GMB suspension for updating services?

[Local newbie]

I am a SAB with a verified profile for years. I updated my GMB services today and got a message saying my profile was suspended.

I filled out some form for reinstatement and Google's automated response was that a postcard should be received in the mail in 14 days.

I have already confirmed postcards in the mail several times over the years. Any clue what is going on?

Thanks Russ

 

[Phil Rozek]

@Local newbie, "services" is one of the areas of GMB business owners tinker with all the time, partly because Google auto-updates it all the time. Because of that, and because of Google's limited guidance on how people should and should not fill out "services," it's never been one of those hair-trigger parts of the GMB page - at least in my experience. So it would surprise me if that change alone caused the suspension.

Did you change any other info on your GMB page at the same time?

Also, I assume it was a soft suspension (as in you still can find your GMB page in the search results), rather than a removal.

 

[Local newbie]

Thanks Phil,

That’s exactly what occurred, I noticed there were several services that I don’t offer that were now populating so I removed them and added some that were relevant that disappeared.

I did not change anything other than the services that I think triggered the suspension. I tweaked the description about a week ago. (just added a few words here and there. Nothing major)

I received a reinstatement email today however that was 12 hours ago and nothing has been reinstated including my reviews. The only thing that has occurred is the “Suspended” language is gone from my GMB homepage.

I am not sure if it was a soft or hard suspension as when I searched for the business in Google maps the name came up but all the information was blank as if there was no record of it ever being in Google maps. The GMB page does not come up and is not found in search results.


This is the letter I received from Google.

“Hello,

Thank you for contacting Google My Business team about your business information being removed from Google Maps!

Based on the information provided, I'm happy to confirm that we were able to reinstate the listing for you. No further action is required on your part to verify it at this time.

Once the listing is live again, it may take a few days for it to start appearing on Google. You can check to see if your listing is showing by going to maps.google.com and typing in your business name and address.

Feel free to update your business information as necessary through the "Edit" option in your dashboard to ensure the data is correct and up-to-date. In order to ensure that your business information does not get removed again, be sure to always follow our policies and guidelines for representing your business on Google.



Thanks,

Google My Business Support”

Although their email insinuates I broke their policies by updating my listings services, Google is confused and inconsistent with their communications.

 

[Phil Rozek]

@Local newbie, interesting. That is a head-scratcher. If you didn't change anything else on that GMB page, and if you hadn't created another GMB page that used the same address or same name (or both), then I'd definitely say it's a bug. And a new one at that. I have never seen Google dole out a suspension of any kind for tweaking the services, and it doesn't sound like it was intentional, based on what the rep said.

 

[Colan Nielsen]

12 hours ago and nothing has been reinstated including my reviews. The only thing that has occurred is the “Suspended” language is gone from my GMB homepage.

Contact GMB support via this form and let them know about the missing reviews - Sign in - Google Accounts

GMB support can help get the reviews reinstated.

 

[BenFisher]

In addition to what Colan is saying, also respond to the reinstatement email. Mor than likely they did not flip "the switch", so the restore did not occur.

 

[Local newbie]

Thank you so much Phil, Colan and Ben for all of your suggestions. Although I dropped to around the 4th page in Google maps from the first page when searching for my services at least my reviews are back.

I received a letter from GMB support and now my reviews are back.

Google is such an odd monopoly.

I am grateful for all of your help.

Russ



Hi,

Greetings from Google My Business Support Team.

Thank you for your response.

I'm writing this email to you in regard to your concern about your business listing.

Firstly, I would like to apologize for misunderstanding your issue, please accept my sincere apologies and thank you for correcting me. We have transferred the reviews to your business page. Kindly allow 24 to 48 hours for the changes to get live on Google. Please click here to view your business page on Google Maps.

Feel free to go through our GMB Help Center to understand the product better and follow us on our official blog for regular updates.

If you have further questions related to this issue, simply reply to this email and we'll be happy to help! For additional support on a different issue, you can always reach us via our Help Center [g.co/gmbhelp].

Thanks for your understanding.

Have a nice day!

Best Regards,

Shobha

Google My Business Support Team.