should go live on Maps. We've provided to Support, with screenshots, the robots.txt file, which shows that Googlebot crawlers are allowed on the site. We also provided to Support a screenshot of the source code for the relevant page, which shows the page marked as "index." We also mentioned that Google Search Console shows this URL is indexed and that there are currently no crawlability or indexing issues noted. We've also noted that we do not see any crawling or indexability issues on our end for this page which would contribute to the website "button" on our listing leading to the incorrect URL.

Even with with the above documentation, Support responded with "We kindly request you to get screenshots from webmaster as proof of enabling "web crawlers" for their site and provide it to us."

Any idea how we can resolve this or what we need to do? Thank you in advance.

 

[JeffClevelandTN]

Hi @Wary Goose, what is the date showing on Google's cache for the page's content that is being used on the KB? If you don't know how to check the cache date, do a google search using "site:domain.com/page-name" and follow these instructions. I've seen where Google Search Console shows the page has been crawled and indexed but their cached version hasn't changed. In those cases, we've had to request a recrawl and also it seems to help to make a small modification to the page and ask Google to ping the sitemap: Yes, The Google Sitemap Ping Tool Still Works

 

[Wary Goose]

@JeffClevelandTN Thank you for responding! Here is our Maps page in question. Ran your reply by one of our SEO Specialists and here is her answer: "Hi! Here is the cached version of the page. It was lasted updated today so it's not out of date. And the fact that it appeared with a "site:domain" search means that it is in fact in the index."

"Also checked in Search Console and it confirms again that the page was last crawled today, matching the cached version. There are no canonical issues that I can see, and the page is in our sitemap.
I looked at the Big Lenny's site to see what was going on, and the cached version from that page is dated 1/27/23 and the cached version doesn't seem to list this address on the homepage (what is linked on the button)."

Paraphrasing our SEO Specialist: Our client doesn't own or host Big Lenny's. They bought this facility from the owner of Big Lenny's, but not the website. So we don't have any access to Big Lenny's and we won't in the future. That's why we didn't do any redirects from the old facility page to the new one. We can't and won't be able to ever sadly....But they removed that old page from the domain, so there's no references on that old site to a facility at that address anymore? Is there a way to get that across to Support in our ticket?.....The Big Lenny's site is still up but I wasn't seeing any references to a facility at the address at 370 Foster Ave.

Do we need to open another new Support ticket as everything is good on our end?

 

[JeffClevelandTN]

Hi @Wary Goose, thanks for the additional info, but I'm a bit confused now. Based on what you've sent, I'm assuming that your business is "Storage Depot" or possibly Copper Safe Storage, and that the business was previously known as "Big Lenny's". If you could confirm this is correct or not, it would be very helpful.

So the info being shown by the Map link you sent, is most likely coming from the GBP for Storage Depot. Have you claimed that Google Business Profile (GBP)? It looks like it has already claimed (by someone) and the website link for Storage Depot's GBP is: Big Lenny's Storage: Self, Boat & RV Storage in Dallas GA and Villa Rica, GA

It can be difficult to tell the differences between a GBP and a KP, but bottom line is that you need to fix the website link on your GBP and that will very likely carry over to any KPs.

If you look at the attached screenshot, this is your GBP listing and I was hovering over your "Website" button and it shows the website for Big Lenny's. If you click on the "Own this business link" you can see at least partially the email address that claimed the GBP.

Please clarify further if you can about the relationship (if any) between Storage Depot and Big Lenny's.

 

[Wary Goose]

Hi @JeffClevelandTN - we do own and manage as Primary Owner the Storage Depot listing on E Foster Ave in Dallas, GA through GBP. (Copper Self Storage is our client, Storage Depot is one of their facilities) We're trying to revise the biglennysstorage.com URL that is appearing in Search/Maps and, unfortunately, can't so do.

We think the problem is that when our client purchased Storage Depot on E Foster Ave they didn't purchase the biglennysstorage.com site as part of the deal. We don't have any access to the Big Lenny's site, we won't in the future and we can't do redirects from any old facility pages to the new ones. GBP Support seems to be fixated on the current status of biglennysstorage.com and is not seeing our request to change this URL.

Any idea how we can get GBP Support to see past telling us to "enable the "web crawlers" on biglennysstorage.com (which we can't as we don't own the site)? Or are we "stuck" unless we somehow are able affect the URL in question? Thank you again.

 

[JeffClevelandTN]

Hi, I think we are still miscommunicating. Let's forget about the Maps listing for now. The GBP info showing for that location has the incorrect website address, if you correct it there, it should fix the Maps info. Would you be able to login to your GBP and take a screenshot of your E Foster Location's info which should similar to what I've attached?

 

[Wary Goose]

@JeffClevelandTN We've been trying since December 8th to revise the Maps URL using the NMX; our edits are not accepted and we receive rejections in Maps' "Your contributions" section. See screen snip examples below.

We're looking for help with: 1) getting our NMX content to appear in Maps as is what should happen using the NMX or 2) getting around Support's rejection of our help requests due to a "web crawlers" issue on the biglennysstorage.com site (the current Maps URL).

Thanks again.

 

[JeffClevelandTN]

Just to get us on the same page and using the same terminology going forward, GBP feeds the Maps info. NMX (New Merchant Experience) is the name of the GBP dashboard. You use the NMX to update GBP and GBP info is typically used to update your Maps info. So the core issue is that your edit to GBP wasn't accepted. Are you still able to edit the website url by clicking on the pencil icon? If so, I'd suggest removing the url completely, leaving it blank and saving it and see if Google takes that change. If the change is taken, don't make another edit, you'll want to wait another day or two.

 

[Wary Goose]

Thanks again, @JeffClevelandTN ! We'll give listing removal a try in the NMX. Fingers crossed this works.

 

[Wary Goose]

@JeffClevelandTN - we used your suggestion and cleared the NMX website field. It took a couple tries as this field was updated by GBP several times with incorrect content after we cleared this field(?!), but we're now seeing the correct UTM as of this post. TY again for your help with this issue!

 

[JeffClevelandTN]

Website button has correct info for me too on GBP and Maps. Glad it worked!