How to solve Google Failed Publications?

We have collected the most common publications errors and possible solutions.

Sometimes you may notice that your profile in the platform is not updated with the same information that you have in Localistico. This might happen because of the failed publication. That means that when Localistico has tried to publish your information to the platforms, but an error appeared, and Localistico wasn't able to publish the information.

Most failed publications are caused because the location data that is set in Localistico is not following the platform specific requirements. All platforms want to have certain business information in a specific format. The failed publications notify you when something needs to be changed. It's important to fix the failed publications as they are blocking Localistico from updating the data on the platforms.

This article explains how to fix the most common Google failed publications. You can recognize the failed publication from this icon marked in the screenshot below:

Screenshot 2020-05-26 at 11.58.08

By clicking on the failed publication icon, Localistico displays the error message that indicates why the profile failed to publish on Google. 

All failed Google profiles can be found by filtering Presence > Profiles > Linked >Failed Publications >Google:

Screenshot 2020-05-26 at 12.02.19

We have listed the most common errors and possible solutions below:

Update Location is currently not allowed for this Location. or This field cannot be updated at this time

This message typically appears when the profile:

  • Needs to be verified.
    • Please verify the profile in Google or contact to support@localistico.com. This article explains the verification process in Google. 
  • Needs to be re-verified.
    • Please request the verification by selecting the best option offered by Google. Please find more information about the re-verification here
  • Is marked as duplicate by Google.
    • Please, review if the profile is marked as duplicate correctly and contact to Google Support here in case of an error. Please find more information on the duplicated profiles here
    • If the profile is marked correctly as a duplicate to a profile that is not owned by you, please request the ownership of the profile by following these instructions
    • If you are accidentally trying to create a duplicate profile for a listing owned by you, you can remove the duplicate from your Google My Business location group by following these instructions
  • Is disabled or suspended by Google.
    • Review the address and make sure that it follows Google's policies. If everything is correct, please request the reinstatement of the profile here
    • Please find more information about disabled profiles here.
    • Please find more information about suspended profiles here

In order to figure out the reason, please go to your Google My Business and follow the steps given by Google. 

Special hours can only be specified if the location has regular business hours.

Google doesn't allow adding special hours if the store doesn't have regular business hours added. To solve this type of failed publications, please add the regular business hours or remove the special hours. 

Must be at most 80 characters

This message appears when the address of the profile exceeds the maximum number of the characters. Google allows publishing addresses that are up to 80 characters long.

If you see this error, please:

  1. Make venue's address shorter by modifying it in Localistico. You can edit the address by clicking on the pen-icon inside the venue settings:
  2. Publish the venue by clicking on the orange publication button in the upper right corner of the venues page. 

The location address is not valid for Google My Business or Request contains an invalid argument, This country / region is not currently supported

This error appears normally when you try to create a profile in a country that is not supported by Google My Business. 

Google My Business currently does not support businesses in:

  • Crimea
  • Cuba
  • Iran
  • North Korea
  • Sudan
  • Syria
  • China

Please find the updated list of the supported countries here. If the country is supported by Google and the publication still fails, please contact to support@localistico.com.

Google My Business Api Administrative Area Required

This message means that the region is mandatory for the country but your venue in Localistico is missing one. 

Please review: 

  1. Venue has a region added in Localistico.
  2. The region appears in the dropdown list:

If  the publication still fails after adding a correct region from the list and publishing, please contact to support@localistico.com. 

Enter an address and marker that specify the same place.

This error message is displayed when the address and the coordinates don't match. Please review that:

1. The coordinates are correct.

2. Change the address so that it matches with the coordinates and the spot that is marked with Localistico -logo in the map. Be careful with the street name, postal code, locality and the region. Select the region from the dropdown list that is provided in the Localistico. 

Typical mistake is that when the business is locates in a really short and small street, the business owners add as the address the main street or road that is close by. However, this will cause the error when publishing as Google detects that the coordinates point to the different address. 

You can also ask Localistico to suggest the address and the coordinates for you:

Screenshot 2020-05-26 at 12.13.17

Google returned an internal server error.

This error is normally solved by itself in a couple of days. Please try to publish the location for a few days and if the error doesn't disappear, please contact to support@localistico.com. 

Address.locality is invalid

This message appears when the information in the field "city" or "locality" is not correct according to Google:

Try suggesting the address to find the correct city:

Screenshot 2020-05-26 at 12.13.17

Address.postal_code is invalid

This message appears when the postal code is not matching with the rest of the address. The postal code can actually be correct but maybe the city or the region should be changed. Follow the steps to fix the error:

  1. Suggest the address to see if Localistico gives you the same postal code
    Screenshot 2020-05-26 at 16.14.45
  2. Check that the city and the region are correct. Make sure to add the actual city (not the neighbourhood or the part of the city) in the locality/postal town field and select the region from the dropdown list:
    Screenshot 2020-05-26 at 16.18.41
  3. Review from the Google Maps view if other businesses around share the same postal code:
    Screenshot 2020-05-26 at 16.20.10

Something  went wrong. 

Try to publish the venue again. If the error message doesn't change or disappear, please contact to support@localistico.com. 

Primary_category_is_requiered

The first category is missing. Please add one under the business settings or venue settings.

You can add categories for one specific venue under the venue setting here: 

Or under business settings for all your venues by clicking on your business logo and selecting Business info

Please remember that categories set on the venue lever override the categories set on the business level.

Fetching_image_failed

Google API has failed to fetch the image. In order to fix the error, please publish again. This error usually gets fixed by itself. Please remember that all image related failed publications only affect on the images, not to the other venue information such as opening hours and addresses.