Website URL not approved on GBP and won't show in a branded search

[sd1111]

We are working with a client who recently changed her domain. She is having trouble replacing her old website with her new one on her Google Business Profile ("not approved" error)

She has had multiple exchanges with GBP support where they have told her the following:

• Her website is not an “official website” and to pick something else.
• They claimed this was because she didn't have contact information on her site.
  • She has her name and email address on the site
  • Her email is in her footer
  • Her old contact page is redirecting to her new contact page
• They told her that she needed to reach out to her webmaster and "create an official website."

For privacy, I have put the business information (name, URL, GBP URL, Case ID) in this Google doc: https://docs.google.com/document/d/1JpWpJVlDwLfTrpMONTSaX5JrmX3JT1Y0uG_-LzRsYNI/edit?usp=sharing

Action we have taken:

• Google Search Console is set up, new site is indexed, home page URL "URL is on Google"
• Change of Address submitted and in progress

Has anyone seen this issue before? Any idea what we can do to get this fixed?

 

[fisicx]

An interim fix is to 301 redirect from the old site to the appropriate pages on the new site. Once Google has indexed the new site and all those old pages dropped from the index you might have more luck with the edit.

 

[keyserholiday]

We are working with a client who recently changed her domain. She is having trouble replacing her old website with her new one on her Google Business Profile ("not approved" error)

She has had multiple exchanges with GBP support where they have told her the following:

• Her website is not an “official website” and to pick something else.
• They claimed this was because she didn't have contact information on her site.
  • She has her name and email address on the site
  • Her email is in her footer
  • Her old contact page is redirecting to her new contact page
• They told her that she needed to reach out to her webmaster and "create an official website."

For privacy, I have put the business information (name, URL, GBP URL, Case ID) in this Google doc: https://docs.google.com/document/d/1JpWpJVlDwLfTrpMONTSaX5JrmX3JT1Y0uG_-LzRsYNI/edit?usp=sharing

Action we have taken:

• Google Search Console is set up, new site is indexed, home page URL "URL is on Google"
• Change of Address submitted and in progress

Has anyone seen this issue before? Any idea what we can do to get this fixed?

I don't know why, but Google is not publishing new URLs on GBPs. Post in the help forum. Before you do that, you need to adjust the service area to be no more than two hours from the client's address. You dodged a bullet, as support should have suspended the profile when you contacted them.

 

[sd1111]

An interim fix is to 301 redirect from the old site to the appropriate pages on the new site. Once Google has indexed the new site and all those old pages dropped from the index you might have more luck with the edit.

Thank you! We do have 301 redirects set up from the old site, but all the old pages definitely haven't dropped from the index yet. Thanks!

 

[sd1111]

I don't know why, but Google is not publishing new URLs on GBPs. Post in the help forum. Before you do that, you need to adjust the service area to be no more than two hours from the client's address. You dodged a bullet, as support should have suspended the profile when you contacted them.

Thanks for sharing that Reddit thread. Glad to know it's not just us.

Unfortunately, I did post in the help forum, but the answer was basically that the website isn't properly indexed (which I agree seems to be a problem but don't understand why it's happening when everything looks fine in GSC).

Really appreciate the reminder on the service area. We'll get that updated while we work through this.

 

[keyserholiday]

Can you paste the link to the help forum thread? I would love to take a look at it. The new website is being indexed.

 

[sd1111]

Can you paste the link to the help forum thread? I would love to take a look at it. The new website is being indexed.

Absolutely. Here is the forum post @keyserholiday . Thank you! https://support.google.com/business...-t-change-website-url-not-an-official-website

 

[keyserholiday]

Absolutely. Here is the forum post @keyserholiday . Thank you! https://support.google.com/business...-t-change-website-url-not-an-official-website

It wasn't escalated, and Helmut merely weighed in. As you can see, I asked him to escalate it.

 

[fisicx]

Thank you! We do have 301 redirects set up from the old site, but all the old pages definitely haven't dropped from the index yet. Thanks!

It can take time. Depends on when Google re-indexes the old site. Have you tested the redirects to make sure they are all working?

 

[sd1111]

It wasn't escalated, and Helmut merely weighed in. As you can see, I asked him to escalate it.

Thank you so much! I really appreciate it!

 

[keyserholiday]

Thank you so much! I really appreciate it!

I emailed Helmut and asked him to escalate this for you.

 

[ElizabethRule]

I just helped @Cordell Crowley escalate an issue like this to Google https://localsearchforum.com/threads/gbp-support-claiming-a-website-isnt-official.62258/

Google claimed they fixed the issue, Cordell can you confirm if they did?

 

[keyserholiday]

I just helped @Cordell Crowley escalate an issue like this to Google https://localsearchforum.com/threads/gbp-support-claiming-a-website-isnt-official.62258/

Google claimed they fixed the issue, Cordell can you confirm if they did?

This issue is not resolved as of yet. The website and phone number are missing from this GBP.

 

[sd1111]

Tried the edit again today, and the new website was 'not approved' almost instantly. Not resolved :/

 

[Cordell Crowley]

I just helped @Cordell Crowley escalate an issue like this to Google https://localsearchforum.com/threads/gbp-support-claiming-a-website-isnt-official.62258/

Google claimed they fixed the issue, Cordell can you confirm if they did?

It did finally get fixed sometime in mid-March, but then Google removed it again recently on 5/28 and it went back to not letting us add it (auto-rejecting the edit). Funnily enough, they never did remove it from the menu section, only the Website section.

The client actually changed their domain just last week and Google allowed us to attach the new one instantly. Whatever issue was going on with the previous domain that plagued us back in late Feb/early March and then again in late May was definitely specific to that domain in particular, though we never could figure out why.

Everything that @sd1111 is experiencing here seems to be one-to-one with my previous experience with the URL and Google Support, even down to the Search Console indexing/etc.

 

[ElizabethRule]

Yikes! sd1111 keep us updated if you are able to get this resolved!

 

[sd1111]

Yikes! sd1111 keep us updated if you are able to get this resolved!

Thanks for your follow up @ElizabethRule and thank you for all the details on your situation @Cordell Crowley

We did manage to get the new website URL approved on GBP, so that's a great win.

Unfortunately... Google still seems to be suppressing visibility of the website and now the GBP listing too. I have to do a very specific search on Maps to get the GBP to appear. A branded search still doesn't show the website.

I'm starting to worry that this domain is just blacklisted for no reason, and the client might need to change it as Cordell's client did...

 

[keyserholiday]

I recommend setting up citations with Yelp, Apple Maps, Bing, and Yahoo. Your client has a FB page that somebody deleted. I would get a new one set up.