SAB Hard suspension

[Jaimie S]

Hi All,

We have a SAB that has now been deleted from our account. We gained access, a few days later got a notification that the address was wrong and to submit it again. We re-entered the address but the page was not reinstated. We have now been told the business is not eligible. Originally when we got access - we downloaded the location from the dashboard but the address fields had been blank. We edited the business description and added some service areas once we got access but not much else.

Business is life/anxiety coaching - both online appointments and face to face. Address was hidden with service areas added. We have hit a dead end with Google support who are saying the page will not be reinstated as the business model is not supported? We provided images of the businesses residential house with the information that the business was a SAB but got nowhere.

Anyone experiencing something similar?
The business has now received an email from Google saying the business is deleted and the only way to move forward is to create a new one. Predicting problems with this though!

 

[Phil Rozek]

@Jaimie S, if Google won't reinstate your page, I suggest creating a new one and showing the address publicly (at least for a while) and not specifying a service area.

It seems Google is less likely to recognize oddball categories or unusual business models if it's only got the service area specified in the dashboard. Google's recognition of addresses and (to a lesser extent) categories is one of only two things that prevents or deters every e-commerce or other non-local site owner from belching out endless GMB pages. (The other safeguard is public use of "suggest an edit.")

I can tell you first-hand that many life coaches are allowed on the map, often in direct competition with licensed therapists. Their addresses tend to be specified, though.

Maybe once the page has been up for a while you can try going back to the service area. But I would not suggest (re-)starting off with that.

Yes, I understand there may be privacy concerns, but you're between the hammer and the anvil at the moment.

 

[Jaimie S]

Hi Phil,

Thank you so much for your advice and suggestions, much appreciated.

Yes it's extremely weird and we have had this happen with three more businesses now (not managed in the same account) where Google is now just deleting the listing quite quickly which is bizarre. The listings have been suspended right after we have gained manager access and before any edits (in separate accounts).

Otago Carpet Cleaning
5th September-Listing suspended + Removed
6th September-Reinstatement form filled out.
17th September-Advised to create a new listing as the old one was deleted. Postcard on the way

BKS Painting and Decorating
1st Sept-Listing suspended. Reinstatement form filled out.
3rd September-Google requested tax invoice/proof needed
16th Sept- Business owner finally sent me through a tax invoice which I sent to Google
17th Sept-Google said they can't help me as listing has been deleted (Google deleted)

Stewart & Dawson - staging & design
15th September- Manager Access gained. Marked as Suspended straight away. Reinstatement form filled out.
16th September-Google responded saying listings can not be reinstated as they thought the business model was not eligible. I responded with more info. GMB Removed
17th Sept- Listing reinstated but not live. Reverification needed. Postcard sent

 

[Phil Rozek]

Sure thing, @Jaimie S.

That's a tough one.

Unless ALL of the pages you manage were suspended, it's probably not an account-level whack. Nor simply an issue of creating a GMB page in an "odd" industry.

One school of thought says "fill out more forms and wait." Which is all you can do sometimes, but isn't always realistic.

The first thing I'd do is see if you can re-create at least one of those pages completely in the client's account, and not have "manager" access granted to you. (That sounds like one of two common threads here, the other being the SAB element.) If that page stays up for a while without incident, then perhaps it is an account-level problem. In that case you'll probably want or need to create a new Google account for managing, or just walk your clients through the setup in their accounts.

If that doesn't work or is inconclusive, I'd suggest the process I described in the last post.

 

[Jaimie S]

Okay we will give that a go as well, thank you for your insight!!