Your website uses the new booking system, but someone searching for your business on Google still lands on the old provider. They may see unavailable appointments, choose the wrong branch or abandon the booking before your team hears from them.
Start by following the exact link customers see. Then establish whether you control that address, need a provider to remove its connection, or have a problem on the destination page. Treat this as a booking-route repair: the job is complete when a customer can reach the right service and your team receives the appointment.
Find the exact link that sends customers astray
Open your public Business Profile in Google Search and Maps. Use a phone as well as a computer, and check the customer view separately from the management controls. Record the button or link label, the first address it opens and the final destination after any redirects.
Keep a screenshot and the date of the check. If you have several locations, include the specific profile and branch. A useful fault report says “the appointment link on this location opens our previous booking provider”, rather than “Google has the wrong website”.
Separate these three questions:
- Main website link: does the ordinary website button open your current site?
- Booking link: does the appointment or reservation route open the intended booking page?
- Destination: once there, is the correct branch, service and availability offered?
Check your own website’s booking buttons too. Fixing one route while leaving another pointing elsewhere gives customers inconsistent choices. If nobody in the business can access the profile, use our guide to regaining Google Business Profile access before arranging edits.
Put the correct booking route in place
Google’s booking-provider guidance confirms that you can add your own booking link without choosing a provider from Reserve with Google. An integrated provider is another option; check its charges and practical requirements before signing up.
Choose the destination by testing it first. Ask a colleague who is not signed into the booking administration to open the address on their phone. Can they identify the business, find the intended service and proceed towards a suitable appointment? For a branch business, check the location before copying the URL.
In Google’s local business link controls, open Booking in Search, or Edit profile and the relevant transaction type in Maps, then add the URL and save. Where several links exist, use Set preferred link to choose your preferred route.
Treat choosing a preferred link and removing an unwanted provider as separate tasks. Keep a working booking route available during the handover, and ask the team to flag customers who mention the old system.
Remove an old or unwanted third-party provider
Google says third-party links can appear automatically through partners or automated data. Their presence does not establish who at your business arranged them.
For a third-party booking link, Google’s removal instructions are Booking, then Remove Provider in Search; in Maps, use Edit profile, Booking, then Remove Provider.
Follow the removal route presented and retain the acknowledgement. If that control is missing, or you cannot complete the request, contact the named provider with the public profile link and unwanted booking URL. Ask it to remove the booking connection for that exact business and location. Request written confirmation.
Google requires providers to remove links within five days of receiving a removal request. Record when the provider received yours.
If the provider does not process the request
Google’s third-party complaint form includes an option for an unprocessed request to remove an action link. It asks for the original request date, provider name and the URL used to request removal.
Prepare those details alongside the affected profile and screenshots showing the customer route. Keep the explanation factual: identify the unwanted link, explain the destination problem and describe the steps already taken. Exclude customer booking details from the evidence.
The form says Google does not share investigation outcomes and generally only contacts you if it needs more information. Continue checking the public link rather than treating a submitted complaint as proof of removal.
Check why a replacement link is rejected or disappears
Google’s business link policies require a verified profile and an approved edit. Eligibility varies by business and region. Action links must lead to a dedicated page for the business or specific location and allow the named action to be completed; social media, messaging, app-store and shortened links are excluded.
The policies also restrict duplicate links and domains. If the same booking domain is already represented, inspect the existing entry before adding another.
Google checks link accessibility and may remove links its systems cannot verify. Ask the website or booking supplier to investigate access errors, security challenges and incomplete loading at the exact URL. A page opening in your browser alone does not establish crawler access.
Make each repair specific. Give the supplier the failing address and the observed error, and ask it to explain the cause and demonstrate the corrected route. Repeatedly submitting variations of the same address makes the investigation harder to follow.
Test from Google through to the appointment record
After the public link changes, run a controlled booking with your team. Arrange the test first so it does not occupy a valuable appointment unnoticed or trigger unnecessary customer contact.
- Start on the public profile. Open the booking route in Search and Maps. Check which providers remain available and follow the link you intend customers to use.
- Check the service and branch. Select a realistic appointment. Confirm that the business, location, price and any deposit information are appropriate before completing it.
- Complete the journey. Use details you control and check the customer confirmation. Do not stop at a successfully loaded booking page.
- Check the staff handover. Find the appointment in the receiving system and confirm the assigned person, time, location and any notification the team relies on.
- Clear the test. Cancel it through the normal process and check that the slot becomes available again where appropriate.
If the link reaches the right place but the appointment time disagrees between systems, investigate that separately using our guide to website booking time zones. Replacing the profile URL will not explain a mismatch that starts later in the journey.
Keep the test result with the change record. Recheck after the provider confirms removal and again after the next booking-system change.
Judge success using completed bookings
Google’s performance documentation says its Bookings metric requires bookings managed through a booking provider. Its provider guidance also says performance data is unavailable for custom links. Do not expect every booking through your own URL to appear in that profile metric.
Use the appointment system to confirm receipt of your test. For ongoing monitoring, agree how the business will identify bookings from this route and distinguish them from enquiries, cancellations and appointments from other sources. Avoid attributing every subsequent booking increase to the link change.
Give one person responsibility for the public booking route. Include it in supplier handovers alongside website buttons, existing appointments and customer communications.
If Google is sending customers to the wrong booking system, talk to BuzzBoost about checking the route. Share the affected profile, the unwanted destination and where customers should book instead, so we can scope the work around the actual fault.
Featured image: AI-generated editorial artwork, not a photograph of a real BuzzBoost office, client or result.
