Troubleshooting: GBP Data Mismatch & Sync

📊 Fix Google Business Profile Names in Shared Reports

🔍 Understanding GBP Data Mismatch Flags

📍 What a mismatch flag means A Business Address or Phone Number mismatch means the information found in your Google Business Profile differs from the business details stored in Search Atlas or on other online directories. This is a consistency warning, not proof that your profile is suspended or invalid. Common causes include an old phone number, formatting differences, a recently changed address, missing suite information, or a location listed with different regional details. For example, spacing or punctuation may vary, but the scan can still require review. ✅ Check your business details 1. Open Left sidebar → Local → Overview and review the business name, address, phone number, website, and business category. 2. Compare these details with the Google Business Profile connected to your project. 3. Use one consistent version of your public business information, including suite numbers, postal codes, country codes, and phone formatting. 4. Save any corrections, then allow time for connected profiles and directories to update. 🔎 How citation scans work A citation is a business listing on a directory or platform such as Google, Bing, Apple, or Yelp. A citation scan compares your saved business details with listings it can locate across supported sources. A result such as no match does not always mean the listing does not exist. The scan may be unable to identify it because of a different name, address format, phone number, missing regional field, duplicate listing, access limitation, or temporary scan issue. Search results can also change after a recent update. Review citation results in Left sidebar → Local → Local Citations. Check the listing URL and compare every field rather than relying only on the summary status. ⏳ Pending tasks and updates Tasks may remain pending while Search Atlas processes a scan, prepares an update, or waits for a directory to accept and publish changes. Directory updates are not always immediate, so a corrected task may continue showing its previous status temporarily. Check tasks in Left sidebar → Local → My Tasks. Do not repeatedly submit the same correction while an existing task is processing. Recheck the citation after the task completes and the directory has had time to refresh. 📱 Social profile setup Social setup is separate from address and phone mismatch checks. Social profiles can strengthen your online presence, but creating or connecting one does not automatically correct Google Business Profile or citation data. Keep your business name, website, phone number, and location consistent on each social profile. Use Left sidebar → Local → Overview for business information and Left sidebar → Local → Media Library for available business media. 🛠️ When to review the scan again - After changing your Google Business Profile details. - After correcting a directory listing. - When a scan reports a missing state or administrative area for a location where that field is not provided by Google. - When a listing is visible publicly but the scan still reports no match. If a result remains incorrect after the details match and the scan has completed, record the business name, location, affected source, listing URL, and scan status before requesting help. 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.

🛠️ Google Reviews Horizontal Scrolling Display Issue

🔍 What Was the Issue? Some users noticed that Google Review drafts in the Reviews section appeared on a single line, requiring horizontal scrolling to read the full text. This made reviewing and editing drafts noticeably harder and raised questions about whether the behaviour was intentional or a bug. 📋 What Caused It? This was caused by a recent platform update that unintentionally affected how review draft text was displayed. Text that should have wrapped across multiple lines was instead rendering on one continuous line, forcing users to scroll sideways to read it. This was confirmed as a UI issue — not intentional design — and was logged with the engineering team for a fix. ✅ Current Status: Resolved This issue has been resolved. A UI improvement update was applied to the Google Business Profile Reviews section, and text wrapping now works as expected. You should no longer need to scroll horizontally to read review drafts. 🧭 How to Check Your Reviews To access your Google Reviews and confirm the display is working correctly, follow these steps: 1. Open the platform and navigate to Local → Reviews (Google Business Profile Reviews) in the left sidebar. 2. Browse your review drafts and confirm that text wraps naturally across multiple lines without requiring horizontal scrolling. 💡 What to Do If You Still See Horizontal Scrolling If you open the Reviews section and the horizontal scrolling issue is still present for you, try the following before contacting support: - Hard-refresh your browser by pressing Ctrl + Shift + R (Windows/Linux) or Cmd + Shift + R (Mac). This clears cached page data and loads the latest version of the platform. - Try a different browser to rule out a local browser rendering issue. - Check your browser zoom level — a zoom level above 100% can sometimes cause layout shifts that introduce unexpected scrollbars. If none of the above steps resolve the problem, the issue may have reappeared or may be specific to your account or browser environment. In that case, it is important to report it promptly so the team can investigate. 📞 Still Need Help? 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.

🔧 Fix GBP Auto-Review-Reply Not Responding

Overview If your Google Business Profile (GBP) is connected and auto-respond is enabled, but reviews are not receiving AI-generated replies, this is a known issue that our team investigates on a case-by-case basis. Because the root cause can vary depending on your account configuration, there is no single self-serve fix that applies universally. What to Check Before Escalating Before reaching out, review the following common factors that can contribute to auto-replies not generating: - GBP connection status: Confirm that your Google Business Profile is still actively connected to Search Atlas. An expired or partial connection can prevent replies from being generated. - Auto-respond setting: Verify that the auto-respond feature is enabled for the specific GBP location experiencing the issue. If you manage multiple locations, this setting may need to be confirmed per location. - Review sync status: Auto-replies can only be generated for reviews that have successfully synced into Search Atlas. If new reviews are not appearing in the platform, the AI cannot respond to them. - Existing responses: The system will not generate an AI reply for a review that already has a response, including replies posted manually outside of Search Atlas. How to Get Help Because this issue requires investigation of your specific account and GBP connection, please escalate to our support team. To help us resolve this quickly, have the following ready: - The name and URL of the affected Google Business Profile location - The approximate date when auto-replies stopped generating - Any error messages you have seen in the platform - Whether the issue affects one location or multiple 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.

🔧 Fix GBP Deployment Failed Category Error

🧭 Overview If your Google Business Profile (GBP) deployment keeps failing with a Deployment Failed error — even after multiple retries — the cause is likely not a platform issue. Google occasionally invalidates or removes a profile's primary category on their side, which prevents Search Atlas from completing the sync. Generic fixes like refreshing or waiting will not resolve this. You need to manually reset the primary category directly in Google Business Profile before attempting another deployment. ⚠️ What Causes This Error Google Business Profile enforces strict category validation during any data sync. If your primary category has been removed, changed, or flagged by Google — even without any action on your part — Search Atlas cannot push updates to your profile. The deployment fails because the required category reference no longer exists on Google's side. Common signs this is your issue: - The Deployment Failed error appears consistently across multiple retry attempts. - The error occurs shortly after a previous successful sync. - Your GBP primary category appears blank, changed, or missing when you log in to Google Business Profile directly. - No other profile fields appear to be causing conflicts. ✅ Step 1 — Confirm the Category Issue in Google Business Profile 1. Log in to your Google Business Profile account at business.google.com. 2. Select the affected business location. 3. Locate the Primary category field in your profile settings. 4. Check whether the field is blank, shows an unexpected value, or displays a category that differs from what you originally set. 5. If the field is empty or incorrect, the category has been invalidated and must be reset before you can deploy. 🛠️ Step 2 — Reset the Primary Category in Google Business Profile 1. In your Google Business Profile settings, locate the primary category field. 2. Clear any existing value and set your correct primary category. 3. Save your changes and allow Google time to process the update on their side before proceeding. 🔄 Step 3 — Retry the Deployment in Search Atlas 1. Return to Search Atlas and open the affected GBP project. 2. Once you are in the project, retry the deployment. The updated category from Google's side should now allow the sync to complete successfully. 3. If the deployment fails again after resetting the category, note the exact error message displayed and the timestamp of the failure — you will need these details if you need to escalate. 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.

🔧 Troubleshooting Data Aggregator Submission Issues

This article covers data aggregator submission issues in Search Atlas. Data aggregators distribute your business information (name, address, phone number, and other key details) to directories and listing sites across the web. When a submission fails or stalls, your local presence can be affected. What Is a Data Aggregator Submission Issue? A data aggregator submission technical issue occurs when your business information fails to be distributed or processed correctly through the aggregator network. This can result in listings not appearing, outdated information persisting, or submissions remaining in an unresolved state. What to Have Ready When Contacting Support Because data aggregator submission problems are technical in nature and require backend investigation, our team will need to look into your specific account and submission records. To help us resolve your issue as quickly as possible, please have the following information ready before reaching out: - Your project or business name as it appears in Search Atlas - The specific aggregator(s) affected, if known - The exact error message or status displayed for the submission - The date and time when you first noticed the issue - Any recent changes made to your business profile or listing details prior to the issue occurring Having this information ready will allow our team to investigate your submission records and take the appropriate backend action to resolve the issue. 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.

🛠️ Fix Report Builder GBP Name Validation Error

🔍 Overview When editing a Google Business Profile (GBP) widget in Report Builder — specifically to update the business name — you may encounter a validation error that prevents your changes from saving. This is a known issue. Our team is aware of it and is working to investigate the root cause. Because the underlying cause has not yet been fully confirmed, there is no reliable self-serve fix we can document at this time. ⚠️ What to Expect If you are experiencing this error, the best course of action is to contact our support team directly. To help us investigate and resolve your case as quickly as possible, please have the following information ready before reaching out: - The name of the report you are editing in Report Builder. - The exact error message displayed on screen (copy it word for word). - The name of the GBP profile or business name you are trying to update. - The approximate date and time when you first encountered the error. - Any steps you have already tried (e.g. page refresh, different browser). 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.

🔌 Fix GSC and GBP Email Property Mismatch Errors

🧭 Overview When connecting Google Search Console (GSC) or Google Business Profile (GBP) to Search Atlas, you may encounter a frustrating situation: the connection reports success, but no properties or business locations appear. This happens when the Google account used to authenticate does not own or have verified access to any GSC properties or GBP listings. This article walks you through diagnosing the cause and resolving it step by step. ⚠️ What This Error Looks Like - GSC connects successfully but displays a message such as "This account doesn't have any site associated." - GBP connects successfully but the business location list is empty. - The integration screen shows your Google account email but no selectable properties or profiles. 🔍 Step 1 — Verify Which Google Account Is Connected The most common cause is authenticating with a personal or secondary Google account that has no GSC properties or GBP listings attached to it. 1. Inside Search Atlas, go to Settings → Integrations. 2. Check the email address shown under the GSC or GBP connection. Note it exactly. 3. Open a browser and go to search.google.com/search-console. Confirm you are signed in with that same email address. 4. Check whether any properties are listed. If the GSC dashboard is empty, this account has no associated sites. 5. Repeat for GBP by visiting business.google.com and confirming whether any business locations appear under that email. 🔄 Step 2 — Disconnect and Reconnect with the Correct Account If the authenticated email is not the owner or verified manager of your GSC properties or GBP listings, you must disconnect and reconnect using the correct account. 1. In Search Atlas, go to Settings → Integrations. 2. Click Disconnect next to the GSC or GBP integration. 3. Click Connect GSC Account (Site Metrics → GSC pages) or Connect GBP Account (Local → GBP Projects) again and sign in with the Google account that owns or has full access to the properties you want to pull in. 4. Grant all requested permissions when prompted by Google. 5. Return to Search Atlas and confirm that your properties or business locations now appear in the selection list. 👥 Step 3 — Check Property Permissions in Google Search Console If you must use a secondary or team Google account, that account needs to be added as a verified user inside GSC before it will surface any properties in Search Atlas. 1. Ask the GSC property owner to sign in to Google Search Console. 2. Select the relevant property from the left sidebar. 3. Go to Settings → Users and permissions. 4. Click Add user, enter the email address used in Search Atlas, and set the permission level to Full or Restricted depending on the access needed. 5. The invited user must accept the invitation via their Google account. 6. Once accepted, disconnect and reconnect GSC in Search Atlas using that email. The property should now appear. 🏢 Step 4 — Check Business Access in Google Business Profile For GBP, the connected email must be an owner or manager of the business location. 1. Ask the primary GBP owner to sign in to Google Business Profile. 2. Select the relevant business location. 3. Go to Business Profile settings → Managers. 4. Click Add and enter the email address used in Search Atlas. Assign the role of Manager or Owner. 5. The invited user must accept the invitation from their Google account. 6. Once accepted, disconnect and reconnect GBP in Search Atlas. The business location should now appear. 🧹 Step 5 — Clear Browser Cache and Re-authenticate Occasionally, browser-cached sessions cause Google to authenticate with an unintended account even after you attempt to switch. To rule this out: - Open an Incognito or Private browsing window. - Navigate to Search Atlas and attempt the GSC or GBP connection from there. - Sign in explicitly with the correct Google account when the Google authentication prompt appears. - This prevents cached credentials from interfering with the connection. ✅ Confirming a Successful Fix After completing the steps above, your integration is working correctly when: - The GSC connection shows a dropdown list of your verified properties for you to select. - The GBP connection shows your business name and location ready for selection. - Data begins populating in your Search Atlas dashboards within a few minutes. 🛠️ Quick Reference — Root Causes and Fixes - Wrong email authenticated: Disconnect and reconnect with the account that owns the properties. - Email has no GSC properties: Add it as a user inside GSC settings and re-authenticate. - Email has no GBP access: Add it as a manager inside GBP settings and re-authenticate. - Cached Google session: Use an Incognito window to force a clean sign-in. 💬 Still Need Help? If you have verified permissions on the correct account and properties still do not appear after following all steps above, 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.

🗺️ Fix GBP Visibility After Business Name Change

🔍 Why This Happens Changing a business name on Google Business Profile (GBP) can trigger an automatic re-review by Google. During this review—and sometimes after it—the listing may temporarily or permanently lose visibility in Google Search and Maps. Common causes include: - Pending re-verification: Google flags the name change and requires you to re-verify ownership before restoring full visibility. - Policy violation: The new name includes keywords, taglines, or location terms that violate Google's guidelines. - Suspended listing: A significant name change can trigger an automatic suspension if Google's systems detect it as suspicious activity. - Propagation delay: Minor changes sometimes take 3–7 days to reflect in search results without any underlying issue. ✅ Step 1 — Check the Listing Status in GBP Before troubleshooting, confirm the current status of the profile directly in Google Business Profile Manager. 1. Go to business.google.com and sign in with the account that manages the profile. 2. Locate the affected business listing. 3. Look for any status banners at the top of the profile, such as "Suspended,"****"Pending review," or "Needs action." 4. If the profile shows Suspended, proceed to Step 3. If it shows Pending review, proceed to Step 2. If no banner appears, proceed to Step 4. ⏳ Step 2 — Wait Out the Re-Review Period If the profile is marked Pending review, Google is actively reviewing the name change. During this period: - Do not make further edits to the profile. Additional changes can restart the review clock. - Allow up to 7 business days for the review to complete. - Monitor the profile daily for a status update. - If the status has not resolved after 7 business days, move to Step 3. 🚫 Step 3 — Resolve a Suspended Listing A suspended listing will not appear in Google Search or Maps until the suspension is lifted. Follow these steps to appeal: 1. In Google Business Profile Manager, open the suspended listing. 2. Click Appeal suspension (shown in the suspension banner). 3. Complete the appeal form. Provide supporting documents such as a business license, utility bill, or storefront photos that confirm the business name and address. 4. Submit the appeal and allow up to 3–5 business days for a response from Google. 5. If the appeal is denied, review the new business name against Google's name guidelines and revert or adjust the name to comply before re-appealing. 📋 Step 4 — Verify the Name Complies With Google's Guidelines Even if the listing is not suspended, a non-compliant name can suppress visibility. Ensure the business name meets all of the following criteria: - Reflects the real-world name customers use to find the business (e.g., on signage, receipts, or the website). - Does not include keywords, city names, or location descriptors unless they are legally part of the registered business name. - Does not include marketing slogans or phone numbers. - Matches the name used consistently across the website and other citations. If the name does not meet these criteria, revert it to the previous name or update it to a compliant version, then monitor for visibility recovery over 3–7 days. 📍 Step 5 — Audit Local Citations for Consistency Name inconsistencies across the web can compound GBP visibility issues. After a name change, citations that still carry the old name create conflicting signals for Google. 1. In Search Atlas, go to Left sidebar → Local → GBP Projects. 2. Select your client's GBP project from the list. 3. Navigate to Left sidebar → Local → Local Citations. 4. Review the citations list for any entries that still display the old business name. 5. Update or suppress outdated citations so the name is consistent everywhere. 📈 Step 6 — Monitor Ranking Recovery Once the listing is active and compliant, track whether local visibility is recovering. 1. In Search Atlas, go to Left sidebar → Keywords → Rank Tracker. 2. Filter by the client's target local keywords (e.g., branded terms or primary service keywords). 3. Set a baseline date from the day the name change was made and monitor weekly ranking trends. 4. If rankings do not begin to recover within 2–3 weeks of the listing being reinstated, revisit citation consistency and profile completeness. ⚠️ When to Escalate to Google Support Contact Google Business Profile support directly if: - The appeal has been denied more than once despite a compliant business name. - The listing shows as Published in GBP Manager but still does not appear in Search or Maps after 14+ days. - You receive no response from Google within 5 business days of submitting an appeal. Reach Google support via the Help button inside Google Business Profile Manager to open a support case. 💬 Need Help? 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.

📊 Fix Missing GBP Metrics in Report Builder

🔍 Common Causes for Missing GBP Metrics If Google Business Profile (GBP) metrics are not displaying in your Report Builder configuration, the issue typically stems from one of three sources: disconnected GBP accounts, insufficient permissions, or report configuration errors. ⚙️ Verify GBP Account Connection Ensure your Google Business Profile is properly connected to Search Atlas: 1. Navigate to Reports in the left sidebar 2. Open your report project or create a new one 3. In the report editor, locate the GBP Metrics section 4. Confirm the correct GBP location is selected and shows a green connection status 5. If disconnected, click Reconnect GBP and complete the OAuth flow with a Google account that has Manager or Owner access to the profile 🔐 Check Google Account Permissions Metrics require specific access levels on the Google Business Profile: - The connected Google account must have Manager or Owner role (not just Site Manager) - Verify permissions in Google Business Profile Manager: Users → locate your email → confirm role - If using a shared agency account, ensure it has been granted access to the specific location 📅 Validate Date Range and Data Availability GBP metrics may not appear if: - The selected date range exceeds available data (new profiles have limited historical data) - The range includes future dates - Google has not yet processed insights for recent days (allow 48–72 hours for fresh data) Adjust the date filter in the report builder to a range where data is confirmed available. 🛠️ Refresh Report Configuration If metrics were previously working but disappeared after saving: 1. Open the report in the Report Builder 2. Remove the GBP metrics section using the Delete icon 3. Re-add it via Add Section → GBP Metrics 4. Reconfigure metrics, layout, and date range 5. Save the report again This resolves a known issue where saved configurations occasionally lose metric bindings. 🧪 Test with a Minimal Report To isolate the issue: 1. Create a new report project 2. Add only a GBP Metrics section 3. Select one metric (e.g., Total Searches) 4. Set a recent 7-day date range 5. Preview the report If metrics appear here but not in your main report, the issue is configuration-specific. 💡 Known Platform Fixes Recent updates have resolved: - GBP metric cards now display proper arrow indicators for delta values (not plain text) - Total Searches and Maps Views summary bar renders correctly - Shared report URLs now match the editor layout and metrics Ensure you are on the latest platform version by hard-refreshing (Ctrl+Shift+R / Cmd+Shift+R). 🆘 Still Need Help? 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.

🔗 Fixing GBP and Project URL Mismatches

If you manage more than one website and Google Business Profile (GBP) inside Search Atlas, you may notice the AI Agent or other tools referencing a URL that does not match your active project. For example, your active project is ericrounds.com, but the system pulls data for a different business such as Total Service. This is especially common when you have two GBP profiles connected to two different domains under the same account. This article explains why this happens and how to correct it. 🤔 Why the Wrong URL Appears Search Atlas pulls data from the data source tied to your active project. When two GBP profiles are connected to two different domains, the platform can only align one GBP profile with one project at a time. A mismatch usually happens for one of these reasons: - The wrong GBP profile is linked to the current project. - Two projects share the same account, and the AI Agent is reading the default or most recently connected profile instead of the one you expect. - The project domain and the GBP profile point to different websites, so the system defaults to the connected GBP data. In short, the AI Agent uses whichever URL is stored as the data source for the project you are viewing. If that link is incorrect, the output will reference the wrong business. When more than one GBP profile is connected, the AI Agent does not always resolve the intended location automatically, so it can fall back to the wrong profile. Improvements to how the AI Agent auto-resolves the correct GBP location are actively in progress; in the meantime, manually confirming and correcting the connected profile is the reliable fix. 🔍 How to Confirm the Data Source Before making changes, check which GBP profile is currently attached to your project. 1. Open the project you want to review (for example, ericrounds.com). 2. Go to the project or GBP settings area. 3. Locate the connected Google Business Profile and note the business name and website listed. 4. Compare that URL to your active project domain. If the listed profile shows a different business or domain, that mismatch is the cause of the wrong URL. ⚙️ How to Fix the Mismatch Follow these steps to align the correct GBP profile with the correct project. 1. Open the affected project. 2. Go to the GBP or data source connection settings. 3. Disconnect the incorrect Google Business Profile if one is attached. 4. Select and connect the GBP profile that matches your project domain. 5. Save your changes and refresh the page. Once the correct profile is linked, the AI Agent and reports will begin using the matching URL. 💡 Tips for Managing Multiple GBP Profiles When you work with several websites and profiles, a few habits help prevent future mismatches: - One project per domain: Keep each website in its own project so data sources stay clean. - Match names carefully: Confirm the GBP business name and website match the project before connecting. - Check the active project: Always verify which project is selected before reviewing AI Agent output. - Reconnect after changes: If you switch domains or profiles, update the connection right away. 🔄 What to Do After Fixing the Link After connecting the correct profile, allow the platform a short time to sync the new data source. Then reopen the AI Agent and generate a fresh response. It should now reference your active project URL. If older reports still show the previous URL, they were created before the fix and will not update retroactively. 💬 Need More Help If the wrong URL continues to appear after reconnecting the correct GBP profile, our team can review your account setup. 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.

📍 Fix GBP Projects Showing No Address Found

🔍 Why This Happens Search Atlas's Local SEO Heatmaps let you enter any target address manually, so they work independently of your live Google Business Profile data. GBP Projects works differently — it fetches your business details directly from the Google Business Profile API. When the API does not return an address, GBP Projects displays "No address found." The three most common causes are: - Your listing is a service-area business (SAB) with the physical address hidden on Google — the API does not expose hidden addresses - Your Google account connection in Search Atlas has expired or lost permission - The GBP location was not linked correctly when the project was created ✅ Fix 1 — Check Whether Your Address Is Hidden on Google Service-area businesses often choose to hide their address on Google. If your address is hidden, the GBP API will never return it and GBP Projects will always show "No address found." This is the most common cause of the issue. 1. Open Google Business Profile Manager at business.google.com and sign in. 2. Select your location and go to Edit profile → Business information → Location. 3. If "Hide my address" is enabled, you have two options: (a) uncheck it to make your address visible so the API can return it, or (b) keep it hidden and use Left sidebar → Local → Local SEO Heatmaps instead, where you can enter your address manually for rank-tracking purposes. 🔗 Fix 2 — Reconnect Your Google Account An expired or revoked Google authorization prevents Search Atlas from reading your GBP data. Reconnecting takes about two minutes. 1. In Search Atlas, go to Site Metrics → GSC Performance (Your connected GSC Accounts). 2. Find your Google account under Connected Accounts and click Disconnect. 3. Click Connect GSC Account (or Connect GA Account) and complete the Google authorization flow. 4. When prompted, sign in with the Google account that holds Owner or Manager access to your GBP location — Editor access is not sufficient to retrieve location data. 5. Once reconnected, go to Left sidebar → Local (lands on GBP Projects) and open your project to confirm the address now appears. Note: If you see the error message "Failed to connect GBP locations" during step 3, this was a known platform issue that has since been resolved. Disconnect and repeat the steps above — the error should not recur. 🏗️ Fix 3 — Re-link the GBP Location Inside Your Project If the address is still missing after reconnecting, the project may not be pointing to the correct GBP location. 1. Go to Left sidebar → Local SEO → GBP Projects and open the affected project. 2. Click Edit Project or the settings icon within the project card. 3. In the Business Location field, clear the current selection and re-select your GBP location from the dropdown. Verify the full address is displayed before saving. 4. Click Save. The address should now populate in your project dashboard. If no locations appear in the dropdown, return to Fix 2 and ensure your Google account is connected with the correct access level. If only some of your locations appear rather than all of them, this was a known platform issue that has since been resolved — reconnecting your Google account as described in Fix 2 and then reopening the project settings should restore the complete location list. 💡 When to Use Local Heatmaps Instead If your business must keep its address hidden on Google — common for home-based businesses and mobile service providers — GBP Projects will not be able to display a street address. This is a Google API limitation, not a Search Atlas issue. In this situation: - Use Left sidebar → Local → Local SEO Heatmaps for local rank tracking — it accepts any address you enter, regardless of your GBP visibility settings. - You can still use GBP Projects at Left sidebar → Local (lands on GBP Projects) for review management, post scheduling, Q&A, and photo management, all of which do not require a returned address. 💬 Still Need Help? 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. Additional Notes Search Atlas stores a local snapshot of your GBP data when a project is first created or last synced. If your address was added, edited, or verified in Google after that snapshot was taken, GBP Projects will not reflect the change automatically — a manual data refresh/sync from within the project resolves this.

🛠️ Fixing GBP-Project Mismatch and Finding Onpage Optimizations

🔍 Understanding the Problem When you have more than one Google Business Profile (GBP) connected to your account, Search Atlas can sometimes audit a URL that does not match your active project. For example, your project may be set to ericrounds.com, but the system pulls a different website (such as a "Total Service" listing) because a second GBP is linked to that domain. This happens when the tool defaults to a GBP whose website field points somewhere other than your intended project URL. The good news: this is a configuration issue, not a bug, and you can correct it in a few minutes. ​ ⚙️ Why the Wrong URL Is Being Pulled Search Atlas associates audits with the project and the GBP that are currently selected. The wrong URL usually appears for one of these reasons: - Multiple GBPs connected: Two or more profiles are linked, and the wrong one is active. - Mismatched website field: The active GBP has a different website URL listed than your project domain. - Project not set as active: The audit was run against a project other than the one you intended.​ 🧭 How to Select the Correct Project and GBP Follow these steps to make sure the audit targets the right website: 1. Open the project selector at the top of your dashboard. 2. Confirm that your intended project (for example, ericrounds.com) is selected and active. 3. Go to Left sidebar → Local → GBP Projects for that project. Review the list of connected Google Business Profiles. 4. Confirm that the active GBP shows the correct website URL. If it lists a different domain, switch to the GBP that matches your project. 5. If a GBP is no longer needed, disconnect it so it cannot be selected by mistake.​ Once the correct project and GBP are paired, re-run the audit. The tool will now analyze your intended URL. ​ 📊 Verifying the Audit Targets the Right URL Before reviewing results, double-check the audited domain: - Look at the URL displayed at the top of the audit or report screen. - Confirm it matches your active project domain exactly. - If it still shows the wrong site, clear the current selection, reselect the correct project, and run a fresh audit rather than reopening an older report.​ 🐞 Known Audit Reporting Issues (Now Resolved)​ Not every "mismatch" comes from your configuration — a few were caused by bugs that have since been fixed. If you previously saw any of the following, re-run a fresh audit to get accurate results: - Address reported as missing or mismatched even though it was set correctly on your GBP profile — resolved. - Service pages flagged as "missing" by the GBP Assistant due to a fuzzy-matching failure on nested URLs — resolved. - Competitor audit score differing between the comparison view and a standalone audit — resolved. Because these fixes are already deployed, a current audit should reflect your real on-page and profile data. If you still see an unexpected mismatch after re-running, start a live chat so the team can investigate. 🚀 How to Actually Fix the Audit Issues Many customers expect the audit to only tell them how to fix issues, but Search Atlas can apply many on-page fixes for you automatically through OTTO SEO. Instead of manually editing alt tags, schema, or meta data, let OTTO deploy the changes. 1. Make sure OTTO is activated for your correct project (the one matching your intended URL). 2. Install the OTTO Pixel on your website. This small snippet lets Search Atlas push approved changes live without manual coding. 3. Open OTTO SEO → Overview (OTTO Grader) and review the list of suggested optimizations, including missing alt tags, schema markup, and meta titles or descriptions. 4. Select the fixes you want to apply. You can approve them individually or in bulk. 5. Click Deploy. OTTO applies the approved changes through the Pixel, so they appear on your live site without you editing the source code.​ This is the difference between the audit's "how to fix" guidance and an actual fix: the audit identifies the issue, and OTTO implements the correction once the Pixel is installed and the change is approved. ​ 💡 Best Practices to Avoid Future Mismatches​ - Connect only the GBPs you actively manage for each project to reduce confusion. - Keep the GBP website field accurate so it matches your project domain. - Confirm the audited URL at the top of every report before acting on results. - Activate OTTO and install the Pixel early so fixes can be deployed as soon as issues are found.

🛠️ Fix Missing Local SEO Points After Purchase

🔎 Why Points Might Not Show Up Sometimes a payment goes through but the points are not added to your account right away. This can happen due to a brief delay between the billing system and the platform. ⚙️ Quick Checks Before Contacting Support 1. Refresh the page or log out and back in. 2. Go to Avatar → Billing → Plans & Top-ups and verify whether the points appear there. 3. Confirm the payment succeeded in your billing history. 🛠️ If Points Are Still Missing When the steps above do not resolve the issue, our billing team can add the missing points manually. In a recent case the team not only restored the purchased 1,000 points but also added 500 extra points as a goodwill gesture. To get this fixed, 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. 📊 Related Platform Improvements Engineering has completed several fixes to prevent this problem, including syncing purchased Local SEO top-ups to the quota indicators and addressing a 429 error when running heat maps after a top-up. A migration to a unified spend-based quota system is also underway.

🔧 Fixing WordPress Sync Failures and Google Business Profile Display Issues

📋 Overview This article helps you resolve two common connection problems in Search Atlas: the WordPress Content Genius plugin not syncing posts, and a connected Google Business Profile (GBP) account not appearing in your dashboard. Most issues are caused by expired permissions, plugin version mismatches, or account access settings. Follow the steps below to get both integrations working again. 🔌 Part 1: WordPress Content Genius Plugin Not Connecting or Syncing If your posts are not publishing to WordPress or the plugin shows a connection error, work through these checks in order. ✅ Step 1: Confirm Plugin Installation and Version 1. Log in to your WordPress admin dashboard. 2. Go to Plugins > Installed Plugins. 3. Confirm the Search Atlas / Content Genius plugin is installed and Active. 4. Check that you are running the latest version. If an update is available, click Update Now, then deactivate and reactivate the plugin. 🔑 Step 2: Re-verify the API Connection 1. In WordPress, open the Content Genius plugin settings. 2. Copy the API key shown in your Search Atlas dashboard under Settings > Integrations > WordPress. 3. Paste the key into the plugin field and click Save or Connect. 4. A green confirmation message indicates a successful connection. If the key is rejected, generate a new key in Search Atlas and paste the updated value. 👤 Step 3: Check User Permissions The WordPress account used for the connection must have Administrator or Editor rights. Accounts with limited roles cannot publish synced content. Update the user role under Users in WordPress if needed. 🛡️ Step 4: Rule Out Conflicts - Security plugins and firewalls: Tools like Wordfence or server-level firewalls can block incoming sync requests. Temporarily disable them to test, then add Search Atlas to the allowlist. - Caching plugins: Clear your cache after connecting so new settings take effect. - REST API: Content Genius relies on the WordPress REST API. If a plugin or security rule disables it, sync will fail. Re-enable the REST API to restore syncing. 🔄 Step 5: Test a Manual Sync 1. Return to your Search Atlas dashboard. 2. Select a draft and choose Publish to WordPress. 3. Confirm the post appears in your WordPress drafts or published list. 📍 Part 2: Connected Google Business Profile Not Showing in the Dashboard If you linked a Google Business Profile but it does not appear in Search Atlas, the cause is usually a permissions or refresh issue. 🔐 Step 1: Confirm Account Ownership and Access The Google account you connected must have Owner or Manager access to the business profile. Profiles where you only have limited or pending access will not display. Verify your access level at business.google.com. 🔁 Step 2: Reconnect the Google Account 1. In Search Atlas, go to Local → GBP Projects and click Connect GBP Account. 2. Disconnect the existing account. 3. Click Connect GBP Account and sign in. 4. On the Google permissions screen, make sure every requested permission box is checked. Unchecked boxes are the most common reason profiles fail to load. 5. Complete the authorization. 🗂️ Step 3: Select the Correct Location If your Google account manages multiple locations, you may need to choose which profile to display. Open the GBP integration panel and select the correct business location from the dropdown. ⏳ Step 4: Allow Time to Sync Newly connected profiles can take up to 15 minutes to populate. Refresh the dashboard or log out and back in if the profile has not appeared after this window. ⚠️ Step 5: Check for Suspended or Unverified Profiles Google will not share data for profiles that are unverified, suspended, or pending review. Confirm the profile is verified and in good standing in your Google Business Profile account before reconnecting. 🐞 Known Issue: Connecting GBP During Onboarding Also Connects Google Search Console If you connected your Google Business Profile through the onboarding flow, you may notice that Google Search Console is also connected automatically, even if you did not explicitly select it. This is a known issue our engineering team is working to fix; the two integrations are meant to be connected independently. If you only intended to connect GBP, you can safely disconnect Google Search Console afterward under Settings > Integrations. 🐞 Known Issue: Citation Scan Fails With a 400 Error (Missing "State" Field) If your profile connects but the Citation Scan on the GBP Overview page does not complete — returning the error "Citation scan requires a complete business profile. Please add the following: state." — the profile is missing its required state field, usually because of an incomplete profile sync from Google. Our engineering team is tracking this issue and a fix is planned. In the meantime, open your profile at business.google.com, confirm the full business address (including the state/region) is complete, then reconnect or refresh the profile in Search Atlas. 🆘 Still Need Help? If both integrations are correctly configured and the problem continues, contact our support team with the following details to speed up resolution: - Your Search Atlas account email. - The WordPress site URL and plugin version. - A screenshot of any error message. - The Google account email and business profile name you are trying to connect. Our team can review the connection logs on our end and help restore full sync functionality. WordPress publishing now records every sync attempt (including the error code and payload) in an append-only log, and our team is automatically alerted when a publish keeps failing for about 15 minutes — so persistent sync failures are often flagged on our side even before you reach out.

🔄 GBP Category Changes: Deploy vs. Live Status

📋 Overview When you deploy a Google Business Profile (GBP) category change through Search Atlas, the platform records the change as Deployed. However, Deployed does not mean the update is immediately visible on Google. Google has its own internal review and approval process that runs independently of Search Atlas. This article explains the difference between these two states and what to expect after deploying a category change. 🔍 What "Deployed" Means in Search Atlas The Deployed status in Search Atlas confirms that the category change has been successfully submitted to Google's systems through the API. At this point, Search Atlas has completed its part of the process. What happens next is entirely controlled by Google. To review the deployment status of your GBP changes, locate the relevant GBP project within Search Atlas. The status shown reflects what Search Atlas has submitted, not what is currently live on Google Business Profile. ⏳ Google's Approval and Review Workflow After a category change is submitted, Google applies its own review process before the update goes live. This process is not instant and is not controlled by Search Atlas. Here is what typically happens: 1. Submission received: Google's systems receive the category update via the API. 2. Internal review: Google reviews the change to ensure it complies with its category policies and matches the nature of the business. 3. Propagation: Once approved, the change propagates across Google Search and Maps, which can take additional time. 4. Live on GBP: The updated category becomes visible to users on Google. The time it takes for a category change to go live on Google is determined entirely by Google's review process and is outside of Search Atlas's control. If a category change shows as Deployed in Search Atlas but is not yet visible on your Google Business Profile, this is expected behavior — it means the update is pending Google's review, not that something went wrong. ✅ How to Confirm the Change Is Pending (Not Failed) Use the following steps to verify that your category change was submitted correctly and is not in an error state: 1. Locate the relevant GBP project within Search Atlas. 2. Check that the category change shows a status of Deployed with no error flags or warning indicators. 3. Log in directly to your Google Business Profile account to monitor when the category update becomes visible on Google. If your category change does not show a Deployed status, or if you see an error indicator, this may indicate a submission issue that requires further investigation. 📞 Need Help? 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.

🔗 Fix GSC and GBP Integration Email Mismatch

🔍 Understanding the Problem When connecting Google Search Console (GSC) or Google Business Profile (GBP) to Search Atlas, the platform pulls data from the Google account you use to authenticate. If that account has no properties or businesses linked to it, Search Atlas will appear empty or show a "no data" state — even though your data exists in Google. This almost always happens because you authenticated with a different Google account than the one that owns or has access to your GSC properties or GBP listings. ⚠️ Common Causes - You have multiple Google accounts (e.g. a personal Gmail and a work Google Workspace account) and signed in with the wrong one. - Your GSC property or GBP listing is owned by a client or agency account, not your personal account. - You were granted access to GSC or GBP as a delegated user on a different email address. - You previously connected an account and recently switched primary Google accounts. 🛠️ How to Fix the Email Mismatch 1. Identify the correct Google account. Log in to Google Search Console (search.google.com/search-console) and note which email address is shown in the top-right corner when you can see your properties. Do the same in Google Business Profile (business.google.com). Write down the exact email address that has access. 2. Disconnect the current Google account in Search Atlas. Inside Search Atlas, navigate to Settings, then select Integrations. Locate the Google Search Console or Google Business Profile connection and click Disconnect. 3. Clear your browser's active Google session (recommended). Open a new browser tab and go to myaccount.google.com. Sign out of all Google accounts, or use an Incognito/Private window for the next step to avoid auto-selecting the wrong account. 4. Reconnect using the correct account. Back in Search Atlas Integrations, click Connect next to Google Search Console or Google Business Profile. When the Google authentication pop-up appears, select or sign in with the email address you identified in Step 1. 5. Grant all requested permissions. Make sure you check every permission checkbox Google presents. Search Atlas requires read access to your properties and location data to display results correctly. 6. Verify the connection. After authenticating, return to the relevant section of Search Atlas (e.g. the GSC dashboard or GBP manager). Your properties and business locations should now appear within a few minutes. 📋 Special Cases Agency or client-owned properties: If the GSC property or GBP listing belongs to a client, your client must add your Google account as a verified owner or full user in GSC, or as a manager in GBP, before Search Atlas can access that data. Service Account or delegated access: If you access GSC through a Google Workspace account where permissions are managed by an admin, contact your workspace administrator to confirm your account has the correct access level assigned directly to your email. Multiple properties across different accounts: Search Atlas connects to one Google account per integration at a time. If your properties are spread across multiple Google accounts, you will need to consolidate access — for example, by adding your primary email as an owner or manager on all relevant GSC properties and GBP listings. ✅ Quick Checklist Before Reconnecting - You can see your GSC properties when logged in with the target email at search.google.com/search-console. - You can see your GBP listings when logged in with the target email at business.google.com. - You have disconnected the old Google account inside Search Atlas Integrations. - You are connecting through an Incognito window or have signed out of other Google accounts. - You approved all permission scopes during the OAuth flow. 💬 Still Need Help? If you have followed all the steps above and your properties or business listings still do not appear, 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.

Understanding Map Detection and Address Suggestions in Business Assistant

What This Article Covers Search Atlas Business Assistant audits your website for local SEO signals, including embedded maps and address formatting. Customers sometimes see warnings about a missing map or an address mismatch even when a Google Map appears to be present on the site and address information looks correct. This article explains why those flags appear and what you can do if you believe a flag has been raised in error. Map Detection Flags Business Assistant scans your site for map-related signals as part of its local SEO audit. If the tool flags your map as not detected, it may not mean your map is actually missing — it may mean the audit was unable to confirm its presence during the scan. If you believe your map is correctly embedded but the flag persists, this is worth escalating so the team can investigate how your specific setup is being read by the audit. Address Mismatch Flags Business Assistant compares the address information found on your site against the address in your connected Google Business Profile. A mismatch flag can appear even when the address is functionally correct. If you are seeing an address mismatch warning and you believe your site address and GBP address are consistent, this may be worth reviewing with the support team to confirm whether action is needed on your end. Impact on Your GBP Score Map detection and address formatting are among the signals Business Assistant evaluates as part of your local audit. If you are uncertain how a specific flag is affecting your score or whether it requires action, the support team can review your account and advise you directly. What to Do Next If you are seeing a map detection or address mismatch flag and are unsure whether it reflects a real issue or requires any changes on your site, please reach out for assistance. When you do, have the following ready: your project or site name, the specific flag or warning message you are seeing, and the URL of the page where your map or address information is located. 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.

🗺️ Business Assistant Map and Address Suggestions Explained

🔍 Overview The Business Assistant inside Search Atlas automatically scans your website and Google Business Profile (GBP) data to surface improvement suggestions. Two suggestions that commonly cause confusion are "No map detected on site" and "Address format mismatch." This article explains exactly what these checks do, why they may appear even when your setup looks correct, and whether ignoring them will hurt your GBP performance. 🗺️ How Map Detection Works The Business Assistant checks for an embedded map on your website as part of its local SEO audit. There are two important limitations to understand: - Homepage only: The map detection scan checks your homepage exclusively. If your embedded map lives on a Contact page, About page, or any other sub-page, the tool will not find it and will report "No map detected on site" — even though your map is correctly embedded and functioning. - Hidden or toggled maps: Some website builders and themes allow maps to be hidden via UI controls, lazy-load settings, or conditional visibility rules. If your map is not rendered in the page source at the time of the scan, the tool will flag it as missing. If you receive this suggestion and your map is already embedded, first confirm that the map appears on your homepage. If it is on a different page, you can either add a map to the homepage or safely disregard this suggestion — it will not affect your GBP ranking. 📍 How Address Formatting Suggestions Work The Business Assistant compares the address listed on your website against the address stored in your Google Business Profile. It looks for differences in formatting, such as: - Abbreviations vs. full words (e.g., St. vs. Street) - Suite or unit number placement - Comma usage and punctuation style - State abbreviations vs. full state names These are formatting suggestions only. The tool is designed to encourage consistency across your online presence, which is a recognised best practice for local SEO. However, minor formatting differences between your website and GBP do not directly influence your GBP ranking scores inside Search Atlas. 📊 Do These Suggestions Affect Your GBP Score? This is the most important point to understand: the suggestions produced by the Business Assistant are automated recommendations, not hard ranking factors. Here is what you need to know: - Map detection flag: Having or not having a map on your homepage does not directly change your GBP score within the platform. It is a best-practice signal, not a scored metric. - Address formatting flag: Formatting differences between your website and GBP do not negatively impact your GBP performance score. Your score will not drop if you leave this suggestion unaddressed. - Real GBP ranking factors include elements such as review volume and sentiment, posting frequency, citation consistency, and profile completeness — all of which you can manage directly inside the Local section of Search Atlas. You can access your full local performance data by navigating to Left sidebar → Local → Overview (GBP Profile Completion). From there you can also manage posts, reviews, and local citations under their respective sub-pages. ✅ Recommended Actions Use the following guidance to decide how to handle each suggestion: 1. "No map detected on site" — Check whether your map is on the homepage. If yes, verify it is not hidden by a theme or lazy-load setting. If your map is on a contact or other sub-page and you prefer to keep it there, you can disregard this suggestion without any impact on your GBP score. 2. "Address format mismatch" — Review the formatting difference flagged. If your address is accurate on both your website and GBP, the suggestion is safe to ignore. If you prefer full consistency, update the formatting on your website to match GBP exactly — either approach is acceptable. 3. Focus on scored factors — Prioritise actions that directly influence your GBP performance, such as responding to reviews (Left sidebar → Local → Reviews (GBP Reviews)), publishing regular posts (Left sidebar → Local → Posts), and building citations (Left sidebar → Local → Local Citations). 💡 Key Takeaways - Map detection only scans the homepage — maps on other pages will not be found. - Address formatting suggestions highlight inconsistencies but do not lower your GBP score. - Both suggestions are automated best-practice recommendations, not mandatory fixes. - Your GBP score is driven by engagement, completeness, and citation signals — not by these formatting checks. 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.

🔍 Fix GBP Review Automation Quota Limits

🔍 What Is the GBP Review Automation Quota? Search Atlas allows you to automate review management for your Google Business Profile (GBP) locations. Each plan includes a set number of GBP profiles that can be connected to review automation. Once you reach your plan's quota, you will not be able to activate review automation for additional profiles until the limit is increased. ⚠️ Why You're Seeing a Quota Reached Error You will encounter a quota limit message when: - All available GBP profile slots on your current plan are already in use. - You are trying to add a new GBP location to review automation without available capacity. - Your account was recently downgraded, reducing the number of allowed profiles. This is not a technical error — it means your account has reached the maximum number of GBP profiles permitted under your current subscription. 🛠️ How to Resolve the Quota Limit Follow these steps to get review automation running for your new GBP profiles: 1. Audit your active profiles: Go to Left sidebar → Local → Reviews and review which GBP profiles currently have review automation enabled. If any profiles are inactive, outdated, or no longer needed, disable review automation for those locations to free up slots. 2. Reassign freed slots: Once a slot is released, return to the new GBP profile you want to activate and enable review automation from the same Reviews section (Left sidebar → Local → Reviews). 3. Upgrade your plan: If you need review automation running across all existing profiles plus new ones, upgrading your plan is the most effective long-term solution. See the section below for upgrade guidance. 🚀 Upgrade Your Plan for More GBP Slots Upgrading your Search Atlas subscription increases the number of GBP profiles you can connect to review automation. To explore your upgrade options: 1. Click your avatar in the top-right corner of the platform. 2. Select Billing from the dropdown menu. 3. Open the Plans & Top-ups tab (Billing) and compare the number of GBP profiles included in each tier. 4. Select the plan that covers your current and anticipated number of locations, then follow the on-screen prompts to complete the upgrade. Your new quota will be applied immediately after the upgrade is confirmed, allowing you to activate review automation for additional GBP profiles right away. 💡 Best Practices to Avoid Hitting Quota Limits - Audit regularly: Periodically review your connected GBP profiles and disable automation for any locations that are closed, merged, or inactive. - Plan ahead: If you manage multiple locations or expect to add new ones, choose a plan tier that gives you room to grow without interruption. - Monitor usage: Check your quota usage in the Reviews section (Left sidebar → Local → Reviews) before onboarding new clients or locations so you can upgrade proactively. 💬 Still Need Help? 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.

🔄 Google Business Profile Reviews Showing Late in Search Atlas

🔍 What Is Happening Some Search Atlas users have noticed that new reviews posted on Google Business Profile (GBP) do not appear in their Search Atlas dashboard until 7–8 days after the review was published. This delay is not caused by a settings error on your account — it is a known platform issue currently under active investigation by our engineering team. ⚙️ Why the Delay Occurs Search Atlas uses two syncing processes to pull new GBP reviews into your dashboard: - Real-time / daily sync: Designed to check for new reviews every 12 hours using Google's pub/sub notification system. - Weekly full sync: A comprehensive sync that runs every Saturday and catches anything the daily sync missed. For a significant portion of connected locations, Google's pub/sub notifications are not being delivered reliably to Search Atlas. This means the daily 12-hour sync does not detect new reviews, and those reviews only surface when the weekly Saturday sync runs — resulting in a 7–8 day gap. Our engineering team has confirmed this affects approximately 75% of active GBP locations and is not isolated to a single account or region. 📊 How to Check Your Reviews in Search Atlas While our team works on a fix, you can manually check for newly synced reviews by navigating to Left sidebar → Local → Reviews (GBP Reviews). Reviews that have completed the weekly sync will appear here. If a review you are expecting is not visible, it is likely waiting for the next Saturday full sync to complete. 🛠️ What Our Engineering Team Is Doing This is being actively worked on. Here is the current status of related fixes: - Real-time sync fix (In Progress): Engineers are investigating why Google pub/sub notifications are not delivering for the majority of locations and are working to restore reliable daily syncing. - 7-Day no-sync alert (In Development): A health monitoring feature is being built that will automatically alert you if a location has not synced within 7 days, so you are never left wondering about a delay. - Edited reviews not updating (Under Investigation): A separate but related issue has been identified where reviews that are edited on Google after their initial posting are not being updated in the Search Atlas dashboard. This is also being tracked and investigated. ✅ What You Should Do Right Now 1. Be aware that new reviews may not appear in Search Atlas for up to 7–8 days if your location is affected by this sync issue. 2. To verify a review exists, check directly on your Google Business Profile in Google Maps or Google Search. 3. Check your Left sidebar → Local → Reviews (GBP Reviews) after each Saturday to confirm recently synced reviews have appeared. 4. If a review has not appeared after more than 8 days, contact our support team so we can investigate your specific location. 💡 Important Notes - This is a backend sync issue — there is nothing wrong with how your GBP account is connected to Search Atlas. - Reviews are not lost; they will sync on the next full Saturday sync at the latest. - Edited reviews (reviews that were changed after being originally posted on Google) are subject to a separate known issue and may not update in the dashboard even after a full sync. Report these individually to support so they can be tracked. 💬 Still Need Help? If your reviews have not appeared after more than 8 days, or if you suspect your location may have a different issue, we want to hear from you. 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.

🔍 How to Troubleshoot Data Aggregator Submissions

This article helps you identify and fix problems with data aggregator submissions — including stalled submissions, missing business data, or submissions that appear stuck in a pending state. Follow the steps below to diagnose the issue before reaching out to support. 🔍 Common Causes - Incomplete business information: Aggregators require a complete and consistent NAP (Name, Address, Phone number). Any mismatch or missing field can cause a submission to fail or stall. - Duplicate listings: Existing duplicate listings at an aggregator can block a new submission from processing correctly. - Submission still processing: Aggregator submissions are not instant — propagation can take days to several weeks depending on the aggregator. - Project not fully configured: If the associated project is missing key business details, submissions may be incomplete at the point of send. 🛠️ Step-by-Step 1. Verify your business information is complete and consistent. Open your project settings and confirm that your business name, address, phone number, website URL, and business category are all filled in and match exactly what appears on your website and Google Business Profile. 2. Check the submission status in your project. Navigate to the relevant project inside Search Atlas and review the status for each aggregator to identify whether a submission is in progress or showing a problem state. 3. Allow adequate processing time. Aggregator submissions are not instant — allow several weeks for propagation before concluding there is an issue, as some aggregators update their databases on a monthly cycle. 4. Correct any business data issues and re-submit if needed. If a submission shows a clear error state, review your business information fields for inconsistencies or missing values, correct them in your project settings, and re-initiate the submission. 5. Check for duplicate listings. Search the aggregator's consumer-facing directory (e.g., search your business name on sites powered by that aggregator) to confirm whether a conflicting or duplicate listing exists. If found, note the details — this information will help support investigate further. ✅ How to Confirm It Worked To verify that a data aggregator submission has processed successfully, check the following: - The submission status in your project updates to a confirmed or completed state. - After the expected propagation window, your business information appears accurately on directories and platforms powered by the aggregator. 📋 Before Escalating If you have worked through the steps above and the issue remains unresolved, please have the following ready when you contact support: your project name, the specific aggregator(s) affected, the date the submission was initiated, and any error messages or statuses you are seeing. 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.

🔧 Fix OTTO Pixel and GBP Dashboard Sync Issues

🔍 Overview Some customers notice that their Search Atlas dashboard shows no connected Google Business Profile (GBP), missing heat maps, or no reviews — even when active GBP profiles and pixel installations are already in place. In some cases, a pixel may appear connected on an account where it should not be. Because resolving these issues requires backend investigation by our team, this article explains what is happening and what information to have ready when you contact us. ⚙️ Why This Happens These display issues are typically related to one or more of the following: - Pixel ID mismatch: The OTTO pixel installed on your site may be using an incorrect or outdated ID that the platform cannot associate with your account, preventing it from being recognised as active. - GBP not linked to the correct OTTO project: If your GBP profile was connected after the OTTO project was created, the association between the two may not have been established correctly. - Pixel appearing on the wrong account: A known display issue can cause a pixel to appear connected on an account it does not belong to. This is a cosmetic problem and does not affect your actual tracking data. 🚀 What to Do Because these issues involve backend account configuration and pixel detection logic, they cannot be fully resolved through the dashboard alone. Our support team will need to investigate your account directly. To help us resolve your issue as quickly as possible, please have the following ready before reaching out: - The domain name affected (e.g., example.com) - The OTTO project name associated with that domain - Your pixel ID if you can locate it in your project settings - A description of what is missing or incorrect — for example, whether it is the GBP profile, heat maps, reviews, or the pixel connection status - Any screenshots of the dashboard showing the issue - The approximate date and time you first noticed the problem 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.

📍 How to Manually Update Your GBP Appointment URL in Search Atlas

You updated your Appointment URL (this field may appear as either Appointment URL or Booking Link depending on your view — both refer to the same setting), everything looks correct… and yet it still says **“Not Deployed.”**If you’ve ever wondered whether the change failed, if you need to edit it again, or if Google is simply taking its time, you’re not alone. The confusion usually isn’t about what to update, but how those updates actually go live. In this guide, we’ll break down exactly how deployment works inside your GBP Project, what “Not Deployed” really means, and how to make sure your booking link is properly pushed to Google so Google’s review of your change isn’t reset by a second edit before the first one finishes. 🧠 What’s happening? You updated the Appointment URL (this field may appear as either Appointment URL or Booking Link depending on your view — both refer to the same setting) inside your GBP Project (for example, rubbl.com.au), but: - You see “NOT DEPLOYED” - The change isn’t live on Google - You can’t find the “Deploy” button - Or you’re unsure whether to edit manually again Good news: you’re in the right place. Let’s walk through it clearly. 📌 Navigation Path Left Sidebar → Local → Select Your GBP Project Once inside the project, you’ll land on the GBP Overview. From the GBP Overview, open the Business Info tab and scroll to the Business Data Optimizations panel. From there: - Scroll to Business Data Optimizations - Locate your Booking Link / Appointment URL — this field may appear under either label depending on your view, but both refer to the same setting 🔧 Why It Says “Not Deployed” There are two distinct states to be aware of when editing the Appointment URL inside Search Atlas — they are not the same thing: - Unsaved change (draft) — your edit exists only in the form field in your browser and has NOT yet been recorded in Search Atlas. The fix: click Save (or confirm the edit) so the change is captured in Search Atlas. - Saved but Not Deployed — the change is now stored in Search Atlas, but it has NOT yet been pushed to Google and Google has not reviewed it. The fix: click Deploy all changes to send the update to Google. That’s why you’ll see: ⚠️ “You have 1 unsaved change” Status: NOT DEPLOYED This is normal — it just means the next action (Save, then Deploy) is still yours to take. ✅ How to Properly Publish the Appointment URL Before you begin: ensure the Google account connected to Search Atlas has Owner or Manager access to the GBP listing. Viewer-level access will not allow changes to be pushed, and deployments may silently fail. Step 1: Click Edit Find your Booking Link / Appointment URL section and click Edit. Update the URL. Example: https://rubbl.com.au/rubbish-removal/book-online Step 2: Click “Deploy all changes” At the top of the Business Data Optimizations section, you’ll see: 🟠 Deploy all changes Click it. This pushes the update to Google. After clicking, the status should change from NOT DEPLOYED to Pending Google sync (or similar) — that confirms the push was accepted. ⏳ What Happens After Deployment? Once deployed: - Your update goes into Google Review - Google must approve the change - The typical Google propagation window is 24–72 hours. In practice this can be: - A few minutes - A few hours - Occasionally longer (up to 72 hours, sometimes more) - While waiting, the status inside Search Atlas should read Pending Google sync (or remain as Deployed pending review). Do not re-edit during this window — the change has been accepted and is on its way. You may see a message like: “Your updates must be reviewed by Google before they go live.” This is expected behavior. Once Google approves the change, check your live Google Business Profile to confirm the new Appointment URL is showing. If the status shows Deployed but the change is still not visible on Google after 72 hours, your GBP project connection may need to be re-verified — see the troubleshooting section below or contact support for assistance. ❗ Important: Do NOT Edit Again After Deploying Once you click Deploy all changes, you do NOT need to manually edit again. If you edit the field a second time before the first deployment completes, the new edit will overwrite the in-flight change and reset Google’s review cycle from the beginning. Concretely, this can: - Create confusion about which version of the URL is currently being reviewed - Reset the review cycle, delaying when your update actually goes live on Google - Cause deployment conflicts that may require support to resolve If deployment has been triggered, just wait for Google’s review. 🔍 What If You Don’t See the Deploy Button? If you only see: - “Refresh Optimization Tips” - “Pull Latest Data” It may mean: 1. There are no pending changes 2. The deployment was already triggered 3. Your screen needs refreshing Try: - Refreshing the page - Scrolling to the top of Business Data Optimizations - Checking for the orange deployment banner If the Deploy button is still missing, greyed out, or the status remains NOT DEPLOYED for more than 24 hours without changing: - Verify your GBP project connection is active under Account Menu → Settings → Integrations. A silently disconnected GBP project can make deployments appear stuck, and a disconnected project will not push changes to Google even if the deploy appears successful in Search Atlas. - Disconnect and reconnect your Google Business Profile account under Account Menu → Settings → Integrations, then retry the deployment. - Confirm the connected Google account has Owner or Manager access to the GBP listing — Viewer-level access will hide or disable the Deploy action. - If the button remains absent after a page refresh and reconnection, contact Search Atlas support. 🚀 Best Practice Moving Forward ✔ Edit once ✔ Click Deploy all changes ✔ Wait for Google review ✔ Do not re-edit during review If your GBP Appointment URL says Not Deployed, it doesn’t mean it failed, it just hasn’t been pushed to Google yet. Click Deploy all changes, allow Google’s review process, and your update will go live shortly.

📍 Fix 'No Address Found' in GBP Projects

🔍 What This Article Covers If your Google Business Profile (GBP) address appears correctly in Local SEO Heatmaps but shows No address found inside GBP Projects, your project is working from a stale data snapshot. This is not a connection problem — it means GBP Projects needs to pull a fresh copy of your profile data. The fix is a manual data refresh from within the project. ⚠️ Why This Happens Search Atlas stores a local snapshot of your GBP data when a project is first created or last synced. If your address was added, edited, or verified in Google after that snapshot was taken, GBP Projects will not reflect the change automatically. Local SEO Heatmaps pulls data independently, which is why your address can appear there but remain missing in GBP Projects. ✅ How to Fix It: Refresh Your GBP Data 1. Log in to Search Atlas and navigate to Local → GBP Projects from the left sidebar. 2. Open the project that is showing No address found. 3. Locate the option to trigger a manual data refresh or sync with your connected Google Business Profile. 4. Initiate the refresh to pull the latest data from your Google Business Profile. 5. Wait a few moments for the refresh to complete, then check whether your address now appears correctly. In most cases, this single action resolves the No address found message immediately by replacing the outdated snapshot with your current GBP information. 🔗 Before You Refresh: Confirm Your GBP Is Connected The data refresh will only work if your Google Business Profile is properly linked to your Search Atlas account. Before running the refresh, quickly confirm the following: - Your Google account is connected under your Search Atlas workspace settings. - The correct GBP location is associated with this project — especially important if you manage multiple locations or accounts. - Your GBP listing is active and not suspended inside Google Business Profile Manager. If any of these conditions are not met, resolve the connection issue first, then run the refresh. 🗺️ Address Shows in Heatmaps but Not in GBP Projects This specific mismatch — address visible in Local SEO Heatmaps but missing in GBP Projects — is a reliable indicator that the issue is a stale data snapshot, not a connection or permissions problem. You do not need to reconnect your account or recreate the project. Triggering a manual data refresh is the correct and only step required to resolve this discrepancy. 🔄 Still Showing 'No Address Found' After Refreshing? If the address remains missing after refreshing your GBP data, consider the following: - Wa

🔍 Fix Greyed-Out GBP Auto Review Responses

🔍 What This Article Covers If you turn on automated review responses for your Google Business Profile (GBP) locations, select AI auto-reply for each star rating, and press the update button — but the toggle stays greyed out and nothing saves — your account has likely hit a location automation quota limit. This article explains what causes it and how to get it resolved quickly. ⚙️ What Is the Automation Location Quota? Every Search Atlas plan includes a limit on how many GBP locations can have automation features active at the same time. If the number of locations you are trying to automate exceeds the limit allowed on your current plan, the platform blocks the change silently — the toggle appears to do nothing, and no error message is shown. For example: if your plan allows automation on 55 locations but you have 76 locations with automation active, any attempt to enable additional features like automated review responses will fail without explanation. 🛠️ How to Identify If This Is Your Issue You are likely hitting a quota limit if all of the following apply: - You navigated to the Reviews section, enabled auto response, and selected AI auto-reply for one or more star ratings. - You pressed the update button to save your settings. - The toggle remained greyed out or inactive after pressing update, with no error message displayed. - You manage a large number of GBP locations — particularly if that number is close to or exceeds any plan-based limits. 📊 Why This Happens When the number of locations with active automation on your account exceeds your plan's allowed limit, the backend raises a quota error. Currently, this error is not surfaced visibly in the platform interface — the update appears to fail silently, leaving the toggle greyed out. A fix to improve this workflow is in progress by the engineering team. 🚀 How to Resolve It Because the quota limit is set at the account level, you cannot increase it yourself from within the platform. To resolve this, you need a member of the Search Atlas team to update your automation location limit to match the number of locations you are actively managing. 1. Before reaching out, count the total number of GBP locations you currently have with automation active in your account. This helps the team process your request faster. 2. Note the specific feature you are trying to enable — in this case, automated AI review responses — and which locations or star ratings are affected. 3. Contact the Search Atlas team using the live chat widget (see below). Share your total active location count and confirm you need your automation location limit increased to match. 4. Once the team updates your limit, return to the Reviews section, re-enable auto response, select your preferred AI auto-reply settings for each star rating, and press update. The toggle should activate and save successfully.

🗺️ Fix a GBP Audit Showing the Wrong Location

🔍 What This Article Covers If your business has moved to a new location and your GBP audit still shows the old address, an empty heatmap, or no competitor data, this article explains why it happens and what steps to take to get accurate results. ⚠️ Why This Happens When a business changes its address in Google Business Profile, the audit inside Search Atlas may still be linked to the previous, now-inactive GBP listing. Because that old listing no longer has an active location, the heatmap and competitor data cannot load — they require a valid, active GBP location to generate results. There are two separate issues that can occur together: - Old address still showing: The audit has not yet synced the updated address from Google Business Profile. - Heatmap and competitors missing: The audit is pulling data from the inactive listing with the old address, which has no heatmap coverage. ✅ Step 1 — Refresh Your GBP Audit Data Before creating a new audit, check whether refreshing the audit data resolves the address discrepancy. Navigate to your GBP audit in Search Atlas and use the available option to sync or refresh data from your Google Business Profile. Wait for the sync to complete, then check whether the updated address now appears. If the address updates correctly and the heatmap loads, no further action is needed. 🛠️ Step 2 — Create a New Audit Manually If refreshing the data does not fix the heatmap or competitor data — or if the audit is still linked to the old inactive listing — you need to create a brand-new audit and make sure it is connected to your current, active GBP location: 1. In Search Atlas, navigate to your GBP Projects area. 2. Locate the project associated with your business. 3. Start a new audit from within that project. 4. When selecting the GBP profile to audit, carefully confirm you are selecting the active listing with the new address — not the old or inactive one. Both listings may appear in the selection if the previous location was not fully removed from your Google account. 5. Complete the audit setup and allow it to run. The heatmap and competitor data should now populate correctly because the audit is tied to an active location. Important: Do not continue running audits on the old report if the linked GBP listing is inactive. Results will remain incomplete regardless of how many times you refresh. 💡 Tips to Avoid This Issue in the Future - Whenever your business changes its address in Google Business Profile, verify which GBP listing is connected to each audit in Search Atlas before running new reports. - If you have multiple GBP listings (for example, the old location and the new one), make sure t

🔄 Fix GBP Locations Failing to Sync

🔍 Overview If you are seeing save errors when trying to add locations to your GBP Projects, or if your locations appear to have disappeared, this is almost always caused by a temporary Google API rate limit — not a problem with your Search Atlas account or data. This article explains what is happening, what to expect, and how to get your locations back without losing any project history or settings. ⚠️ What Is Causing This Error? Search Atlas connects to Google Business Profile (GBP) through Google's official API. Google places limits on how frequently tools like Search Atlas can make calls to that API. When those limits are reached, Google temporarily blocks new connection requests, which causes: - Save errors when trying to add or re-add locations to a GBP Project - Locations appearing to be missing or hidden inside the platform - Only being able to add one location at a time, with long waits between attempts This is an external restriction applied by Google — it is not a bug in Search Atlas, and it is not caused by disconnecting or reconnecting your Google account. 📋 What Happens to Your Existing Projects and Data? Your GBP Projects and all associated data are not deleted when this error occurs. Projects that appear to be missing are only temporarily hidden due to the sync issue. Once the API rate limit clears, your locations and projects will become accessible again with no loss of settings, history, or project data. 🛠️ What You Should Do 1. If you see a save error when adding locations, stop attempting to save repeatedly — multiple retries will not resolve a Google API rate limit and may extend the waiting period. 2. Wait a few hours before trying again. Google's rate limits are temporary and typically reset within hours. 3. After waiting, navigate to your GBP Projects area and attempt to add or view your locations again. 4. If your locations still do not appear after several hours, contact our support team so we can investigate further and assist you directly. ❓ Will Disconnecting and Reconnecting My Google Account Help? No. Disconnecting and reconnecting your Google account will not resolve an API rate limit error. The restriction is applied at the Google API level, not at the account authentication level. Reconnecting your account while the rate limit is active is unlikely to make a difference and is not necessary — your existing connection and all project data remain intact. ✅ When Everything Is Working Again Once Google's API rate limit has reset, you should be able to add and save multiple locations to your GBP Projects without errors. Your previously hidden projects and location data will be fully restored automatically. If you continue to experience issues or have any questions, please reach out to our support team and we will be happy to help.

🏠 Fixing GBP Audit Errors for Service-Area Businesses Without a Fixed Address

📋 Overview The GBP Audit tool scans your Google Business Profile (GBP) to surface optimization opportunities. To run a scan, the tool first has to locate and match your exact profile in Google's data. This works smoothly for businesses with a public storefront address, but it can struggle with service-area businesses (SABs)—companies that serve customers at their location and choose to hide their own address on Google. If your business is a service-area business (for example, a mobile mechanic, plumber, or cleaning service) and the audit returns "profile not found" or matches the wrong listing, this article explains why and how to resolve it. 🤔 Why This Happens When a business hides its address in Google Business Profile, Google removes the physical location pin from public search and Maps results. The GBP Audit relies on that public location data to confirm a precise match. Without a visible address, two issues can occur: - No match found: The tool cannot anchor the profile to a specific location, so a name-only search returns no result or times out. - Wrong match: If several businesses share a similar name or operate in the same region, the tool may attach to the wrong profile. This is a known limitation of how Google exposes data for hidden-address listings—not a sign that your profile is broken. ✅ Before You Start: Confirm Your Profile Is Live Run these quick checks first, as they resolve most matching problems: 1. Search your exact business name in Google Maps while signed out (or in a private browser window). If your profile does not appear publicly, the audit tool cannot see it either. 2. Confirm your profile is verified in your Google Business Profile dashboard. Unverified profiles often do not surface in public data. 3. Make sure the profile is published and active, not suspended or pending review. 🔍 How to Match a Service-Area Business in the GBP Audit Try the following methods in order until the audit locates your profile. 1️⃣ Use the Google Maps Share URL (Recommended) The most reliable method is to paste the exact share link from Google Maps: 1. Open Google Maps and search for your business name. 2. Click your business listing to open its profile panel. 3. Select Share, then copy the link shown under "Send a link." 4. Paste this full URL into the GBP Audit tool instead of using name search. This link points to a specific profile ID, which removes ambiguity even when the address is hidden. Note: Some service-area listings produce a share link in Google's CID (hexadecimal) URL format. A previous issue that prevented these CID-format links from creating an audit has been resolved, so if such a link failed for you in the past, copy a fresh share link and try again. 2️⃣ Refine Your Name Search If you prefer to search by name, add a location qualifier to narrow the results: - Enter the full, exact business name as it appears on your profile (for example, "Strong Lady Mechanics"). - Include the primary city or region you serve, if the tool allows it. - Avoid abbreviations or extra words that don't appear on the official listing. Be aware that for some hidden-address SABs, neither the share URL nor a name search will return a match, even when both are entered correctly. In that case, continue to the Place ID method below or contact support. 3️⃣ Use Your Place ID If neither method works, locate your Google Place ID and supply it directly: 1. Go to Google's Place ID Finder (search "Google Place ID Finder"). 2. Type your business name into the map search box. 3. Copy the Place ID shown in the info window. 4. Paste it into the GBP Audit if a Place ID field is available, or share it with our support team. 🛠️ If the Audit Still Can't Find Your Profile When the tool repeatedly fails, the cause is usually one of the following: - The address is fully hidden and the profile has limited public data. Some SABs simply do not return enough public signals for an automated match. - The profile is new. Recently created or recently verified profiles can take time to appear in third-party data sources. - Duplicate or similar listings exist. Competing profiles with near-identical names can interfere with matching. ⏱️ Temporary Workaround If you need to run the audit immediately, you can temporarily add a public address in your Google Business Profile, run the scan, and then re-hide the address afterward. Only do this if you are comfortable briefly displaying your location, and allow time for Google to update before scanning. ⚠️ Known Limitation: Incomplete Data After a Successful Match Even when the audit matches your profile, hidden-address service-area businesses sometimes lack public location coordinates (a "null" latitude/longitude). When that happens, you may notice: - Missing Competitor Benchmark, Citation Score, or Keyword Rankings sections. - Benchmark competitors that appear well outside your service area—in some reported cases hundreds of miles away. This is a recognized issue our engineering team is actively working on. If your audit shows incomplete or geographically inaccurate results, it reflects this data limitation rather than a problem with your profile. 📞 When to Contact Support Reach out to our support team if you have tried all of the above and the audit still cannot match your profile. To help us resolve it quickly, please include: - Your exact business name as it appears on Google. - The Google Maps share URL for your profile. - Your Google Place ID, if you found it. - Whether your profile address is hidden, and the city or region you serve. - A screenshot of the error message from the GBP Audit. With these details, our team can manually verify the match and confirm whether the limitation is on the Google data side. 💡 Key Takeaways - Hidden-address service-area businesses are harder to match because Google removes their public location data. - The Google Maps share URL is the most reliable way to locate your profile. - A Place ID offers a precise fallback when name and URL searches fail. - Confirm your profile is verified and publicly visible before troubleshooting further. - Even after a successful match, SABs may show incomplete audit data—a known issue currently being addressed.

🛠️ GBP Review Reply AI Instructions Not Saving

We identified and resolved an issue where AI instructions for automated review replies on Google Business Profile (GBP) locations appeared to save successfully but were silently discarded. If you were affected, please try updating your instructions now — the fix is live. 🐛 What Was Happening When editing AI instructions for automated review replies on a GBP location, changes appeared to succeed — sometimes with no visible error message at all — but the original instructions remained stored. Navigating away from and returning to the review reply configuration page confirmed that no updates had been persisted. No workaround was available while the issue was active. If you reported this issue, your report helped us identify and fix the problem — thank you. ✅ What to Do Now The fix is deployed. Follow these steps to update your AI instructions and confirm they save correctly: 1. In Search Atlas, navigate to Locations, select your GBP location, then go to Review Reply Settings. 2. Enter or update your AI instructions for automated review replies. 3. Click Save. 4. Navigate away from the page, then return to confirm your instructions appear as entered. If your instructions now persist after navigating away, the fix has taken effect for your account. ⚙️ Engineering Status Our team identified the root cause: the system wasn't validating whether required fields were present before saving, causing changes to be silently rejected without an error message. We deployed a fix (GBP-1370 and GBP-1374) that ensures AI review reply instructions now save and persist correctly. No further action is needed beyond re-entering any instructions that were discarded during the affected period. 📞 When to Contact Support If your AI instructions are still not saving correctly after following the steps above, please reach out to our support team through the chat widget in Search Atlas. Share the name of the affected GBP location and describe what you observe so we can investigate and assist you promptly. We typically respond within one business day. 🌀 This issue is resolved and your AI review reply instructions should now save and persist correctly — if you continue to experience problems, contact our support team and we will assist you right away.