Do you want to know how to recover a suspended listing from Google My Business? Below you have everything you need to know to restore your business based on my experience. I’ve been using Google My Business since 2012 when it was called Google Places and have managed to recover hundreds of listings since then.
For most small businesses, Google My Business (GMB) is its online marketing hot spot. Because it’s free, many local businesses rely solely on your Google business profile to drive traffic to their websites and calls, as well as to drive customers to their stores. If you need detailed guidance then do Follow SEO Community or Consult digital marketing Expert.
Any business knows that putting all your eggs in one basket is risky. However, for a local business with a limited budget, or no marketing budget, a free listing on Google Maps is usually all they have to promote their business on the Internet.
This means that if the company has a problem with its profile on Google, it can have a significant negative impact on your business and cause a state of panic.
According to some studies, an average business is found in 157 direct searches each month and 852 discovery searches. This adds up to an average of 1,009 searches per month. For most small businesses, that’s a lot of leads.
Losing that amount of online visibility can be disastrous, especially if you aren’t doing any other marketing. When My Business profile in Google is suspended, the company’s sales stop abruptly through this channel.
Also, the suspension will cause the business owner a lot of stress and concern, especially when they are not sure why it was suspended.
Let’s start with a classic story that usually reaches my email. Paco wakes up one ordinary morning and when he gets to work he checks that nobody calls him as usual. The phone line is working fine and it’s already 12 o’clock but no one is calling. Cold sweat down the back. Knowing that appearing on Google Maps allows you to receive daily calls, check your file in case there was a problem. You can consult SEO Company Dubai locally or contact SEO Expert for better guidance.
His file had disappeared since it was suspended. All the work is done, hundreds of reviews … all that was no longer online. It was as if the business no longer existed and turned out to be an absolute ruin.
A business with more than 10 years, with a local accolade that no longer had customers by not appearing on Maps, is bad news for Paco.
He quickly got in touch with Google. After a few days, he received a response from Google.
In short, they told you that they had reviewed your account and it did not meet the requirements to appear on Google Maps according to its quality guidelines. With a nice link to the Google My Business Help Center with lots of information but nothing specific about what was causing the problem.
This is where people usually get stuck. Since you do not know very well what you have to answer that satisfies Google or if you have to change something in the tab.
What is Google My Business suspension?
In summary, the suspension in Google My Business or Google My Business depends on where you are reading me (GMB) means that your free listing that appears in Google and Google Maps is no longer visible or is not under the control of your account, ultimately its validity has been questioned by Google.
Important point: Whatever you do, if Google suggests you create a new file, don’t do it. You run the risk of losing all your reviews and disappearing in the rankings. As long as the file and account are within the regulations, it can be restored again, no matter what Google support says.
How do I know if my profile has been suspended?
Most business owners first notice a decrease in calls or visits to their business.
They will then perform a quick search online and they may not find your business listing or they may go to Google’s My Business dashboard and see a notification that their business listing has been suspended.
That’s when you have to try to find out exactly why your profile was suspended and begin the process of fixing the situation.
One of the main frustrations of suspensions is that Google doesn’t tell you why your listing was suspended, so it often becomes a guessing game.
For example, if you work in an industry with a high level of spam such as lawyers, locksmiths or plumbers, you may have your listing suspended just because of the industry you are in.
If you sit at your computer and update your Google My Business listing several times, that can also make Google suspicious and cause a suspension
How to know the severity of the suspension in Google My Business
There are two types of suspensions in Google My Business. To find out which one you have, search for your business on Google Maps. If it’s not there, you have a hard suspension. If the business is still there but you can’t access it on your account, it’s a soft hold.
Hard suspensions
This is very bad but can be fixed depending on the case. In this case, the listing has been removed from Google and Google Maps searches and is in a state where you can lose all its content completely.
Soft suspensions
Most of the time, this has to do with a user managing the account. Soft suspensions usually mean that the tab or profile is “disabled.” It is still visible in search, but you no longer have the right to make changes to manage and edit it. The profile is in an unverified state at the moment and is very vulnerable to modifications by other users.