Google Places Account Suspended

[Michael Cordova]

I logged into our Places dashboard and seen that our account has been suspended. We have a total of 8 listings and have not made any changes to them since Google started migrating local to +. Our Places page has not been merged with our + bus page. I submitted a reconsideration by clicking the button in the dashboard. The next day I received the following email:

Hello,
Thank you for requesting a review of your rejected listing(s).

Unfortunately, this process is no longer supported.
You may create a new listing that adheres to our guidelines in order to
show up on Maps.

If your listing shows as pending, please check on Maps to see if it is
live. In that case please be patient as we are currently overhauling the
reconsideration process. Please also have a look in the Help Center at
Listing is marked as 'Needs Action' - Places for business Help for
further updates.

When I log in to my dashboard I still have the red banner message Account Suspended and all my listing say Pending, Being Reviewed. When I search for my bus name + city my listings show up in the SERPS, with the exception of one.

At this point I'm not sure if my account is truly suspended due to my listings still showing up. Have there been any notable changes to the Places guidelines? Should I just start a new account and resubmit my listings? As mentioned I have 8 listings, so I wasn't sure if I should post all the url's and bus info for each location.

 

[Linda Buquet]

Hi Michael,

So sorry to hear!

Hang on, don't do anything yet and let us help get to the bottom of this and then we can recommend.

Are you the owner and these are all your own locations? Or are you a consultant and these are all listings for different businesses?

Please start by sharing a screenshot of the locations page that shows the suspended message and all the listings. (That will let us see the names of all the listings and name violations is the biggest reason for suspensions.)

Then I should be able to find listings I want to take a closer look at for other potential violations if need be. Or may ask for specific links. Just need to see the locations page, then can go from there.

 

[Michael Cordova]

Yes, I am the owner of all locations. I'm having trouble uploading the screenshot. Keep getting exceeds size limit errors. Is there another way I can get you the screenshot?

 

[Linda Buquet]

I post screenshots here all the time but maybe it's just too big.

You can just crop it close on the sides and isolate just the part with the business names and addresses and then stop on the right right after impressions and actions.

Or use Upload Screenshot or something then post the link here.

 

[Michael Cordova]

Here it is.

 

[Linda Buquet]

So Sorry, all I see is broken images and a blank page. Tried 2 different browsers.

If you don't have any graphics software, you can just use Paint. Crop down and then
shrink if needed.

 

[Michael Cordova]

Sorry for the confusion. This should do it here.

 

[Linda Buquet]

Perfect, got it now Michael, sorry for the frustration!

Now that I see these are attorney listings, all the same name and in AZ I should be able to search and find them in maps and look closer.

Must ask though, since I've seen it come up a lot with other attys, are any of these virtual offices or shared offices or anything? Is every locations a 'real' office where a client can walk in unannounced and talk to an actual member of your staff?

(Sorry am buried and probably can't dig in any further til tonight. Need to reply to posts over at the G forum and help some of my clients.)

 

[Michael Cordova]

Phoenix is our main location and the other 7 are in fact virtual offices. We have had this set up since Feb 2012.

 

[Linda Buquet]

I'll dig deeper tonight if I have time but I bet that's it.

I'll also try to find a post at the Google forum about another atty this happened to so you can see if there are any solutions in his post that could help.

 

[Linda Buquet]

Here are some of your listings in G Maps Law Offices of Michael Cordova Arizona - Google Maps

Even though some are still showing live, it looks to me like they have become unverified, even though they still have owner images, they are displaying as unclaimed listings, with no descriptions or anything and some of the names have changed. There is a chance that after the next or so they will just disappear.

Note: There is a delayed reaction with G+Local. You can violate for awhile and not get caught. Then eventually get caught and suspended. But suspended in dash does not immediately remove all the listings. PLUS even if Google suspends (cripples/kills) listings in your account, they may still remain live, they just aren't in active in your dash so you can't control them. (Kinda hard to explain.)

So for instance the one in your dashboard for Phoenix does not match the live listing. It's Michael Cordova - Attorneys At Law, where as all the listings in dash are for Law Offices of Michael Cordova. So that live listing is unclaimed and Google changed the name either to a previous name you used or to one matching citations on the web. (But you are no longer in control of this listing I don't think because account is suspended.)

I don't have much experience with suspended listings because have never gotten a client suspended. So only know what I read on the Google forum.

There most pros say, since there is no longer a way to get re-consideration for suspended listings, once it happens the listing is DEAD and nothing you can do but start over.

Here are threads about a couple other attys with what sounds like similar problems.

Do I Need To Remove All My Locations Except One to Avoid Suspension?

Google Location taken down. Disputed. Google thinks I don't have some locations but I do! Help!

In middle of trying to help another suspended Atty right now. (Different issue, not multi-locations.) But like I said I am not very experienced with suspended issues, so am hoping others help guide this one.

You may want to follow this thread to see what develops.
Listing rejected after being live for some time - Google Groups

But again my suspicion is the virtual offices caught up with you and again as far as I know a suspended account is dead. There used to be a re-inclusion request but not any more. So I think the only thing to do is delete, start over in a new account and be sure you re-read the guidelines and are very careful about compliance.

 

[Linda Buquet]

Couple more things to read:

Here is what GOogle says about suspended listings - at bottom.
Listing is marked as 'Needs Action' - Places for business Help

But then read the links in my replies here. #8 and #10.
Google Places Reconsiders Reconsideration Requests – What To Do If You Are Suspended

 

[Michael Cordova]

Hey Linda

I hate to bother you, but I'm just checking to see if you had a chance to take a closer look at this?

 

[Linda Buquet]

Hi Michael,

Sorry but I am trying to help so many people here and at the Google forum that I can only go so deep.
I've already spent a couple hours helping you at no charge, doing all the research and have given you tons of info and advice, sorry but that's all I have to give.

This is nothing to mess around with and aside from getting an overview of the problem like you have here, you should not act on advice on a forum for anything this complicated and serious. (Learn from it and evaluate, but I would not try to fix it yourself.) I can do quick spot checks and offer tips but can't do all the deep research this would take for free. Would take way too much time.

My BEST ADVICE is to hire a pro to thoroughly evaluate your situation and guide you through this.

OR you can read through all the links to all the info I've given you and take your best shot at which way to go. HOWEVER you really need someone to dig in and spend a couple hours researching and help you figure out the best way to handle this.

Not trying to sell my service or anything because I don't work with clients that have suspended accounts and am totally booked anyway. Some of the top pros in the industry are members here and I'm sure someone could help. But most do full service SEO and your case requires top level consulting and troubleshooting, so don't just hire someone that knows how to get ranking, but someone that has experience with suspended listings. (Hard to find someone like this.)

 

[Michael Cordova]

I'm so sorry I didn't see the updated thread before I responded. I will go through the information you provided. I do appreciate your help and time spent. Thanks again and we will proceed with caution.