Google has finally resolved an issue that has been plaguing some websites since December 2023. The problem involved internal pages not displaying the correct site name in Google Search results. However, Google has now updated its documentation and removed the “known issue” section that addressed this problem.
Previously, some websites experienced a discrepancy between the site name displayed on the home page and the site name displayed on other internal pages. For example, example.com might have shown a different site name than example.com/internal-page.html. Google acknowledged this issue and assured website owners that they were actively working to resolve it.
In an updated documentation, Google explained that it may take some time for the correct site name to propagate to all internal pages of a website. They advised website owners to allow Google to recrawl and process the internal pages, in addition to the home page, if they wanted to see their preferred site name displayed consistently across the site.
Despite the recent fix, there may still be lingering issues with site names. Google’s timeline reveals that site names were introduced for mobile search results in October 2022 for English, French, German, and Japanese. In April 2023, site names were added for desktop searches in the same languages. By May 2023, site names were supported on the subdomain level for mobile search results only.
To control site names, Google suggests using structured data on the home page to communicate the desired site name to Google Search. This can be done using the Site name structured data available in Google’s documentation.
Website owners who are still experiencing issues with incorrect site names on their internal pages can try using the Google URL Inspection tool to trigger a recrawl and reprocessing of the page. Alternatively, Google will update the pages over time as it naturally reprocesses them.
In conclusion, Google has resolved the problem of internal pages not displaying the correct site name in search results. Website owners can now expect to see their preferred site name consistently across all pages. By following Google’s recommendations, website owners can ensure that their site names are accurately displayed in search results.
