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Adding UTM to GMB Listing, but keeps reverting back?

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George Nenni

George Nenni

Boss
Apr 13, 2012
207
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George
#1
A standard process I implement for dealers is adding a UTM code to their Google My Business listing, so I can gain two benefits: 1) traffic goes into Organic channel vs. Direct, 2) I can seperately track clicks from GMB website link vs. all other organic clicks (on desktop and mobile).

I've done this for dozens of dealers, but I've got one single dealer who continually has their GMB website link revert back to the old URL (minus the UTM suffix)?

Any ideas or experience on this?

Thank you!

-George
 
#2
I've had one heck of a time trying to maintain correct info on GMB in the past. It surprisingly never crossed my mind to add a UTM code to our GMBs, so I'll give it a shot and see if the changes stick. I've reached out to Google about similar issues in the past and they simply say that the info needs to be consistent across the web for the info to be verified, which makes adding a unique UTM code difficult.

If you haven't contacted Google about this, it might be worth a shot.

local-help@google.com is the support email I've been communicating with to help sort out our GMB issues.
 
#3
wmrcs said:
I've had one heck of a time trying to maintain correct info on GMB in the past. It surprisingly never crossed my mind to add a UTM code to our GMBs, so I'll give it a shot and see if the changes stick. I've reached out to Google about similar issues in the past and they simply say that the info needs to be consistent across the web for the info to be verified, which makes adding a unique UTM code difficult.

If you haven't contacted Google about this, it might be worth a shot.

local-help@google.com is the support email I've been communicating with to help sort out our GMB issues.
Click to expand...

Like I said, it has worked for dozens, but this one dealer keeps changing back?

I meant to add this to my original post, here is the UTM tag I typically use for GMB organic:

For Nenni Nissan (has a ring to it, eh? :) )

https://www.nenninissan.com/?utm_source=google&utm_medium=organic&utm_campaign=google_my_business
 
#4
georgenenni said:
Like I said, it has worked for dozens, but this one dealer keeps changing back?

I meant to add this to my original post, here is the UTM tag I typically use for GMB organic:

For Nenni Nissan (has a ring to it, eh? :) )

https://www.nenninissan.com/?utm_source=google&utm_medium=organic&utm_campaign=google_my_business
Click to expand...
Does the Dealers site have a re-direct? In this case, the UTM would trigger on the page preceding the final URL and be stripped on the final URL.
 
#6
Symptoms I have seen when this occurs is

  1. Your URL is redirected because it is set to http and the site is https
  2. Your URL is redirected because you have it set to www when the site goes to the non www
  3. Your URL has not been indexed by Google because it is brand new. I have seen it take up to a week to stick with a brand new domain that has no old domains 301'ed to it. Also if the domain you are using is old, but has not had a site hosted on it in some time, Google will have the 404 error within their index and not allow the site listing until it is recrawled. In either case, within your search console do a fetch and render and then request indexing of all pages. It will recrawl the site and see the domain status change.
  4. See who else has access to the account, some of the providers have a system in place to auto-update their listings every night via the API with the information they provided. Remove access if you can and that will stop, I had this happen on a few different occasions.

I know you said that there is no redirect in place, I just wanted to give those two examples for anyone reading this in the future to help diagnose the issue. I would venture to say you have another company or service auto changing it back. Who else has access to the GMB page besides you?
 
#7
Steve Seeley said:
Symptoms I have seen when this occurs is

  1. Your URL is redirected because it is set to http and the site is https
  2. Your URL is redirected because you have it set to www when the site goes to the non www
  3. Your URL has not been indexed by Google because it is brand new. I have seen it take up to a week to stick with a brand new domain that has no old domains 301'ed to it. Also if the domain you are using is old, but has not had a site hosted on it in some time, Google will have the 404 error within their index and not allow the site listing until it is recrawled. In either case, within your search console do a fetch and render and then request indexing of all pages. It will recrawl the site and see the domain status change.
  4. See who else has access to the account, some of the providers have a system in place to auto-update their listings every night via the API with the information they provided. Remove access if you can and that will stop, I had this happen on a few different occasions.

I know you said that there is no redirect in place, I just wanted to give those two examples for anyone reading this in the future to help diagnose the issue. I would venture to say you have another company or service auto changing it back. Who else has access to the GMB page besides you?
Click to expand...

Good thoughts, thanks @Steve Seeley , I'm looking into that also though so far none claiming responsibility. Just wondering if it could be a Google occurrence.
 
#8
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