Mass GMB Suspensions?

[Austin_Holds]

I woke up this morning to quite a few of my listings suspended. Similar to the mass suspensions that happened last spring, this message is pinned on the GMB. support page:

 

[BenFisher]

That message has been there for a few weeks, there seems to be an uptick in suspensions. Especially lawyers. What category are your clients in? How many? A whole account?

The volume of suspensions is not nearly what it was like last spring imho.

 

[JMathematical]

Has anyone else noticed increased suspensions? I wonder if Google found a way to more quickly process reported listings or if this is some kind of algorithmic sweep. I have now seen multiple listings suspended (not lawyers).

 

[BenFisher]

There are a lot of suspensions happening at the moment and reinstatements are backed up as well. Not as bad as it was last June. They are constantly tweaking the algo to detect spammy behavior, sometimes the dial goes up too many notches.

 

[freerunr]

We are indeed anecdotally noticing more suspensions than usual (lawyers) since the week of 1/20/20 when @BenFisher posted this poll: Still seems to be ongoing on our end.

We try to keep our listings squeaky clean of anything that Google could misdiagnose as worthy of a suspension (including following tips that most of the PE's would recommend that aren't explicitly stated in the guidelines), and most of the ones I've looked at from our team indeed didn't seem to be in violation. In some cases, it seems that if you sneeze or tilt your head in the wrong direction while looking at a listing in the GMB dashboard, it can get suspended

 

[BenFisher]

Hey Kerry,
We talked about this with Google this week and there should not be any more mass suspension happening. (Outside of the normal)

 

[Austin_Holds]

A week later, I experienced another 20 suspensions today on GMB which were in similar shape and compliance to the ones Kerry mentioned. I've also heard of other mass suspensions today from talking with others, including a well-known brand experiencing over 100 suspensions.

 

[freerunr]

Hey Kerry,
We talked about this with Google this week and there should not be any more mass suspension happening. (Outside of the normal)

Thanks for relaying that. It's too bad that Austin still experienced some more. Hopefully it indeed slows down moving forward.

@Austin_Holds Not sure how many brands you manage, but out of curiosity, how do you manage GMB pages?

1) An individual Google account for each brand.
2) A single regular account that contains pages for all brands (or a small group of accounts with pages spread across them).
3) An agency account that contains all pages (Register your agency on Google My Business - Google My Business Help)

I realize more than one of these could apply, as well.

I'm starting to wonder if the type of an account has a bearing on the risk of these suspensions that have been happening. I realize history of an account/page can come into play, too.

 

[BenFisher]

We choose to do a regular accounts (7ish) that max's out at 100 locations (excluding location groups), I only get suspensions from clients who choose to stay in an exec office in a VO.

 

[freerunr]

We're still experiencing ongoing suspensions daily when making various edits to listings. I instructed my team to space out edits instead of doing them all at once to mitigate risk, but it feels like Google simply has certain listings flagged and ready to pounce on them whenever an edit is made regardless. In one example, a legitimate location (not virtual or shared office) was suspended for making a small change to a business name + store code, and that's it.

@BenFisher, I know you said this round is not as bad as the June 2019 one, but I think we're being hit harder for this one. And the behavior experienced in June (Suspension - First one in a long time - Local Search Forum) seems to match what we're seeing. My team is nervous about making any edit to GMB listings at this point.

There will probably be a question about this during "Ask Ben Fisher Anything" on Friday

 

[BenFisher]

What are you listing categories primarily? The name change (if in a duress category) could easily trigger a suspension.

 

[freerunr]

What are you listing categories primarily? The name change (if in a duress category) could easily trigger a suspension.

Law firms. All law firms. So I know... not really a surprise

 

[BenFisher]

Oh heh, well that's an ongoing battle. The mass suspensions had to do with something else that have all been mostly resolved now. (reinstated)

 

[keyserholiday]

I have seen what appears to be a crackdown on law firms too. We had 7 out of 12 law firm listings get suspended out of the blue. Last June, I had a random franchise location get suspended and it was not in the legal space.

 

[hvacman]

Our 3 GMB pages have been suspended for a week. Here's what Google says in an Email.

“We have reviewed your request and can not reinstate your Google My Business listing at this time as it continues to be in violation of the Google My Business quality guidelines.

Your listing has activity from a previous manager/owner’s account that was suspended for violating guidelines.

In order to promote your business through Google My Business, we request you to create a new listing and complete the verification process. Please make sure all information on your page is in accordance with the Google My Business Quality guidelines.

Any suggestions? New accounts are not an option, we have over 1600 reviews.

 

[keyserholiday]

I need the case number for this. Not only is this bad advice, but that also is not the solution. DO NOT DO THAT!!! Remove any users that are 3rd party vendors and then reply to their email.

 

[hvacman]

Thanks for the quick reply! This is really hurting our business, we had great GMB results, and now zero.

Our website provider is trying to handle this,so they have the case number. They just called and have a scheduled call with Google today, so I'll wait and see. if you had the case number, could you assist?

Also, please note that Google is stating it is a previous manager/owners account, not a current one, that is the issue.

 

[keyserholiday]

Remove any old people from your listings ASAP. That is what is needed. Please ask them for the case number, I have reached out to the GMB community manager about this. This bad advice needs to stop. If you followed their advice, you'd lose all of your reviews, photos, posts, and history on your account. You would be a new business with nothing.

 

[hvacman]

keyserholiday Do you think you could resolve this if I get you the case number? I have no idea who to trust, and a lot to lose if I make the wrong decision. Please understand most everyone has more knowledge on this subject than I do. What has happened has a very negative effect on our business, and I'm unsure of what to do.

 

[keyserholiday]

Please get me the case number so I can look into it.