Getting a Google Business Profile to go live and then keeping it live all comes down to one thing and one thing only: TRUST. When Google suspends a profile, it is due to lack of trust. That may be because Google thinks that you’ve done something to violate that trust, or it may be that the business just does not have enough online presence yet to earn Google’s trust in the first place. One thing is for certain, Google is never going to tell you what caused the suspension. You will receive their generic, catch-all “deceptive content”, “violates terms of service”, or “not eligible for a profile” response and there isn’t some knight in shining armor at Google who is going to elaborate on that for you. It’s up to you to figure out the problem, correct it, and submit an appeal.
It is important to realize that Google does not look only at your Google Business Profile, but it also looks at your entire digital footprint (some sites are more important than others) when determining whether or not your business seems trustworthy. More often than not, a suspension does stem from an issue directly with the GBP but it can also happen based on something that Google finds elsewhere too. Your business info needs to be consistent across all platforms. Also, the issue may not be something that you recently added or edited. It could be an issue that has been there the whole time but Google is just now cracking down on it. And sometimes, everything might be perfectly correct but if it’s a brand new business and/or a business that does not have much of an online presence yet, it could be that Google just doesn’t have enough data to establish trust. If that is the case, build out the most important citations (see below) before resubmitting the profile.
Let’s start with the easy part. First, conduct a brand search for the business. Go through the results and look to see that the business name, address, phone number, website, and hours of operation are the same across all platforms. In addition to the website, the main citations to focus on are Bing Places, Yelp, Facebook, IG, FourSquare, Manta, BBB, and if it’s a brick & mortar, Apple Maps and MapQuest. The business details must be consistent throughout those citations, and those details must also match what you are claiming on the GBP. If there are any inconsistencies, fix those before submitting an appeal.
Now for the GBP, here are the most common issues, by field:
Name: The absolute most common issue is people trying to keyword or geo-stuff the business name. The business name MUST MATCH the real world name of the company. If the company is Joe’s Plumbing, your GBP name cannot be Joe’s Plumbing of Houston. If you want to use Joe’s Plumbing of Houston (because let’s face it, that still works for rankings), then you will need to get a DBA, and update your signage, branded vehicles, etc to reflect the new name. You will need to submit photos of the business license, DBA registration, fictitious name filing, tax ID letter, or utility bill that reflects the exact name that you are claiming, as well as photos of your exterior signs, branded vehicle, etc so don’t bother appealing until you have all of this in order).
Address: The next biggest issue that I see is people trying to display the address when it is actually a service area business. This used to be easy to get away with, but not anymore. If the business is a roofer, plumber, electrician, HVAC contractor, for example, Google knows that customers are not bringing their homes to your brick and mortar office for you to service in your workshop. For the most part, Google knows by the category if your business is a brick and mortar or a service area business. There may be some outliers, but those are the exception to the rule. If you are displaying an address, you’re going to have to show proof to Google that this address does exist, that you have access to it, and that there is public facing signage and a designated area for customers (must be furnished and staffed). If you cannot meet these requirements, you cannot display the address.
Categories: Every category that you claim on the GBP needs to be reinforced by the website content.
Description: Do not be redundant. The category and location/service area is already listed on the profile. You can elaborate on that here, but don’t just simply reiterate the same info that is already listed elsewhere. Include things like years in service, unique value propositions, etc. Do not include a phone number in the about section.
Opening date: Not going to get a profile suspended.
Contact information: Not likely going to get a profile suspended but Google does randomly call all businesses and if there is no answer, they will redact the phone number from the live profile.
Website: Not likely going to get a profile suspended.
Chat: Not likely going to get a profile suspended.
Social Profiles: Linking to any social media profiles is not likely going to get a profile suspended. However, if there is any inconsistency in the name, address or phone number on those social sites, that can get a profile suspended.
Service Area: Your service area should not exceed a 2-hour drive from the address used to verify the profile. If your service area is larger than that, you are not considered a local business and therefore not eligible for a GBP. The profile will get suspended.
Business Hours: The hours claimed here need to match what is displayed on the website, social profiles, and citations. Do not claim that you are open 24/7 unless calls are truly answered around the clock. If Google spot checks with a robo-call and the call is not answered, the will redact the phone number from the GBP.
More: Not likely going to get a profile suspended.
Crowd: Not likely going to get a profile suspended.
Payments: Not likely going to get a profile suspended.
Service Options: Not likely going to get a profile suspended.
Photos: Not likely to get a profile suspended, but do not upload stock images, images that are copyrighted to others, images that contain more than 20% text.
Services: If you have added a phone number in any of the service descriptions, this may cause a suspension.
Products: Many people in the SEO space suggest adding your services as products too, because it does help with ranking. I have seen dozens of profiles get suspended because of this so if you choose to do this, be warned.
Q&A: Not likely going to get a profile suspended.
Posts: Not likely going to get a profile suspended.
USERS: If any of the gmail accounts that are associated with the profile have been flagged by Google, then every profile that is tied to that gmail account will get suspended too. Remove the flagged user and submit your appeal.
Once you have identified and fixed any and all issues, you can submit an appeal via the Google Business Profile Appeal Tool from the back end of your GBP. If you do not have the option to appeal from the profile, you can use this tool instead: https://support.google.com/business/contact/local_appeals?hl=en
Once you submit the appeal, you have ONE HOUR to submit your evidence so do not file the appeal until you have all of your documents and images in hand.
EVIDENCE NEEDED FOR AN APPEAL
For a Brick & Mortar business, you will need:
Photo of the street sign, showing the name of the street claimed in your business address
Photo of the address (the street number on the building, mailbox, etc)
Photo of exterior signage showing the business name exactly as claimed in the profile
Photo of furnished interior space that is dedicated for customers (store, office, waiting room, front counter)
Business license with name and address that matches exactly what is claimed on the profile. If there is no business license, Google will also accept a DBA registration, fictitious name filing, tax ID letter, or utility bill. I have also successfully used a vehicle registration, certificate of insurance, and property lease. Whatever you use must show the exact name and address that was used on your GBP.
For a Service Area business, you will need:
Photo of the street sign, showing the name of the street that you used to verify your GBP
Photo of the address (the street number on the building, mailbox, etc) that you used to verify your GBP
Photo of a branded vehicle, the name must match the name used on your GBP. If there is no vehicle, you can show the back end of the business’s operating system or website.
Photo of tools of the trade
Business license with name and address that matches exactly what is claimed on the profile. If there is no business license, Google will also accept a DBA registration, fictitious name filing, tax ID letter, or utility bill. I have also successfully used a vehicle registration, certificate of insurance, and property lease. Whichever document you use, it must show the exact name and address that was used to create your GBP.