A Google My Business suspension can heavily put the morale down.
As it almost deletes your local business’s presence from the internet. Facing a Google My Business can end up leaving you in a situation where either you have lost your GMB profile or lost control over it.
The only question that comes into mind in that situation is “How to fix suspended Google My Business”.
Many give up and create a new GMB. But don’t worry, we got you the right answer.
So, let’s start with the basics and find out the types of suspension, possible reasons for Google My Business suspension and how to retrieve that.
Starting from the basics,
Types of GMB Suspensions
Before going on the quest to find ways to resolve your Google My Business profile suspension, first, you must know, which type of suspension you have faced?
Let’s see how many types of GMB suspensions are there.
- Soft suspension: In a soft suspension, Google label your GMB listing as verified due to some reasons that we’ll discuss. The notice of it comes on your GMB account and can be found by logging in. Though, you don’t have to panic much. Your GMB listing won’t be lost. It will still show up on Google, you just can’t control it. To verify it back again, you have to provide proof of verification.
- Hard suspension: This one is a thing to panic about. It means that Google believes your GMB somehow has gone against their guidelines or ain’t eligible to show up as a listing. And in this scenario, you’ll receive a notification of account removal when you would log into your GMB account.
- Manager account suspension: A manager suspension means that the person has lost the capability to manage that specific GMB listing.
- Owner account suspension: An owner account suspension is the worst thing that can happen to you and your GMB listings. In this, the owner’s Google account is completely removed. All the GMB listings and reviews will be lost in this.
What could be the reason for your Google My Business suspension?
If your GMB listing has been suspended, that means Google has found some red flags, suspicious activity or suspected policy violations on your account.
Google though doesn’t release the reason for suspending a list, so here are the common events listed that get a GMB listing suspended:
Your listing’s info has been altered.
- Primary or secondary classifications
- Changes in the business name, address, and phone number, as well as ownership transfers, are common when login locations change.
- Changing to a concealed address service area (after operating with a visible address)
A high-risk industry is your primary category.
- HVAC (heating and cooling) locksmiths
- Plumbing
- Other companies offering home services
Google policy prohibits the use of this address.
- P.O. Boxes, virtual addresses, and FedEx/UPS Store boxes are all options.
- URL forwarding or Phone number forwarding
- There are several entries for the same company or place.
- This is a listing for an online-only company.
- You do not have the authorization to claim that the provided address is your company’s address.
Well, these are not all of them, but they are the most common reasons why Google suspends a Google My Business listing.
How Does a GMB Suspension Affect Your Business?
You don’t have to turn your state of mind just because of the GMB suspension.
Surely a hard suspension does remove your listing from the search results. But alongside that, Google also provides you with solutions to reclaim or recreate your business listing.
Google suspends a listing only to remove the fraudulent or illegitimate ones. They are doing this so that legitimate businesses and users won’t have to face such issues.
A legitimate business wouldn’t have many issues reinstating their business listings.
How To Fix Suspended Google My Business Listing?
The very first thing to do after being suspended by Google is to check GMB guidelines and Google’s restricted-content guidelines.
Make sure that your listing or your business does not violate any of the guidelines. Once you’re sure, go to the GMB’s help page and submit a reinstatement request.
- A soft suspension can be resolved by opening a new Google account and claiming the business through that. Surely, you have to go through the entire verification process. Then, go through all the GMB guidelines again and eliminate the error that caused the GMB suspension.
- But, in the case of a hard suspension, you are only left with one choice: contact Google and find out the cause of the big suspension. Then send a local business reinstatement request to Google and properly resolve the issue and get your listing back on track.
Google does ask for documentation as proof of your legitimacy.
Following are the general ones that you can send:
- A utility invoice with the same billing address as your GMB profile
- Legal papers such as a company licence or tax form, both of which must have the same location addressed as your GMB profile.
- A storefront photograph with both signs and address, along with a suite number if relevant, is proof of the actual address.
- You must show proof that you are not sharing office space with any other company.
- To validate the business profile, go to the dashboard URL of your GMB listing.
What To Do To Prevent Another Google My Business Suspension?
Google My Business is an active platform.
You can’t just create a listing and leave it to attract users on its own. You must ensure that your profile is up-to-date with updated service offerings, timings, location and contact information.
As with time, your business would gain mentions from different platforms and sources. Any inconsistencies in the business name, location or contact information can be a big problem.
These inconsistencies lead Google to believe that the listing is illegitimate and results in a suspension.
And resolving a suspension takes a considerable amount of time and effort. It’s much better to take care of that beforehand.
As the saying goes “Precaution is better than care”.
So, what’s the easiest way to make that happen?
Be Active and Consistent.
That’s all you need. If you don’t have time to check it every day, at least make a habit to check and update it every week.
Always ensure that the details of your business are accurate and updated.
Being updated attract more customers and makes you show up in more local searches.
The next thing that you need to keep aligned is consistency.
The information about your business must be consistent across all your social media handles, NAPs, and other mentions.
Being consistent builds trust, and prevents any suspension.
The Bottom Line
Winding up, a Google My Business suspension ain’t the end of the world, a lot of businesses go through a suspension.
If you’re legitimate, you wouldn’t have much of an issue sorting that out.
But still, try your best to prevent a GMB suspension. The best damage is no damage at all.
So, whenever you face a suspension, just contact Google My Business support and set your account up to follow their guidelines. Once you are done with that, your listing will be reinstated and return to local search rankings.
I hope you would have found the answer to how to fix suspended Google My Business, if not then the comment box is wide open for you.
Or you can mail us your query at [email protected]. We will be more than happy to help you out.
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