GBP rejecting new domain?

[prasadmahes]

Hey everyone, a client of mine rebranded their dental practice to a new name and domain. Their GBP accepted the new name change, but keeps rejecting the new domain. We 301 redirected their previous domain to this one. Do you know what could be the issue?

 

[knowthegeek]

I've run into the same issue a few times. It took several days of resubmitting the new URL unless it finally stuck. Frustrating, but it eventually fixed itself.

 

[keyserholiday]

This is what Amy Toman tells people on Reddit:

Google has become more sensitive to website URLs lately. Here is my list of reasons sites are often not accepted (or in your case, removed):

1. the website is new and not yet fully indexed
2. it contains malware
3. it's not fully https
4. It has copyright violations
5. The website recently changed web hosts
6. Crawlers are blocked, and possibly for certain countries

I would fully inspect the site and make updates as needed, then if desired, can reach out to support via the Support Form.

 

[fisicx]

Hey everyone, a client of mine rebranded their dental practice to a new name and domain. Their GBP accepted the new name change, but keeps rejecting the new domain.

GBP and website are not the same. Acceptance by one does not mean acceptance by the other. It's quite possible Google has looked at the new website and isn't happy with one of the items @keyserholiday suggested or some other reason.

Because you have set up the 301 it's suggesting the old business still exists which might be what Google is unhappy about. This used to be a common practice where a ranking domain was redirected to a new to take advantage of any inbound links.

Remove the 301 redirect and Google might reconsider the new domain.

 

[keyserholiday]

I don’t recommend removing the 301 redirect in an attempt to add the new domain. It spent so any good and can ultimately hurt your website rankings.

 

[fisicx]

I don’t recommend removing the 301 redirect in an attempt to add the new domain. It spent so any good and can ultimately hurt your website rankings.

Get the domain accepted and then put the 301 back.

It's also possible the 301 hasn't been done correctly and they have just a single redirect (rather than to each page/post).

 

[keyserholiday]

Get the domain accepted and then put the 301 back.

It's also possible the 301 hasn't been done correctly and they have just a single redirect (rather than to each page/post).

The 301 has absolutely nothing to do with the domain not being accepted. Google is cracking down on new domains being added to GBP. They did the same thing with phone numbers in India. I have seen several threads with the similar complaints.

 

[fisicx]

The 301 has absolutely nothing to do with the domain not being accepted. Google is cracking down on new domains being added to GBP. They did the same thing with phone numbers in India. I have seen several threads with the similar complaints.

So is their only real option to use the old domain and rebrand?

 

[keyserholiday]

So is their only real option to use the old domain and rebrand?

Nope, they need to troubleshoot to ensure the domain is set as https://, submit the website and xml site to GSC and to contact support.

 

[Tony]

I'm seeing a lot of these and they all follow the same pattern.

1. Do a site search to see if Google has it indexed (site:domain.com). Odds are, you'll find the site is properly indexed and GSC will show the same.

2. Do a branded search for Dental Practice+City. I'd wager the website does not appear. Fresh domains and rebrands seem to have more recent difficulty in getting Google to "connect the dots".

So, odds are strong it's not a technical issue and one that's more of an SEO issue and Google taking their good old time. Many of the sites I've checked have not had great on-site SEO, so make sure that is all good. If there is a blog, write about the rebrand and get that indexed — same with offsite posts.

Make sure key citations and socials are reflecting the new domain. Let that all marinate and then submit domain changes via the profile or public edits. If that still doesn't work, take it to Support and then the Community.