Google Business Profile suspended: what it means, why it happens and how to appeal

A suspended Google Business Profile is one that Google has taken down because, in its view, the profile does not follow its guidelines. Google's help page says it may "suspend or disable" such profiles. While a profile is down, the public cannot go to it, and its owner and managers cannot act on it. They can ask Google to reinstate it, and that request is an appeal.

The appeal is made in Google's appeals tool, from the Google Account related to the profile. Google's order is to check the profile against the guidelines, then prepare evidence, then appeal. What follows is what Google's help pages say today, and what your website has to do with it. Nothing here can make Google decide one way or the other.

What Google restricts, and what each means

Google's pages use four words: a profile is suspended, disabled or removed, and an account is restricted. They define no difference between a suspended profile and a disabled one. The policy overview uses "disable" for a business that Google decides does not exist at the location claimed, and "suspended" for a profile whose address is a P.O. box. Its link for fixing a disabled profile leads to the same page as for a suspended one, and both go through the same appeal.

Not every missing profile is a suspension. Google says a profile it considers a duplicate does not show on Search or Maps, and that the content of a profile that was never verified might not appear. Why a business is not showing on Google Maps goes through those. If the profile is up but someone else holds it, that is a request for ownership, not an appeal.

Why Google suspends profiles

Start with the reason Google gives for yours. The appeals tool shows the restricted profile, the reason for the action and a link to the policy it says was violated. Google publishes no count of which reason is most frequent, so this page does not guess.

The guidelines open with what is required so that a profile "won't be suspended": avoid prohibited content and behavior, reflect the business accurately, and comply with the guidelines on that page. These are the areas Google's pages name.

A name is the easiest to picture. A profile called "Example Plumbing: Emergency Plumber, Free Quotes", for a business whose van and invoices say "Example Plumbing", carries unnecessary information by Google's own examples.

Before you appeal

Google's page puts one instruction under "Before you submit an appeal": make sure the profile follows all the guidelines.

Check the profile against the guidelines

Read the reason in the appeals tool, open the policy it links to, and compare the profile with it: the name, the address or service area, the category, the phone number and the website. Correct what you are still able to correct. Google's page also says the owner cannot act on a removed profile, and does not say how the two fit together. If the profile will not take an edit, the evidence form has a field for context where the correct details can be given.

Gather the evidence

Google lists the documents that can strengthen an appeal:

• an official business registration
• a business license
• tax certificates
• utility bills for the business, such as electricity, phone, water or internet

Its tip is the part that matters: on every document, check that the business name and the address match the profile you are appealing for. A license in a former name, or a bill for the owner's home when the profile shows a shop, shows the opposite.

Have the files ready before you start. Evidence goes in through a form that opens after the appeal is submitted, and Google allows 60 minutes for it. Its two pages count the hour differently: one from the moment the form is opened, the other from the moment the appeal is submitted. Go by the shorter, an hour from submitting the appeal. Evidence sent later is not attached to it.

How to appeal, in Google's order

To check on an appeal, open the tool again, signed in to the same account, and select the profile. The status on the right is one of "Submitted", "Approved", "Not Approved", "Can't be appealed" or "Eligible for appeal".

If the account is restricted

A restricted account is appealed somewhere else. Google's page sends you to the restrictions page of your Google Account, where you give a reason, submit the appeal and track its status. Once that restriction is lifted, each suspended profile still needs its own appeal in the appeals tool.

If the appeal is denied

Google says that only when a reinstatement request is denied, it "may be able to do an additional review". That is a separate form, "Request additional review of a denied appeal". It asks for the date of the suspension, the email address used to manage the profile, the Business Profile ID, a registration, license or tax certificate, and a utility bill, each showing the name and address of the listing. You can add evidence that was not part of the first appeal.

Google's pages state no number of appeals a profile is allowed. A business in the European Economic Area is told it may have further options, on Google's own page about them.

What comes back when a profile is reinstated

Google says it reinstates the profile and, with it, its owner and managers. Its page about missing reviews carries one line on this: reviews are sometimes removed after a profile is reinstated, and if that happens the owner should contact support.

Google's pages do not say what happens to photos or posts. Check them once the profile is back.

What not to do

• Do not create a new profile to replace the suspended one. Google says so beside the appeal's steps. Its guidelines allow one profile per business, a duplicate does not show on Search or Maps, and a pattern of violations is what restricts an account.
• Do not send the appeal again while you wait. Google's appeals page says not to submit multiple appeals for the same issue before a decision.
• Do not delete the profile. The policy overview says appeals may be rejected when the profile is deleted, by anyone with access to it, before Google's review.
• Do not pay for a promise. Google's page on working with third parties says they "can't promise nor directly influence" how a business is placed on Search or Maps, and that only a profile's owners control who has access to it. Its third-party policies forbid false, misleading or unrealistic claims. No Google page describes a paid route to reinstatement.
• Do not hand over ownership to get help. Google's policy is that the business keeps ownership and whoever helps is added as a manager.

Google's pages do not say whether editing a profile during the review affects the appeal. Their order puts the corrections before the appeal, and that is the safe reading.

What your website has to do with it

A website is not on Google's list of evidence, and no Google page says a website decides an appeal. What Google's pages do say is narrower:

• The name on a profile should be the business's real-world name "as used consistently on your storefront, website, stationery".
• The website on a profile should represent that individual business location, and must not send people on to somewhere else.
• Google compiles what it shows about a business from several sources, and names crawled web content, such as a business's official website, as one of them.

So the site is one of the places where a business shows that it is what its profile says it is. If the footer gives one name and the profile another, or the contact page has an old address, the business contradicts its own documents. Before you appeal, read the site as a stranger would:

• The name, address and phone number are the same on every page, and the same as on the profile and on the documents you will upload. Name, address and phone on a WordPress site shows how to keep them in one place.
• A page says plainly what the business does and where. The same facts can be stated in markup: LocalBusiness markup on WordPress.

The appeal itself is made by the profile's owner or a manager, signed in to their own Google Account. It is not a thing anyone can sell you. What WP Ministry can do is put the website's side in order: see local SEO for a WordPress site.

While the profile is down

A suspension is an action on the Business Profile. None of the pages cited here says it changes anything about the business's website. Google Search lists web pages by its own technical requirements, which it gives as three: Googlebot is not blocked, the page answers with a status of 200, and the page has content that can be indexed. Google adds that meeting them does not mean a page will be indexed.

So make sure the site can be found while the profile cannot:

• Run the home page and the contact page through the page indexing check. It reads the status, robots.txt, any noindex and the canonical address from outside.
• If the site itself is missing from Google, work through why a WordPress site is not showing up on Google.
• Put the phone number, the hours and the address or service area where a visitor sees them at once.