In this week’s episode, I’m sharing one of the most common pieces of advice that I share on the Google Business Profile Community Forum. If you get suspended for changing something in your GBP, many times that last action wasn’t what caused your suspension. Check out the video for all of the details, especially if you’ve recently been suspended!
VIDEO TRANSCRIPT
Welcome back to another episode of Local Search Tuesdays. This week, I’m sharing some helpful insights about Google Business Profile suspensions. It’s scary and confusing when a legitimate profile gets suspended, so hopefully this will help!
If you’re at all involved with Local SEO, you’ve probably heard that Google is really cracking down on fake Google Business Profiles recently. Unfortunately, the spam-fighting push has resulted in more than a few suspensions for legitimate businesses.
When you get suspended, Google doesn’t give you much of an explanation, but that’s intentional. If explicit details were provided, it would make it incredibly easy for spammers to figure out how to create fake profiles. Unfortunately, this causes a ton of confusion with business owners and marketers.
I spent a lot of time on the GBP community forum with other Product Experts, helping businesses with various problems related to their Google Business Profiles. I wanted to share one of our most common bits of advice with you here today:
If you get suspended, your last action in your GBP wasn’t necessarily the cause of your suspension.
I know, it’s shocking and a bit confusing, so let me explain. Google has effectively “turned up” the internal spam detection systems, but they don’t just go check very GBP that exists. Instead, when any significant change to the profile occurs, it triggers a re-check of every element of the GBP.
Quite often, a profile was already violating the GBP guidelines, and when another change is made, the systems then find the “other” violation and a suspension is triggered.
You may be doing something simple, like updating your hours or changing your phone number because you changed call tracking providers… and BOOM! You’re suspended. That doesn’t necessarily mean that the hours change or the phone number change are what caused your suspension - your action was just the catalyst that initiated the full check on your profile.
Far too many people tank their chances of getting reinstated because they assume that their last action was the thing that caused the suspension. They either think that it’s a mistake, since nothing about the last action is against the guidelines - or they change what they did, thinking that “fixing” their mistake will get them un-suspended. Then they’re shocked when they’re told that their profile still violates the guidelines.
If you get suspended, don’t freak out! If you’re a legitimate business, you’ll be able to get your GBP reinstated. Before you request a reinstatement evaluation, check the GBP guidelines first. Make sure you’re familiar with all of the rules and check every element within your profile, not just the element that you most recently edited.
Also, make sure you know how to properly request reinstatement. You’ll need to send in multiple forms of proof - don’t screw up by only sending a single document. You should also check my episode about shooting a verification video. You can check it out at bit.ly/gbp-reinstatement-tips.
For now though, that’s all the time we have left for this week’s episode, so you know what that means. Put your hand on the screen right here: We totally just high-fived ‘cause you learned something awesome. Thanks for watching, and we’ll see you again next week for another episode of Local Search Tuesdays.
