GBP Support Claiming a Website Isn't "Official"?

[Cordell Crowley]

We've been going back and forth with GBP Support for about a week now on this. The website for one of our clients was removed from their GBP and when we tried re-adding it, it was continually rejected. A ticket with GBP Support was opened in hopes they could manually fix what we perceived to be a bug, but we got this response from them today:

"It looks like the same website was added and our specialist team refused to push it live as they have found that it is not an official website. We regret any inconvenience caused on this as we cannot troubleshoot more.

I understand this is frustrating, however, I hope you will understand that the Google Policies are devised considering the best interest of our customers and to maintain the smooth functioning of the business profile."
I've never seen them say this on a ticket before regarding a website url, so I'm fairly taken aback by what they could be seeing on their end/etc. that's causing the issue. Has anyone else seen this before, and if so, what was the root issue?

For reference the site is indexed, passes Google's safe site checker, loads just fine, all the branding and NAP info on-site matches the GBP information, etc.

Site is Cumming Florist

 

[Pedro Cartolin]

Hi Cordell,

Your website has blocked me for being in another country. I'm not sure if that could be a factor, considering that Google Support might not be in the US.

You could try disabling the blocker and opening a second support ticket. I'm attaching the screenshots for reference.

 

[fisicx]

The name could be the problem. The word cumming could be triggering a pron filter.

 

[ElizabethRule]

@Pedro Cartolin has a great point, the support team is likely not in the US and if they cannot see the site, makes sense they would deny it.

Funnily, Google seems to be fine with the not "official" website being linked to in the products and services section

Another reason Google is not approving this edit could be there seems to be another website for this business Cumming Florist with Same-Day Delivery | Cumming Florist

Do they own that site? Is this even them? If so, maybe combining the sites will help alleviate some confusion for Google.

Also, the business name does not have any unique branding - which can lead to confusion for Google as TONS of other florists in the area have pages for "cummings florist".

They are also not link to the correct site on their Yelp https://www.yelp.com/biz/cumming-florist-cumming-2

And their Facebook IS linking to the right site, but it says the business is in Baytona Beach FL Cumming Flowers and Gifts

Google is likely confused about the business and lacks trust so they are denying the edit. You should work to clean up their socials/citations to all link to the same site, and make sure all NAP info is correct.

That said, I would continue to push back on support and assert the website you are trying to add IS the official website. Ask them why they think it is not. Also, point out to them the site is already published and showing on the listing in the products and services section.

I have never seen this type of response from Google, so I am curious what they say and how you will be able to resolve this.

 

[Cordell Crowley]

I've spoken with our IT team in the past regarding region blocking because there was an issue with it ~6 years ago where Google Support couldn't access it (I believe they were in India if memory serves) and they've cleaned that up. Some places are still blocked but nothing Google accesses it from to my knowledge; I'll have them check just in case.

@ElizabethRule Yes they unfortunately have both a website with us and the other website with another company. It's... not an ideal situation, but we're doing what we can with it. That was my first concern was that Google possibly identified (of their own volition) that the other site was the "official" site. We toyed with the idea of the business name (due to the naming of it just in general + the generic branding) but I don't think that's a problem just because we do have another client in Cumming, GA with the same wording in their domain with no issue. And if it was that, I'd think the listing as a while would be under fire from Google, not just the website field, right? I'm leaning towards "Google self-identified one website as official and is dismissing the other" as the most likely cause right now, I think.

We did get this on our latest response from Google Support while we continue to troubleshoot: "I have reached back to the specialists to find more information on the official website and they have mentioned the website you have does not comply with our guidelines, example: templated website. I hope this clarifies."

So this confused me also because A.) I wouldn't classify the website as templated, and B.) that isn't even against the guidelines as far as I can tell? I read through the link they provided and it doesn't say anything in there unless I'm completely missing it. Good to get a (mostly) concrete answer from them though.