There are several reasons why your listing has been suspended from Google My Business or even Google maps. Generally, it happens when you have broken some of the offenses from google. If you run a local SEO, then it is vital for you to have a Google My Business. It will help your company rank locally on the search engine. Some of the free profiles tend to be ubiquitous, and almost all of your competitors are likely to have them. Most relevant profiles display them at the top of Google search results while the users are looking for the type of business in a specific area. As Google My business plays a crucial role for the local SEO and helping your business rank locally on Google, it makes the suspension part even more challenging as GMB suspensions decrease the online visibility in no time.
If you try logging onto Google My business and see that your profile is suspended, you might be wondering what the cause behind it is. No matter you own a business or an agency, having your GMB suspended is undoubtedly painful to have a listing suspended. The worst of all is that you might be missing out on business as customers would be passing by your listing. You don’t need to stress as you can quickly get your listing back. Of course, if you have done something pretty shady, then you aren’t getting back to square one.
You need to know that your Google My Business profile is critical for your customers to find you. In fact, at least 65% of clients use it to find your company’s contact details, address, and other details. But several business owners often get into a nightmare to find out their GMB is suspended. As a result, their company doesn’t show up in even some local searches, and their patrons can find their competitors. The things become worse because Google doesn’t tell you your listing is suspended, which makes it challenging for you even to understand the problem. So the first thing you need to do is check why is your listing broken.
Different types of suspension
You would no longer be able to manage your listings when you log into Google my business. You are likely to be given a soft suspension if your listing is still available in Google and google maps. A gentle suspension is the minimum of two evils, and you can fix it quite quickly by creating a new Google account while reverifying your listing and reviewing Google’s offenses list thoroughly to prevent any violations in the future. Stiff suspension is another type of suspension and is likely to be reserved for severe infringements. A rigid suspension is expected to result in the complete removal of the entire Google listing, like photos and reviews. One of the easiest ways to rectify this to appeal to the search engine is to reinstate the listing using the troubleshooter tool.
Common reasons for suspension
Website field includes forwarding URL-
Google guidelines are likely to include various instructions. For example, don’t provide any phone numbers or URLs which will redirect or refer some users to your landing pages. Some companies have found that Google has given the soft suspension for using URLs that forward the visitors to another site.
No brick-and-mortar store for online business-
The product-based companies need to have some physical forefront to be eligible, especially for local pages, and hence rank in the three pack or on Google maps.
Several listings per business-
All companies are allowed only one page as per one location. So if you have a company that is based in any area, which is verified for listing in each city. You don’t think that using several accounts will create several pages. Google tends to suspend several listings of those which try and break this rule.
Illegal business sexually regulated products-
It is likely to go without saying that Google doesn’t want to promote any sexually explicit content. But some legal businesses which will sell products and services, including guns, are likely to be caught, but Google plus guidelines say regulated goods are allowed if they set any geographic restriction.
Use any virtual office-
Ideally, virtual offices in various cities aren’t enough for creating a new Google area listing and are likely to be prone to suspension.
Irrelevant keywords in the business name field-
Your business name should include the name of the business. You can use the explanatory keywords that are designed to enhance SEO must be reserved for the website and not the business name.
The service area of the business doesn’t have any hidden areas-
If you work as a mobile service and don’t have any official business address for clients to show up at, then you need to hide your address over the listing. So, if you work from home, then you need to hide your address.
Aggressively spam filtering in the industry-
this reason might not be your fault necessarily. It applies to companies who might have followed all the rules but the ones who work in the industry which has dominated by charlatans and spams.
What can you do if your Google My Business profile is suspended?
You can easily reverify your business if your listing is likely to be suspended. You can mainly start by sending the information given here. Furthermore, you can send a photo of the storefront, which includes both the sign and address. You need to know that you cannot use a home that doesn’t have any alerts. A copy of your business license that shows your business address.
Finally, you need to submit the resentment request, and you are good to go. Denials come in no time, but the approvals take around 1 to 7 days. You can easily prevent the suspension by ensuring that the information you provide is perfect.