{"id":1649,"date":"2026-06-02T23:59:00","date_gmt":"2026-06-02T21:59:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/nilsrooijmans.com\/daily\/?p=1649"},"modified":"2026-07-02T11:14:04","modified_gmt":"2026-07-02T09:14:04","slug":"identity-mismatch-80-decline-in-clicks-and-conversions","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/nilsrooijmans.com\/daily\/identity-mismatch-80-decline-in-clicks-and-conversions","title":{"rendered":"identity mismatch -> 80% decline in clicks and conversions"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">I just landed in Boston for my speaking gig at SMX Advanced.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">(Here&#8217;s a link to it: <a href=\"https:\/\/searchengineland.com\/smx\/advanced\/agenda?sessId=3372\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">https:\/\/searchengineland.com\/smx\/advanced\/agenda?sessId=3372<\/a>)<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">To get to Boston, I had to prove who I was at least six times.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>The first time was to get my ESTA visa.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Second time, border patrol at Schiphol airport.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Then, three separate identity checks before boarding because some system thought my identity didn&#8217;t match my visa application.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>And then, US Customs in Boston.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Done. Finally.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">If there had been a mismatch, I wouldn&#8217;t be in Boston right now.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">One of my clients recently ran into the Google version of the same problem.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Google Merchant Center couldn&#8217;t confidently match the business owner to the business information in the account.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">And then, without a single warning&#8230;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">SUSPENSION.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">What&#8217;s worse is that we didn&#8217;t even get an email notification of the suspension.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">AND the GMC interface didn&#8217;t show any issue at all, for three days!<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">But all our Shopping ads had stopped showing. >80% decrease in clicks and revenue.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">It was only because of an email from Microsoft (!) telling us, &#8220;Your Microsoft Merchant Center import has failed,&#8221; that we knew something was wrong with GMC.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Still&#8230; the GMC interface showed no issues at all.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Only after three days, we got the email: &#8220;Your products cannot be displayed to customers. Google found an issue with your account that requires your attention: Misrepresentation.&#8221;<br><br>And then, three (!) more days to get a support rep to finally tell us what is wrong. They said, <strong>&#8220;Our investigation shows the account is suspended specifically due to incomplete identity verification.&#8221;&nbsp;<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Here&#8217;s the thing: <strong>You need to make sure Google&#8217;s (AI) systems can easily verify who owns the business before they decide to check.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Three things I&#8217;d do today:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><strong>1. Make every business detail match exactly.<br><\/strong>The legal business name, address, phone number, Merchant Center details, Google Ads billing profile, website footer, and company registration documents should all tell the same story.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><strong>2. Add trust signals to your website.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><strong>3. Make it painfully obvious you&#8217;re a real business.<br><\/strong>\u00a0 Contact page.<br>\u00a0 Address.<br>\u00a0 Phone number.<br>\u00a0 Refund policy.<br>\u00a0 Shipping policy.<br>\u00a0 Terms and Privacy pages.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Think of it like airport security. If your passport, boarding pass, and visa all match, you walk through. If they don&#8217;t, you&#8217;re having a very different conversation.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Don&#8217;t wait for Google to start asking questions.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">&#8211; Nils<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>I just landed in Boston for my speaking gig at SMX Advanced. (Here&#8217;s a link to it: https:\/\/searchengineland.com\/smx\/advanced\/agenda?sessId=3372) To get to Boston, I had to prove who I was at least six times. Done. Finally.&nbsp; If there had been a mismatch, I wouldn&#8217;t be in Boston right now. One of my clients recently ran into &hellip; <a href=\"https:\/\/nilsrooijmans.com\/daily\/identity-mismatch-80-decline-in-clicks-and-conversions\" class=\"more-link\">Continue reading<span class=\"screen-reader-text\"> &#8220;identity mismatch -> 80% decline in clicks and conversions&#8221;<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1649","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-google-ads"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v26.9 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>identity mismatch -&gt; 80% decline in clicks and conversions - Nils Rooijmans<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/nilsrooijmans.com\/daily\/identity-mismatch-80-decline-in-clicks-and-conversions\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"identity mismatch -&gt; 80% decline in clicks and conversions - Nils Rooijmans\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"I just landed in Boston for my speaking gig at SMX Advanced. 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