So, the other day, I decided it was high time to freshen up our Google Business Profile. You know, give it a bit of a visual pick-me-up. The photos we had up there were getting a bit long in the tooth, and I figured some new snaps would do the trick. Seemed like a straightforward task, right? Famous last words.
I actually spent a decent chunk of my afternoon on this. Went around, took a bunch of photos. Got one of the front of the shop looking pretty inviting, another of the team looking cheerful, and a few of our products laid out nicely. I’m no professional photographer, mind you, but I thought they looked pretty good. Clear, well-lit, showed off what we do. I was feeling quite pleased with my efforts, to be honest.
Fired up the computer, navigated to the Google Business dashboard, and started uploading them. Watched the little progress bars fill up. All smooth. Then, a bit later, I get this notification. Ping! “Your photo has been rejected.” Just like that. My heart sank a little. Rejected? Seriously?
My first thought was, which one? And why? Google can be a bit of a black box with these things. Sometimes they give you a vague reason, sometimes nothing at all. It’s frustrating, to say the least. You’re left scratching your head, trying to play detective. I went back to look at the photos I uploaded, trying to see them through Google’s all-seeing AI eyes.
I started racking my brain. What could it possibly be?
- Was the photo too blurry? Nope, they looked crisp enough on my screen.
- Too dark or too bright? I didn’t think so, seemed balanced.
- Was there some tiny logo in the background from another brand? I zoomed in, scanned everything. Couldn’t see anything obvious.
It was a genuine puzzle. One of the rejected ones was just a simple shot of our main service area, nothing controversial, nothing flashy.
It’s not the first time I’ve run into this, either. I remember a while back, I tried to upload a photo of a new banner we had printed. Perfectly normal banner, clear text, our logo. Rejected. Tried again. Rejected. I never did figure out why that specific one kept getting bounced. Maybe the colors were too bold? Maybe the AI thought the font was offensive? Your guess is as good as mine. It feels like you’re just throwing stuff at a wall to see what sticks.
So, for these latest ones, I tinkered a bit. I tried cropping one differently. Re-uploaded. Still no go for a couple of them. In the end, for one particular photo I really wanted up, I had to take a completely new shot, making it super, super plain. Almost clinical. And guess what? That one sailed right through. Go figure. It really makes you wonder what their system is actually looking for sometimes.
It’s just one of those things you deal with when you’re trying to keep your online presence up to date. A bit of trial and error, a dash of frustration, and sometimes you just have to shrug and move on, or try a different approach. It’s a reminder that even for something as simple as a photo, there are always hoops to jump through. But hey, we keep trying, right?
