Site Name Issue Resolved: Google Finally Fixed It

Google has resolved a site name issue that has been going on since September 2023 that prevented a website’s site name from being displayed properly when internal pages were ranked in search results.

Site name in search results

A site name is exactly what it sounds like, the name of a website that is displayed in search engine results pages (SERPs). It is a feature that allows users to identify the name of a site that is present in search engine results pages (SERPs).

If your site name is Acme Anvil Company, and that is the name the company is known by, then Google wants to display Acme Anvil Company in search results. If Acme Anvil Company is better known as AAC and that is the name the company wants to display in SERPs, then that is what Google wants to display.

Google allows site owners to specify the correct site name that Google should use by using the “website” structured data on the home page.

Problems propagating site names

On September 7, 2023, Google published a warning in their Site Names document acknowledging that they were having problems propagating the site name to internal pages of a site when those internal pages were shown in SERPs.

This is the warning that was published:

“Known issue: Site name not showing for internal pages

In some cases, the site name shown for the home page may not propagate to appear for other pages on that site. For example, example.com may be showing a site name that is different from example.com/internal-page.html.

We are actively working to address this. When this issue is resolved, we will update this help page. In the meantime, if your home page is showing the site name of your choice, understand that it should eventually appear for your internal pages as well.”

Google fixed the site name issue

The documentation for the site name issue was recently removed. A changelog for Google documentation mentions this:

“Resolved issue with site names and internal pages

What: Removed warnings about an issue that was preventing new site names from propagating to internal pages.

Why: The issue is resolved. Keep in mind that it takes time for Google to recrawl and process new information, including recrawling your internal pages.”

There is no information on what caused the site name propagation issue, but, interestingly, it was finally fixed after so much time because one wonders whether it took so long because it was a low priority or because Google Something changed on the backend of K’s system that allowed them to finally fix the problem.