Google My Business Publishing Troubleshooting

When publishing posts to Google Business Profile, following these guidelines will help ensure successful engagement and maximize your visibility. Here’s a step-by-step overview of key considerations when using this feature.

1. Choose the Ideal Image Aspect Ratio

Images play a critical role in enhancing your business’s visibility and engagement. They offer potential customers a visual representation of your products or services. To achieve the best results, follow these image guidelines:

• Ensure images are in JPG or PNG format.
• The image size should be between 10 KB and 5 MB.
• The minimum resolution should be 250x250 pixels.
• Make sure the images are relevant to your product or service, avoiding any unrelated content.

These practices help ensure that your images are high-quality, informative, and aligned with Google’s recommended standards.

2. Verify Your Google Business Profile Location

For a post to be published successfully on your Google Business Profile, the location must be verified. After listing your location, make sure to complete the verification process through Google. You can check your location’s verification status by visiting the "Manage Location" section in your account or by navigating to the location details within Referins's Social Planner.

How to Verify Your Business Profile Using Video Verification

Step 1

Step 2

To verify your Google Business Profile, especially using the video verification method, ensure your business meets Google's requirements: continuous video recording without edits, showcasing your location, business name, and operational proof.

Step 3

This method benefits businesses by authenticating their presence, increasing visibility on Google, and facilitating customer engagement. Prepare your video with these elements and submit it directly through your business profile management interface.

Note that this is the only method available if specified by Google, and videos must be between 30 seconds to 5 minutes long.

3. Posting to Google Business Profiles with Multiple Locations

If your Google Business Profile manages more than 10 locations, note that Google’s API does not support posting in such cases. When attempting to post to profiles with more than 10 locations, you may encounter an error stating, "This location belongs to a chain. The Local Post API is disabled for this location."

This limitation is due to Google’s policy, which restricts posting for businesses categorized as chains. To avoid this issue, ensure that you are only connecting and managing profiles with fewer than 10 locations when integrating with Referins's Social Planner.

Common Error Messages and How to Address Them

When managing multiple Google Business accounts or dealing with other profile settings, several error messages may appear. For example, if trying to connect multiple Google Business accounts, you might encounter a "Resource Exhausted" error indicating too many actions at once. Similarly, an "Invalid Website" message means your URL doesn’t meet Google's specifications. Always ensure URLs are correctly formatted and follow Google's protocols. These error messages help businesses refine their account settings for better compliance and visibility.

FAQ

1. What image specifications should I follow for posting to Google Business Profile?
   Ensure your images are in JPG or PNG format, sized between 10 KB and 5 MB, and have a minimum resolution of 250x250 pixels. The images should be relevant to your business offerings.
2. Why is it important to verify my Google Business Profile location?
   Verification is required for successful posting. Without a verified location, your posts may not be published. You can check the verification status under the "Manage Location" section or in the Social Planner settings.
3. Can I post to multiple Google Business Profile locations?
   Google restricts posting for profiles with more than 10 locations. If you attempt to post to such profiles, you may receive an error due to API limitations.
4. What should I do if I see the "This location belongs to a chain" error?
   This error occurs when the profile has more than 10 locations, making it ineligible for posting via Google’s API. Reduce the number of connected locations to fewer than 10 to resolve the issue.
5. How do I check if my location is verified?
   You can check the verification status by navigating to the "Manage Location" option in your account settings or reviewing the verification status within Referins's Social Planner.