Urgent SEO Issue: Google Displays Unrelated Chinese Text as Our Site Name in Search Results
Overview
In the realm of digital marketing and search engine optimization (SEO), ensuring accurate brand representation in search engine results is paramount. Recently, a significant issue has been reported by a prominent Iranian classifieds platform, impacting their visibility and brand perception. For several days, Google’s search snippets for their subpages (excluding the main domain) are displaying an unrelated Chinese news agency’s name—“新华网” (Xinhua)—as the site name, rather than the intended brand name.
Details of the Issue
The platform in question operates primarily in Persian and serves millions of users across Iran. Despite no recent changes to their website’s code, schema markup, or sitemap, the problem persists. The anomaly is specific to Google’s search results; other search engines and tools, such as Google Search Console (GSC), appear unaffected. Efforts to prompt Google to recrawl the affected pages have not yielded any updates.
The crucial points are:
– The issue impacts subpages, not the homepage.
– The site name in search snippets is incorrectly replaced with “新华网,” a Chinese news organization.
– The problem has persisted for approximately 4–5 days, with no response from Google Search Central support.
Implications
This situation poses severe consequences:
– Brand misrepresentation leading to potential loss of trust.
– Reduced click-through rates due to confusing or misleading snippets.
– Negative impact on user experience and site authority metrics.
Current Troubleshooting Steps
The site administrators have undertaken standard diagnostic procedures, including:
– Confirming that no recent code, schema, or sitemap modifications could cause this.
– Monitoring Google Search Console for crawling or indexing issues (none detected).
– Requesting recrawling of affected pages via GSC without success.
Next Steps and Recommendations
Given the ongoing nature of this issue, here are recommended actions:
-
Engage with Google Support:
Continue to follow up via Google Search Central’s official channels, providing detailed examples and timestamps of the affected pages. -
Use the URL Inspection Tool:
In GSC, utilize the URL Inspection tool to request reindexing, ensuring that Google fetches the latest version of the pages. -
Examine and Remove Any Suspicious or Unusual Content:
Review page source code to detect any embedded scripts or content that could influence the displayed site name. -
**Check for Potential Security Bre