Recent content by Stefan Somborac

This is a bug. It hasn't been officially recognized by Google but I've been seeing it for months. To summarize: While your Business Profile tells you that the verification is processing, the verification tool sees it as verified. (Check the verification tool to confirm...

@Alexandros - First, I'd like to highlight something you wrote: "We also had a hotel client that didn’t have a "Services" section until we added "Villa" as a secondary category." I think there's uncertainty about whether it's only the primary category that brings features to a profile. I think...

IMO, getting reinstated boils down to the paperwork. Of course you need to make sure everything on the profile complies with the Guidelines, but that's usually a quick process. It's getting the right documentation that takes time and that matters most. Google's "official list" of docs is now...

@kirandeck - You can add the address to the existing SAB. The profile will rank around the new location as you expect. You'll have to re-verify. What I recommend to clients: Update your GBP last. Update everything else first. Get the new address on your website, Facebook Page, Yelp listing...

@Syed Amir - I've seen one or two cases like this recently. To summarize: the value in the backend, where you make the edits, doesn't match the URL that's publicly visible on the profile. The two are out of sync. It's a glitch. And unfortunately, the support team is not very helpful. I think...

@willy_evans - IMO, there often much value in knowing if your profile was suspended for "misrepresentation" or "deceptive content" or whatever. Most of those descriptions are too vague to be helpful. And in most cases, the solution is exactly the same: make sure your profile follows the...

@mktgabor - If you got an error message, try again the next day. If that doesn't work, open an incognito window or a different browser logged in only to the email account that manages the profile.

@toolroom - In my experience, reviews left for the wrong business have a good chance of being removed. In this case, the review says "The stay tony on Franklin Ave", which is clearly some other business/building because the address on the Business Profile is Cynthia St. IMO, it doesn't matter...

Any warnings in Google Search Console? The owner account that you're going to use to make the GBP edit should be on Search Console too.

Hi @SusaW - If your appeal fails, you can try again using this form: Request additional review of a denied appeal Before you do, double-check your documents. Google tells us that they are looking for four different forms of evidence with a reinstatement submission: Official business...

@Tim Colling - Ah ha! I didn't realize that you were flagging as a Maps user! As a test, I went to flag a review 1.) as a Maps user, and 2.) as a GBP manager using the review management tool. As a Maps user, I had the "Not helpful" option. The review management tool doesn't give me the "Not...

Interestingly, here's what I see from my personal Gmail account. It does not show the "Not helpful" option displayed in your screenshot. Maybe a delayed roll-out, as suggested by @keyserholiday? Maybe it changes dynamically? All the more reason to pick the closest match and then use the...

@Tim Colling - The review management tool gives you two passes at removing a review. The first pass, which Google calls "flagging", lists a handful of possible policy violations (as shown in your screenshot) but that list is incomplete compared to all policies listed in Prohibited & restricted...

It's a double-edged sword. As you point out, practitioner profiles can siphon off reviews from the main, clinic profile. But if the main clinic profile uses a generic primary category like "medical group" it might suffer from a visibility/SEO perspective. Here's a thought: use practitioner...

@mktgabor - Google gives us a hint about how this works in this help document: https://support.google.com/business/answer/2721884 The act of adding a phone number to the profile is not going to open up the option for phone verification. However, if the algorithm trusts that the phone number is...