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Google My Business Listing Suspended? Here’s What To Do

Oamii • Nov 29, 2021

Google business profile is an all-powerful tool used by big and small businesses to manage their presence across the entire Google network. It includes maps, search engines, and such. Businesses also use it to help their customers reach them easily by displaying the office address, opening and closing times, contact number, etc. In short, the My Business tool helps enterprises create a listing where customers can find all the relevant associated information.

Since you are on this page, it is pretty evident that your My Business listing has got suspended for some reason, and you don’t know how to reinstate it. Worry no more because we shall now take you through the steps that will help you get back on your feet once again. If you think it’s too much work, and give up, think again. Google is a major internet player, and with all the benefits of the tool listed above, it would not be wise to give up on it.

What Happens When Your Google My Business (GMB) Listing Gets Suspended?

When your GMB listing gets suspended, you only get a notification of it, and it is no longer visible either on Google or Google Maps. There’s no reason mentioned why it happened other than mentioning that it is for “quality issues.” That is for you to figure out.

Reasons Behind The Suspension

Google has very high standards in order to provide consistent and high-quality search results. Unfortunately, even slight deviations can lead to the suspension of your GMB listing. The prominent reasons behind your account’s suspension could be:

Guidelines for representing your business on Google were not followed.
Your GMB listing is not in accordance with Google’s Prohibited and Restricted Content policy.
Using the GMB redressal form, somebody has reported your listing.
A Google trusted source has used the “Suggest an edit” feature on Google search or Google Maps and reported your listing.
The business name has variations or mistakes when it appears online.
More than one business lay claim to your office address.
The business name, address, and phone number on your website and the listing do not match.
Recent changes were made in the fields that appear on the listing.
To improve your search engine ranking, you have resorted to keyword stuffing.
Yours is a service area business, but you have failed to deactivate your physical address.
For online stores, P.O. boxes are not acceptable.
The business website on your listing is a forwarding URL.

Since Google will not clearly specify a reason behind the suspension, you will have to first and foremost discover the reason. Once you have done this basic exercise, only then can you proceed ahead.

Types Of GMB Suspension

Soft Suspension – A soft suspension suggests your business has been labeled or classed as unverified. When you get served with a soft suspension, you will see the suspension notice on the wall as soon as you log in to your business’s GMB account. Your listing continues to appear on Google and Google Maps, but your capacity to manage it is withdrawn until you provide the necessary proof of verification.
Hard Suspension – A hard suspension is a much more serious issue. Google has, for some unknown reason, determined that your listing is ineligible. It could happen because you violate one, or even some of their terms and conditions, or some other reason, as we discussed above. When this happens, you see a hard suspension notice on your wall on logging in. In this case, you can neither call up your listing nor can you manage it. Instead, you get a removal notification.

What To Do When GMB Listing Is Suspended?

Start by finding out why your listing was suspended in the first place. To do that, you will have to go through the GMB Guidelines and the Guidelines for Google’s Prohibited and Restricted Content .
Once you have identified the problem, fix it. That sounds simple, well it is, and here’s how you go about it.

Resolution of Soft Suspension – Once you have fixed the issue, you will have to open a new Google account. Using the new account, reclaim your listing. Now you will have to go through the entire verification process once again.
Resolution of Hard Suspension – In this case, you have no option but to contact Google to find out the reason behind the suspension. For this, you will have to fill in a Google Business Profile local business reinstatement request . As soon as Google tells you the issue and grants you permission to manage your listing, you will have to fix the problem.

Documents Google May Ask For

Here is a list of documents that Google may ask to prove your legitimacy:

A utility bill that has the same billing address as your GMB.
Copy of your business license or tax form that has the same address as your GMB.
An image of your storefront with proper sign and address to serve as proof of physical address.
Proof that your office is not being shared by someone else.
The dashboard URL of your GMB listing to confirm your business profile.

Manage GMB Profile Better To Avoid Suspension

If you thought that filling the GMB listing of your business and forgetting all about it is all you need to do, you are highly mistaken. It is because the GMB platform is active, and it gathers information, profiles, and mentions from other platforms. If there are any variations or discrepancies, your account will be suspended. Therefore, there should be no inconsistencies within your different profiles over the internet. If there is any change, ensure it is reflected everywhere.

Don’t take your GMB profile lightly. It’s way more work to get a suspended account reinstated rather than managing it well right from the beginning. All information that you fill in must be accurate and up to date. Regularly log in to the profile to make sure that everything is as it should be. These simple steps will save you a lot of headaches in the long run.

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