SuspensionsGoogle Business Profile · Suspensions
Your Google Business Profile is suspended. Here is what that means and what to do.
A suspension takes your listing out of Maps and out of local search until Google reinstates it. This page explains why profiles get suspended, how the appeal actually works, and what we do if you would rather hand it over.
No fixed price. We look at the profile first and quote from what we find.
How reinstatement runs
1Work out the actual cause
2Fix the underlying problem
3File the reinstatement request
4Respond until there is a verdict
5One further appeal, if refused
Why Google suspends a profile
Suspensions are enforcement of the published guidelines for representing your business on Google. These are the areas those rules cover.
01
The business nameGoogle requires the name on the profile to be the real-world name. Adding a city, a keyword, a slogan or a phone number to it is the single most common trigger.02
The addressThe address has to be a location staffed during opening hours. Virtual offices, mailboxes, co-working addresses shared with other listings and unstaffed units are all outside the rules.03
Eligibility for a profile at allA profile requires in-person contact with customers, either at your premises or at theirs. Online-only businesses and lead-generation pages are not eligible.04
Service-area setupIf you go to customers rather than the other way round, the address must be hidden and the service area described honestly. Showing a home address, or claiming a service area far wider than you actually cover, breaks that rule.05
Duplicates and ownershipMore than one profile for the same business at the same address, or a profile claimed by a previous agency or owner, can take the whole listing down.06
Editing several core fields at onceChanging the name, address and category together, or making a large edit shortly after a change of ownership, is treated as a higher-risk edit and can trigger a review.07
Category and content rulesCategories must describe what the business is, not what it sells. Restricted sectors have extra requirements, and prohibited or misleading content in the description, photos or posts is grounds for removal.08
The website and phone numberThe link should go to a page that represents this specific location, and the number should reach the business. Redirects through a third party and mismatched numbers both raise flags.Google does not tell you which rule you brokeThe notification says the profile is suspended and points at the guidelines as a whole. Working out which specific rule applies to your listing is the first real task, and getting it wrong is why appeals get refused. Google publishes the rules in full under Guidelines for representing your business on Google.
Soft suspension or hard suspension
The two behave differently, and the difference tells you how much work is ahead.
In a soft suspension the profile still exists in your dashboard but is no longer verified, so it disappears from Maps and local results. Your data and reviews are intact; the listing is simply not shown while it is unverified.
In a hard suspension the profile is removed outright. It is gone from your dashboard as well as from search, and reinstatement means proving the business is eligible from scratch rather than correcting a detail.
Which one you are dealing with changes the evidence you need, so it is worth establishing before anything is filed.
What the business loses while the profile is hidden
A suspension is not cosmetic. It removes the surface most local customers actually use.
You disappear from the mapA suspended profile is removed from Google Maps and from the local results that sit above the ordinary web listings. Anyone searching for you nearby simply sees your competitors.
Your reviews stop being visibleReviews are attached to the profile, so they go with it. Existing reviews are not deleted, but nobody can see them or the star rating while the profile is down.
Booking and ordering links breakAnything wired into the profile stops working: Book with Google, ordering links, the call button, opening hours, photos and posts.
Branded searches get weakerThe panel that normally appears when someone searches your name directly is gone, so even people who already know you have to work harder to find your hours or your number.
How the appeal works
01Work out the actual causeGoogle says a profile was suspended but not why. The cause has to be inferred from the profile's history, what changed just before it, and which rules the current setup breaks.
02Fix the underlying problemAn appeal filed while the listing still breaks a rule is refused. The name, address, category and setup have to comply before anything is submitted.
03File the reinstatement requestThe appeal goes through Google's own reinstatement form, from the account that manages the profile, with evidence that the business exists and operates where it says it does.
04Respond until there is a verdictGoogle may ask for more evidence, or refuse and allow one further appeal. Each response has to address the specific reason given rather than restate the original case.
Reinstatement runs through Google's own process. There is no back channel and no priority queue.
The evidence Google asks for
Proof the premises are yoursA lease or deed, a recent utility bill, or a business rates bill in the trading name at that address.
Proof it is open to customersPhotos of exterior signage with the business name visible, the entrance, and the inside during opening hours.
Proof the business is registeredCompanies House details, a VAT registration, or the licence or registration your sector requires.
Nobody can guarantee reinstatementThe decision is Google's alone. Any agency promising a guaranteed reinstatement, a fixed turnaround, or an inside contact is selling you something they do not control. Google publishes no turnaround time for appeals, and outcomes vary with the reason and the evidence. What can be promised is the work: finding the cause, fixing the profile, filing a properly evidenced appeal, and following it through.
What we do
If you would rather not spend a fortnight learning Google's guidelines, this is the job we take on.
01
Audit the causeWe go through the profile against Google's current guidelines and its own edit history, and tell you which rule it breaks. If we cannot find a cause we will say so rather than guess.02
Fix the profile firstName, address, categories, service-area configuration, website link, duplicates and anything else that would get the appeal refused on sight.03
Prepare and file the appealWe assemble the evidence, write the reinstatement request against the specific guideline in question, and submit it from the managing account.04
See it through to a verdictWe handle the follow-up correspondence and any further appeal, and we tell you when the routes are exhausted rather than leaving the case open indefinitely.PricingThere is no set price for this. Suspensions differ enormously in how much work they need, so we look at the profile first and tell you what it would take before you commit to anything.
Questions we get asked
Anything else, write to us. We usually reply within a few hours on working days.
Google does not publish a turnaround time for reinstatement requests, and it varies with the reason and the evidence. Some appeals are answered within days, others take weeks and several rounds of correspondence. Anyone quoting you a guaranteed number is guessing.
No. The reviews stay attached to the profile and come back with it if it is reinstated. While the profile is suspended nobody can see them or your star rating, which is why a suspension hurts so quickly, but they are not deleted.
That usually makes things worse. Creating a duplicate for a business that already has a suspended listing is itself against the guidelines, and it can get the new profile suspended too and complicate the original appeal. The existing profile is almost always the one to recover.
Google normally allows one further appeal, which has to address the specific reason given rather than restate the original request. If that is also refused there is no further route, and we will tell you that plainly instead of billing for attempts that cannot succeed.
Related
Send us your case
Tell us the business name, the city and roughly when the profile went down. We will look at what is publicly visible and come back with what we think caused it and what reinstating it would involve.
Contact us directly
Include in your messageBusiness name · city · profile URL if you still have it · when it was suspended · what changed just before
We usually reply within a few hours on working days.