13. Why Your Google Business Profile Gets Suspended (and How to Avoid It) | Marketing and Visibility

One morning you go to check your Google Business Profile and it is gone. No warning, no explanation, just suspended. It happened to friends of ours, and one of them almost lost their entire business because of it.

In this episode, Ginny Seeley walks local service business owners through exactly why Google suspensions happen, including competitor sabotage, accidental policy violations, and the most common setup mistakes that put your profile at risk the moment you create it. You will learn the difference between a service area business and a commercial location listing, why keyword stuffing and virtual office addresses can get you suspended even if your business is completely legitimate, and what to do immediately if your profile goes dark. Ginny also walks through how to build your proof file now, before anything goes wrong, so you are prepared if you ever need to appeal.

This episode is for any HVAC, plumbing, appliance repair, lawn care, or local service business owner who relies on Google to ring their phone.

The best time to protect your profile is before you need to.

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Transcript

All right. You have attached the Episode 13 transcript. Here is the polished version:

All right, so picture this. You go to check on your Google Business Profile, and instead of seeing your business front and center, you see a suspension notice. No warning, no explanation, just gone.

Welcome to the Outcome Academy Podcast. I'm Ginny Seeley. I'm a business strategist and longtime process improvement expert, and I also co-own an appliance service business and a co-working space with my husband Joe. So I understand what it looks like to juggle growth, leadership, family, and big dreams all at once. If you're a service-based entrepreneur or executive who wants to stop putting out fires and work on your business and build momentum with systems, smart marketing, and practical tech, you are in exactly the right place.

If that sounds like a nightmare to you, I want you to know you're not alone. Every year, thousands of legitimate businesses experience sudden and unexpected suspensions, completely removing them from Google Search and Maps. It happened to a close friend of ours, actually a couple of them, and one of them almost lost their entire business because of this. But today we're going to talk about what you can do to prevent this from happening and some of the main reasons it happens to people just like you.

Google doesn't really tell us how often this happens, but 35% of business profiles face a suspension annually. That means hundreds of thousands of real businesses just like yours could be impacted each year. Google's goal is good. They're trying to fight spam and fake listings. They've removed tons and tons of fake listings that actually get in the way of good businesses like ours that are doing the right thing and operating ethically. But in the middle of trying to clear all that up, sometimes they make a mistake and they shut down somebody who's actually a legitimate business. And it's not just frustrating and annoying. It can really impact your revenue, because if you're counting on Google and your business profile for most of your leads, then your phone is just going to stop ringing.

We've talked a few times in other episodes about how to make sure that you have a diverse way to get your leads, but that's a different topic for another day. I do want you to go ahead and go back to episodes four and five, take a listen, and understand what you can do outside of Google Business to make sure that your phone is ringing. But today we're going to focus on your Google Business Profile and how you can make sure that you don't get suspended.

Sometimes Google accidentally suspends people who really shouldn't be suspended. People who are following all the rules and doing all the things that Google requires, and they still get suspended. There are some really popular business categories that are known for fake listings, like locksmiths, plumbers, garage door repair, things like that. And even in 2024, there were some reports of mass disabled profiles for things like garage door repair, dumpster rental services, businesses that help with tree removal, personal injury law firms, and things like that. Even if people were following all the rules, sometimes they could be suspended anyway and then have to go through the pain of being reinstated.

Another reason people get suspended is because a competitor goes in and does something untoward and reports you as spam or non-existent just to get you shut down. I hope that doesn't happen to you. I hope that people aren't acting like that, but we all know that there are some bad players out there who do something like that. And because it's an automated system and there aren't actual people checking into all of these things all the time, this can trigger an instant suspension, and then you have to go and prove that you are actually a legitimate business.

There's another way that you can accidentally trigger a suspension or a temporary suspension, and that is doing a ton of updates all at once to your business profile. Whenever I'm teaching people about setting up or maintaining their Google Business Profile, I always make sure to let them know to only update one thing at a time. So if you need to change your hours of operation, update your phone number, your address, something like that, I would recommend picking one thing and changing it, and then waiting a while after it's approved before you change something else. I haven't had any issues with doing posts and updates like that, but that is something you just need to be aware of. Take your time, pick what you're going to do, and only update what you need to, a little at a time.

Finally, this is something that we really have a lot of control over, and that is an accidental policy violation. When you set up your Google Business Profile, you agree to follow their rules. And sometimes people set up their profiles and they break the rules without even realizing it. I'm going to link in the show notes a couple of things for you. I'm going to link a tool that I have put together to help you, and I'm also going to give you the web link for Google Business Profile that is the end-all-be-all authority, straight from Google, with the rules and how to do it.

They're pretty strict, and this is something I teach in Brand Builder Blueprint. When you're setting your profile up from the very beginning, you'll have two choices. One is to list yourself as an actual business with a commercial location or using an address. The other option is to list yourself as a service area business. When you list yourself as a service area business, you're going to put in your home address. It's not going to let anybody else see your home address, but you're going to put in an area that you service. The difference here is that you don't actually receive customers at your home.

You may say, "But I do receive customers at my home. I have an office in my garage. It's a legitimate office." If that's true and you have all the things to prove to Google that you're operating your business the way you're supposed to, and it's a commercial location where you see customers, you may be able to convince them and get your listing approved. However, if you are working out of your home, you don't actually have customers coming to your home, and you don't want them coming to your home, you must abide by their rules and set yourself up as a service area business. Because you're not going to be able to prove that you're an actual location once you get suspended. And there's a very good chance that they will suspend you at some point, and it's going to be at the worst possible time, either when call volume is already down and you really need the calls, or when your business is booming and you're expecting all of that revenue to carry you through the rest of the year, and all of a sudden it goes away. The moral of the story is it's never a good time to get shut down. So just follow their rules.

One of the rules they have for the business location is that you don't use a P.O. box or a virtual office. Something like the UPS Store or a post office P.O. box doesn't count as your business address because obviously that little box is not your whole office. You don't have a computer there, you don't visit your customers there, they can't come there and drop things off, and all of that. If you're listing yourself as an actual business with a commercial location, it needs to be an office. It needs to have signage, it needs to have a locking door that you can open and let yourself in. And oftentimes they will ask you to verify it with a live video, and you need to be able to do that in order to verify your listing.

The very best way that you can prevent an accidental shutdown is to make sure that you're following all the rules in the first place. Another thing that you can accidentally do wrong under their policy is something called keyword stuffing. That is adding a bunch of extra words that try to game the system and make people find you in the name of your business. When you put the name of your business, you really should just put the name of your business. You also want to make sure that you list services that actually have to do with your business. You don't want to be putting a bunch of extra things in there that you can do. If you're a plumber, you don't want to say that you also do tree removal. You want to make sure that the things you list that your business does actually match what the business is that you say you are.

I hope that helps you. One common question that we get, and it's interesting because I can speak to this since we actually own a co-working space, is: is it possible to use a co-working space as your business address? And the answer is sometimes. If your business is in a co-working space like ours, and we have separate offices with actual suite numbers that are approved by the post office and they lock and they have signage outside of the door just for that business, then the answer is yes. However, in the rules for our co-working space, if you are using the co-working area, you are not allowed to use our business address in a Google listing. And that's to protect everybody who is following the rules here.

In our particular address, we have various suite letters. Our building address is 1210 Highland Avenue. But 1210A is reserved for the co-working space itself. 1210B is a business, 1210C is another business. D, E, and F are small offices. They're actual businesses who can list their location because they are listed on the signage in front of our building, on the door to get into our building, and then again on their actual physical office. So it's not that they're just using the address and coming in once in a while to use a desk in the middle of our co-working space. They're actually renting space that is solely for them and their business, and it has signage and a dedicated address that's recognized by the postal service.

Just to reiterate, because it's so important, these are things that Google does not allow. P.O. boxes. A P.O. box or United States Postal Mail Forwarding Service being used as your business address is not allowed. The UPS Store or virtual mailboxes, even if the UPS Store gives you a suite number for your mail, Google still considers it a mailbox and not a real office. And they can easily see that that location on the map is a UPS Store if they check. So don't even try it. And then virtual offices: if your business is in a co-working space and you don't actually work there or meet clients there, Google may flag your listing as ineligible. If you're in a co-working space and the address is on Google as a co-working space, make sure you have your very own address. You may even have to provide documents like a lease agreement or a business license with that address on it, any mail you've received there with your business name and address for that particular suite. And then of course, what we do for all of our members is make sure that they are all over the signage for the front of the building, the street signage, and their office has a special sign in front of their office door that indicates that they are operating out of that location.

So what actually happens when you get suspended? First of all, your business is going to just disappear from Google. There aren't going to be any search results or map listings, and customers won't be able to find you there. The good news is, if this isn't your only lead generation source, you'll still have word of mouth, you'll still have social media, and you'll still have repeat customers. Things like that are not going to go away just because your Google Business Profile is suspended. I've said it before, but you definitely want to make sure that your customers are finding you in multiple ways and not just on Google.

Your calls and your leads are going to drop. You're going to notice that, especially if you're not diversified. Some people can even experience a 90% drop in phone calls and inquiries when they get suspended. So it's a real problem. You can lose revenue, and your reviews all vanish, which is absolutely heartbreaking. If you are able to get your business reinstated after a suspension, sometimes you can get your reviews back. If you're not able to get it reinstated, then you also lose all your reviews. So it is very hard and frustrating when this happens. The very best thing you can do is follow the rules ahead of time to make sure it doesn't happen.

But let's say you are suspended and you have to get your Google Profile reinstated. What happens first is Google will notify you that you were suspended. You'll get an email and it will say the reason why. The appeals process does take some time, so you want to get started right away. It's a smoother process than it used to be, but sometimes you have to work with overseas support, and so it's not always quick. They don't offer phone support, so you can only use online forms and email.

If you've identified why you've been suspended and you know that you violated a rule, the first thing you want to do is make sure that you fix the problem. If you have your home address listed as your business address and not a service area, that is something you can fix. Look at the issue, see what you did, and if it's something that you did, try to get that fixed immediately. Oftentimes appeals are rejected. The first appeal is denied and they don't even give you a great explanation. Sometimes people have to submit multiple appeals, and if your initial request gets rejected, you may have to keep applying. The tough part is that if you do it too many times, they can give you a final statement that says, "Sorry, but you're never getting reinstated." And that is really heartbreaking.

If you need help and you've been suspended and you've done what you can and you're worried about that, you can reach out to me at ginny@outcomeacademy.com and I will find somebody to help you with that, but you will have to pay a professional to work through that process.

First, you want to double-check all your business information. Make sure your name, your address, and your phone number exactly match across all listings everywhere. You want to make sure that you're not violating the rules like we talked about, using your home address as your business address, using a virtual office, a P.O. box, or anything like that. Make sure that you stay active on your profile ahead of time. But if you do get suspended, you want to make sure that you submit the reinstatement request immediately after you fix whatever you did wrong. Gather your proof, make sure you have everything saved in a file so that you can appeal and upload whatever you need to upload to them.

The key is preparing ahead of time. Get your photos, get your business license if you need one, a lease agreement, all of the things that prove that you are a legitimate business: your business card, a picture of your van with your logo on it, pictures of your uniform, things like that. You want to make sure that you have all your ducks in a row. And when they ask you for something, look at exactly what they're asking you to provide and make sure you do it exactly the way they say. They're very particular about it.

The most important thing you can do is diversify your marketing. I really want you to think about this so that if this happens to you, you are not in the position of solely relying on Google for all of your leads. If it does happen, you can refer back to this episode. I also have a blog post that covers the same thing. If you like things laid out for you in writing, your source of truth is always to go to Google directly. Don't listen to all the hype. If you put a question in a Facebook group about this, make sure you're getting answers from real people who know what they're doing and not just hype creators. A lot of people like to create fear and make things even harder than they need to be. Make sure that you're dealing with a professional person who knows about Google and how to handle reinstatements if you're going to pay somebody to do that for you.

It doesn't have to ruin your business, but only if you're prepared. Take the preventative steps ahead of time. If you're one of those people who are violating the rules and you think you're going to get away with it, they will catch up with you at some point. So it's just best to make sure that you're following the rules so that you don't get yourself in trouble. Build your marketing strategy in a way that doesn't rely solely on Google. We do cycles of Compound Marketing Machine cohorts where we do a group experience and we walk through all the steps together with you. We help you build all kinds of other ways to market your business so that you're not just counting on Google.

That's all I have for you today. I'm so grateful that you spend this time with me each week. I really appreciate you. And if this was helpful to you, it would mean a lot to me if you would follow and then share this podcast with your friends who are in business so that we can all team up together to win.

As you think about this week, notice where this shows up in your own business. If you want to go deeper into this work, including the mastermind and other ways we support service-based business owners, you can explore everything at outcomeacademy.com. Thanks for listening, and I'll see you in the next episode.