Doing "Suggest An Edit" keyword stuffed business names but it is my client and I who get suspended!

[michael b]

Hi I was using my own personal Gmail account, that I have had since 2005, to make suggest edits to spam listings with keyword stuffed names (approximately 15 listings). I was a level 5 guide. I did a whole lot in a day and then a bunch the next day. All legit and most were accepted. Some even though blatantly obvious didn't get changed.

A mistake I made was that this personal gmail account was still a manager on an unrelated old client's GMB.

So.......I got two emails - one saying "blah blah removals (movers) profile has been suspended" and then a second email saying "Your Google My Business account has been suspended".

I am hopeful the client can get their listing back up as I removed myself from their listing. Is it important they themselves do the process? The client isn't that great at these sort of things and lives in another city to me. I have another Gmail account as manager on this account plus all my other client GMB's so can I do this for them or is this a "no no" if we want it reinstated?

Also, it's kind of crazy that I get punished and all the spammy listings got turned back on. Can I contest this? I am a bit confused as it says "Your Google My Business Account". To me it was just my personal Gmail and not a business profile making the edits.

This company above even has a photo of their vehicle with "Zero Degree" branding on it as the first pic you see.

I was able to still review a venue I went to.

So does this mean I cannot edit any more spam listings or if I do it won't get accepted as my account is seen as spammy (the irony).

It does feel that one or two of these companies have someone on the inside as their listing, even though blatantly obvious, wouldn't get changed.

Should I try and reinstate the client first or my personal email first?



Thanks for any advice / help.

Michael

 

[Colan Nielsen]

This happens a lot. It's called an account level suspension.

We always recommend using a different account to report spam. Sounds like you are aware of that too now so at least you've grown your knowledge as a result of this. That will pay off for you in the long run.

It doesn't matter what account requests the reinstatement as long as the one that was flagged gets removed and you use an account that is an owner or manager on the listing.