🧭 Overview
When Otto is enabled on your Google Business Profiles (GBPs), it automatically schedules and publishes content such as posts, updates, and offers. If you see a content publishing failed notification for one or more GBPs, it means Otto attempted to publish but encountered an error before completion. This article walks you through the most common root causes and the steps to resolve each one.
🔍 Step 1: Identify How Many GBPs Are Affected
Before troubleshooting, determine the scope of the problem. This helps narrow down whether the issue is isolated to a single profile or systemic across your account.
- Go to Left sidebar → OTTO SEO → All Sites (SEO Automation) (URL:
/seo-automation-v3). - Review your Otto-enabled GBPs and note which ones show the content publishing failed status.
- If only one GBP is failing, the issue is likely profile-specific (permissions or data). If multiple GBPs are failing simultaneously, the issue is more likely API-level or account-level.
⚠️ Step 2: Check the Four Root Cause Categories
Most publishing failures fall into one of four categories. Work through each one in order.
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Image Validation Errors
Google enforces strict image requirements for GBP posts. Otto will fail to publish if an image does not meet these standards.
- Minimum size: 400 × 300 pixels. Maximum file size: 5 MB.
- Accepted formats: JPG and PNG only. GIF, WebP, and HEIC files are not supported.
- Images must not contain watermarks, overlaid text that covers more than 10% of the image, or prohibited content under Google's policies.
- To fix: open the affected GBP's content settings in Otto, remove or replace the non-compliant image, and re-trigger publishing.
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API Connection Errors
Otto connects to Google Business Profile via the Google My Business API. A broken or expired connection will cause all publishing attempts to fail.
- In Left sidebar → Local (GBP Projects), locate the affected GBP and check its connection status indicator.
- If the connection shows as disconnected or expired, click Reconnect and complete the Google OAuth flow.
- After reconnecting, wait up to five minutes and check whether queued posts publish successfully.
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Permissions Errors
Otto requires Owner or Manager level access to a GBP in order to publish content. If your role was changed, or the Google account used to connect the profile was removed from the GBP, publishing will fail.
- Log in to Google Business Profile Manager (business.google.com) and confirm the connected Google account has Manager or Owner access to the affected profile.
- If the account was downgraded to Site Manager or removed entirely, restore the correct permission level and then reconnect the profile inside Otto.
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Data Format Errors
GBP posts have content rules that Otto must follow. Publishing fails when post content exceeds limits or uses unsupported characters.
- Post text must not exceed 1,500 characters.
- Offer posts require a valid start date and end date; missing or past-dated offers will be rejected by Google.
- URLs attached to posts must be fully qualified (beginning with
https://) and must resolve without redirect errors. - To fix: review the scheduled post content in Otto, correct any field that violates these rules, and save the changes before re-publishing.
✅ Step 3: Confirm the Fix With Resolution Checkpoints
After applying a fix, use these checkpoints to confirm the issue is fully resolved before moving on.
- Return to Left sidebar → OTTO SEO → All Sites (SEO Automation) and open the affected GBP.
- Verify the profile's connection status shows Connected with a green indicator.
- Check that the previously failed post now shows a status of Published or Scheduled, not Failed. You can verify this in Left sidebar → Local → Posts (GBP Posts). You can verify this in Left sidebar → Local → Posts (GBP Posts).
- If the post was published, confirm it is visible on the live GBP listing by visiting the Google Business Profile directly.
- If failures persist after completing all steps above, note the exact error message displayed in Otto and proceed to the next section.
🔁 Step 4: If Errors Continue After Troubleshooting
If you have worked through all four root cause categories and the publishing failure persists, the issue may require account-level investigation. Before reaching out, collect the following information to speed up resolution:
- The name and location of the affected GBP(s).
- The exact error message shown in the Otto dashboard.
- The date and time of the most recent failed publishing attempt.
- A screenshot of the connection status screen for the affected profile.
If you need further assistance, open the chat widget in the bottom-right corner of the platform and type human teammate to be connected with a member of our team.