Google Business Profile Suspensions on the Rise Part 2 – We’ve Got You Covered!

Mitigating Risk – We’ve Got You Covered!

As we mentioned in Part 1 last week, businesses across industries are seeing an uptick in Google Business Profile (GBP) suspensions without any explanation from Google. These occurrences are rare. 

For Socius customers—no need to worry. We’re on it! 

But with the spike in GBP suspensions, it’s important for small to medium-sized businesses to take proactive precautions to protect themselves from the risk of suspensions wherever possible. Again, if you’re working with a reputable agency like Socius, there’s nothing to worry about.  

However, those managing their own profiles may be left wondering why their Google Business Profile was suspended.  

And while there is no singly identified risk mitigation factor, there are a few best practices that help to mitigate risk. 

In this post, we’re looking at how to best avoid the risk of a Google Business Profile suspension in the first place. 

Tips for Mitigating Google Business Account Suspension Risk for Multiple Accounts 

Those managing 6+ GBP locations may have additional risks associated with making changes to business profiles. Out of an abundance of caution, Socius takes the following steps to ensure that the bulk management of accounts is not throwing up any unnecessary red flags to the Google gods.   

• GBP management can be migrated from previous bulk accounts into an organization agency account. Agency accounts allow for an additional level of “trust” from Google.  
• Minimize updates to core data fields (business name, address, phone, website, and categories) when possible, as these are the most sensitive when triggering a suspension. 
• Using caution and ensuring necessity when doing the following: 

1. Hitting the verify button – this often results in an instant suspension 
2. Editing hours 
3. Editing a description 
4. Marking yourself ‘temporarily closed’ 
5. Making updates from different platforms (ex: natively in GBP and also from another citation listing management tool that may override those changes) 

• If an account is suspended, ensure who should own the responsibility of submitting the reversal request. There’s no need to submit multiple requests, as this can bog down Google’s request queue and result in a longer reinstatement process because Google will have to sort through and determine who should be the owner of that profile. 
• When adding new locations, ensure that all parameters are being followed. Some key recommendations would be around meeting signage requirements and not submitting the new location until it’s officially open for business. It can be frustrating to have to wait, and you may want to be proactive to submit the request before the grand opening, but that could ping Google as to a potential issue very quickly.  

Tips for Mitigating Google Business Profile Suspension Risk for Single Location Profiles 

The same advice above for multiple locations applies to single-location profiles. In such a case, it becomes increasingly important to business owners to ensure their marketing partner is handling this task on their behalf. 

Other Google Trends to Watch 

GBP suspensions aren’t the only strange trends we’re seeing with regard to Google rankings and performance. SEO Forums and thought leaders are spotlighting ranking disruptions and abnormal spikes in GBP views.  

This data doesn’t appear to be supported by historical trends or an algorithm update. There is no immediate action that we need to take, but it’s definitely something we’re keeping an eye on and checking report dashboards for any red flags.  

Ready to stop worrying about factors beyond your control? That’s where a team like Socius Marketing can help. Let us stay ahead of changes and factors like these for you! Contact a Socius representative to chat today!