Google Business Profile Suspensions on the Rise Part 1 – We’ve Got You Covered!
By Jocelyn Van Saun
February 14, 2023
Across all industries, businesses are seeing a significant uptick in Google Business Profile (GBP) suspensions without any explanation from Google.
If you work with Socius Marketing, no need to worry! We’re on top of stuff like this. And these occurrences are rare. (If you don’t work with us and you have noticed your GBP has been impacted, we can help!)
In this post, we’ll discuss why this GBPs suspensions are happening and steps for resolving this issue if your GBP profile is suspended.
Why Are Only Some GBPs Being Suspended?
These Google Business account suspensions are suspected to be tied to a bug or increased pressure from the FTC for Google to crack down on fake profiles, resulting in unnecessary (and frustrating) suspensions. However, Google has not addressed the issue directly or specified a root cause.
It appears that suspensions are occurring in two main scenarios and are being flagged as suspicious activity:
- Changes are made to profiles by multiple people OR in different platforms
- Changes are made to core data fields including: Business Name, Address, Phone Number, Website URL, and Business Categories.
Changes to other areas of the GBP are less sensitive and do not appear to be triggering suspensions at this time.
What Are GBP Suspensions?
There are two types of suspensions:
- Soft Suspensions: The profile has been flagged by Google and we are unable to make edits to the profile, but the profile is still visible in search results.
- Hard Suspensions: The profile has disappeared from search results and edits cannot be made on the backend.
Soft suspensions can become hard suspensions, but regardless, the reinstatement process is the same.
What To Do For Suspended Accounts
Contact your marketing team to start the reinstatement process by submitting the request to Google.
You will need to provide the following two documents for the reversal request:
- Your Business Registration/License displays the business name and address that matches the listing you’re appealing to.
- Accepted documents include official business registration, business license, or tax documents.
- A utility bill displaying the same business name and address as your license.
- Accepted documents include electricity, phone, gas, water, sewage, trash, recycling, TV, or internet.
Keep in mind that the suspension reversal process is sometimes quick, but usually an arduous process. Following up on your request’s status can feel like it’s falling on deaf ears, but it’s not worth opening a secondary request, as this will ultimately bog down Google’s request system and could lead to you losing your place in line.
Pro Tip
Depending on your Google Ad spend, you may have access to a Google rep who can assist you with this process. Google Ads and GBP are isolated products without overlap, however, if your ad spend is at risk, there may be motivation for your rep to help find a resolution to the suspension issues. If you have any questions, contact a Socius representative to chat today!
