Aubrey Yung

8 common site name problems in Google Search and how to solve them

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by Aubrey Yung

in

A site name is the label that appears above your page title in Google Search results to indicate which website a page belongs to.

Google site name example
Site name example in Google Search

A consistent and clear site name helps users recognize your brand or website in search results, which can improve brand credibility and increase click-through rates.

Although Google automatically and algorithmically determines the site name, you can use WebSite structured data to provide Google with your preferred site name. If your website also has a commonly known abbreviation, acronym, or short form, you can use the alternateName property to supply one or more alternative names.

Here is a JSON-LD example of a Website structured data::

{

  "@context": "https://schema.org",

  "@type": "WebSite",

  "name": "Aubrey Yung",

  "alternateName": ["AY", "Aubrey Y", "aubreyyung.com"],

  "url": "https://www.example.com/"

}

This guide will walk you through common questions about site names and practical troubleshooting tips to help you better understand how Google handles them.

I’ve implemented WebSite structured data. Why my site name is not showing up in Google?

The site name is generated automatically. When deciding, Google considers multiple factors, including structured data, on-page content, user familiarity, and how the site is referenced across the web.

Google does not guarantee that a site name will appear, nor does it guarantee that it will use the name you provided.

Possible reasons why Google may ignore your specified name include:

  • The name in your structured data does not match the brand name visible on the page.
  • The homepage is difficult to access or cannot be crawled.
  • Misleading or overly generic names are used.
  • Your site is on a subdirectory (Google does not support subdirectory-level site names).

Recommendations:

  • Check whether the homepage is blocked by robots.txt, noindex, login walls, etc. Ensure Google can crawl it and read the structured data fully.
  • Ensure visible elements (like <title>, og:site_name, and brand name displayed on the page) match the name in structured data.
  • Avoid generic descriptors like “Best Blog” or “Best Industry Platform” as site names.
  • Use alternateName properties to provide backup options.
  • Use a consistent site name across the web and social platforms to strengthen brand recognition.
  • Wait for Google to recrawl (usually several days to several weeks).

This is normal. Google Search Console does not provide any Enhancement reports for site names, and the Rich Results Test does not support WebSite structured data either.

Therefore, even if your implementation is correct, you will not see reports like FAQ, Product, or Breadcrumb in Google Search Console.

Recommendation:

My WebSite structured data is valid, but Google still shows my domain (example.com). What should I do?

When Google doesn’t have enough confidence about your suggested site name, it will fall back to displaying the domain or subdomain.

Here are some common reasons:

  • The provided site name is too long or rarely used.
  • Visible brand elements on the page don’t match the structured data.
  • The structured data is correct, but overall content quality is poor.
  • The site is newly launched or has low brand recognition – Google may need more time to crawl and process information about your site.

Recommendations:

  • Ensure the homepage title, text near the logo, and on-page branding match the structured data.
  • Simplify the site name; avoid long legal names like “Example Technology and Trading Co., Ltd.”
  • If the website is rather new, include the domain name in alternateName to increase the likelihood of correct selection.

My site uses subdirectories (like example.com/zh-cn/). Can I set a separate site name for each?

Google currently supports one site name per site, including domain-level (example.com) and subdomain-level (news.example.com), but not subdirectory-level (example.com/blog/, example.com/zh-cn/).

Recommendation:

  • If you must use subdirectories, Google won’t display separate site names for each. Use one unified brand name for your whole site.
  • If you require different site names for different languages or regions, consider using subdomains such as:
    • zh.example.com
    • fr.example.com

Site name is wrong – Google uses another brand name. What should I do?

As Google uses multiple signals to select site names, it may occasionally display the wrong brand, especially if structured data wasn’t crawled properly, branding is inconsistent, or Google is still evaluating your site.

This can also happen after site migration, domain changes, or template updates when Google is still processing old information.

This issue is sometimes temporary and may resolve automatically after Google recrawls your site.

Recommendations:

  • Clearly define name and alternateName in Website structured data, including the domain or subdomain as a fallback.
  • Request Google to recrawl your homepage.
  • Ensure the correct brand is prominently displayed on the page.
  • Check whether backlinks use consistent naming.

How long does it take for the site name to update? Why hasn’t my change appeared yet?

Google does not update site names immediately. It takes several days to several weeks for Google to recrawl and reindex pages.

Recommendations:

  • Request a recrawl of your homepage using the Search Console URL Inspection Tool.
  • Ensure all site versions (http/https, www/non-www) have consistent WebSite structured data.

My homepage has redirects. Will this affect the site name?

If a page redirects, Google will display the site name of the final destination page. However, the redirects must work properly and be accessible to Googlebot.

If the homepage has complex or unnecessary redirect chains, Googlebot may fail to access the structured data, thus preventing your preferred site name from being used.

For example, some multilingual sites redirect users based on IP or browser language. If the redirect is misconfigured, Googlebot may only ever reach one subdirectory version.

Recommendations:

  • Minimize redirects on the homepage.
  • Ensure all redirect target pages include consistent WebSite structured data.
  • Use Search Console’s URL Inspection Tool to check whether the final crawled page contains correct structured data.
  • If you have multiple versions of the homepage (such as www vs. non-www), ensure they are all crawlable and consist of the same structured data.

Why does my homepage show one site name, but internal pages show a different one or none at all?

Pages on your website are not updated at the same pace. Sometimes Google recrawls and updates the homepage earlier, so the homepage may show the new site name while internal pages still show the old one.

This is normal and temporary.

Recommendations:

  • Ensure consistent brand signals across all pages.
  • If the structured data configuration is correct, the issue will be resolved when Google recrawls the pages.
  • If this is a recent issue, it may be due to system changes or reevaluation, which often fixes itself.
  • If the homepage already shows the correct name, allow time for Google to reprocess internal pages.

This article is an English translation of the Chinese Community Guide that I recently published on Google Webmasters Community.  You can find the original version here: Google 网站名称设置与常见问题排查

Aubrey Yung

Aubrey Yung

Aubrey is an SEO Manager with 6+ years of B2B and B2C marketing experience. Outside of work, she loves traveling and learning languages.