Why is Google My Business rejecting posts? Here’s how to fix it.
Is Google My Business (now Google Business Profile) rejecting your posts? With lots of changes to Google’s automatic post screening, harmless posts are being removed or flagged. Here’s how to fix it!
1. Follow Google’s Business Profile content policy
While Google’s guidelines are notoriously vague, they could hold the key to your post rejections. Here are the main takeaways:
- Post “on-topic” content. Only post things directly related to your business.
- Avoid duplicate content. It gets marked as spam.
- Don’t post blurry images or videos.
- No inappropriate posts. This includes violence, obscene language, bullying, hate speech, sexually suggestive language/images.
- Be careful with your descriptive words! If you’re repeatedly getting flagged, be wary of using harmless phrases like “beat them to the punch” or calling things “beautiful” or “stunning”.
- Don’t post private or personal information.
- This includes phone numbers – even your own!
- If your business deals with regulated goods like alcohol or cannabis, be wary about your posts. Regulated goods cannot be the focal point of any images or posts.
- Example: a picture of customers drinking wine in a restaurant is okay, but a video centered around alcohol is not.
- Don’t post your phone number.
- Luckily, GBP has a “call now” button that you can add to posts.
- Hotels cannot create promotional posts.
- Do not post pictures with regulated medical devices or medications in them.
Hopefully, none of your content violates Google’s rules. But it never hurts to be on the safe side!
2. Review your post content to see why Google My Business is rejecting your posts
Either the images in your post are causing the rejection, or the content. Review Google’s guidelines above to ensure that your images and text follow the rules. After all, even including your phone number in a post is enough to have you flagged! Be meticulous when you screen your content.
3. Realize that it might be a glitch
If you only have a few posts that have been rejected, check on a private browser to see if they appear. Sometimes, the system will say that a post is rejected, but really it’s still live.
4. Run your images through Google’s image checker
Google’s image checker will also check if your images are getting flagged as racy for whatever reason. Sometimes, benign images are flagged if they look suggestive or unclear.
Remember that blurry images are rejected, too.
5. Contact Google support if you keep getting flagged
Contacting Google support and creating a thread on the support forum are key steps in ensuring that you don’t run into future problems!
