Google Business Profile "Temporary Protection" - 30-60 Days?

[Arthur]

Hi everyone,

I'm looking for advice from anyone who has experienced Google's "temporary protection" restrictions on a Google Business Profile.

Our GBP has been active for approximately three years, and we've never experienced anything like this before.

Here's what happened:

• Late September: Our photos and videos gradually started getting rejected.
• Early October: The restrictions became much more severe. Almost every photo, video, and post was automatically rejected. Changes to our services were also rejected or left pending, and new customer reviews stopped appearing.
• Throughout October: We contacted Google Business Profile Support six times. Initially, agents treated this as an issue with individual photos and manually approved some of our content. Those photos appeared, but whenever we tried uploading new content or making changes, the same restrictions returned.
• October 25: We received an official Google email stating that certain user-generated content features had been temporarily disabled.
  
  
• October 30: A Google Support agent finally confirmed that our profile had been placed under "temporary protection." We were told that the restriction could not be manually removed or escalated, and no timeframe was provided.

We also posted in the Google Business Profile Community, where Diamond Product Expert Sherry Bonelli advised us to wait 30-60 days until the restriction is lifted.

The frustrating part is that we have no idea what triggered this. We haven't received any specific violation notice or explanation, and our profile remains verified and publicly visible.

There's another concerning issue: Around the same time these restrictions started, our visibility in local search dropped significantly, along with incoming calls and new customer inquiries. I can't confirm whether the two are connected, but the timing is concerning for a small business that relies heavily on local search.

My questions:

1. Has anyone experienced this specific "temporary protection" restriction? How long did it actually take to get lifted?
2. Is there any legitimate way to request a manual review or escalation when Google Support says nothing can be done?
3. Does anyone know when the 30-60 day period begins - from the first rejected content, the official notification, or some internal Google date?

I'd really appreciate hearing from anyone who has dealt with something similar or has experience with these restrictions.

Thank you!
Arthur

 

[keyserholiday]

I know that for reviews and ratings, it is either 30 or 60 days. This is a different email. Reply to the thread and advise that this is not the incentive review warning. Show the screenshot you received.

 

[Arthur]

I know that for reviews and ratings, it is either 30 or 60 days. This is a different email. Reply to the thread and advise that this is not the incentive review warning. Show the screenshot you received.

Thanks for your reply! I already attached two screenshots to my original post - the official Google email and Sherry Bonelli's response. Could you clarify which screenshot you're asking for?

 

[MKing55]

I haven't received an email like this yet; however, I am having an issue where almost every edit I make on our two GBPs doesn't go through.

First goes into pending update status of 10 mins, 30 mins or hour/s, then up to 7 days, and ultimately gets rejected or gives the contact us message..

And am seeing a handful of images are now showing as rejected, even though they were fine before and do not violate any content policies.

Anyone else experiencing this or similar issues and have any updates to share on whats helped or is going on?

 

[MEC123]

Having the same issue as described above. I believe it was from attempting a GBP post that had a picture edited with AI. We have multiple locations and I used the same pic for all but only a couple had gotten rejected with an email sent for each office stating that the ability to post is being turned off to prevent further violations. We have also lost the ability to recieve or edit reviews, post pics or edit hours.

I believe that it was the violation of terms on the pic so I would bet anyone suffering a similar fate broke a policy with posting a pic that was either a screen shot or AI edited or something along those lines. You cannot post your phone number too so it might be something simple.

It has been a bit over 3 weeks so far. I will update this as I learn more.