🚑 Suspension - Reinstatement Help Needed!🚨

[tarantino75]

Hi, I'd like to request assistance from anyone that can help me with a client's suspended listing. We've attempted to contact GMB support a few times, which might be adding to the delay. Yet, any insight that anyone can provide would be much appreciated.

The thread in the GMB community is here: https://support.google.com/business...pended-business-no-response-from-google?hl=en

Business information:
Stewart Law Offices
409 S Pine Street
Spartanburg, SC 29302

Location-specific landing page: https://www.stewartlawoffices.net/location/spartanburg-personal-injury-lawyer
*cough, @JoyHawkins @Colan Nielsen @BenFisher, cough*

 

[Colan Nielsen]

Submitting multiple reinstatement forms causes more harm than good. You are correct on that one.

What happened after you filled out the reinstatement form?

And by the way I can't see the live post that you linked to. The GMB forum has a Spam delay filter which prevents some threads from going live right away.

 

[tarantino75]

Thanks, @Colan Nielsen. There is at least a week between the case requests as not receiving a response. How long should we typically wait before submitting follow-up requests?

Once we filled out the form the first time, we received an auto-response that didn't state more than usual.

Here's the text from the thread I posted on the GMB community:

Suspended Business & No Response from Google?
Hi! Thanks in advance for any assistance anyone can provide.

One of four office locations has been suspended for three weeks now (went into effect 9/9/21). We've requested assistance and reinstatement from GMB support multiple times and have support Case IDs for each time we've reached out.

We have yet to receive any response from Google outside of the auto-responder. We've reviewed the listing a few times and even added some additional images of our location to show Google that we do have an office at the place mentioned. Is there anything further we can do?

The suspended listing is Update your browser to use Google My Business - Google My Business Help.

Case IDS:

1. 7-1404000032032
2. 5-4483000032060
3. 0-2772000031688
4. 2-7824000032222 (the latest request for assistance 9/28)

Again, thank you for any assistance anyone can provide, as we are incredibly frustrated (along with the client). Unfortunately, the suspension is affecting their leads for that area and business with LSAs too.

 

[Colan Nielsen]

I replied over at the GMB Forum. Thanks!

 

[tarantino75]

Thank you so very much! Is there anything that stood out to you that would have caused a suspension?

 

[djbaxter]

Location-specific landing page: https://www.stewartlawoffices.net/location/spartanburg-personal-injury-lawyer

This link leads to a 404 not found error page.

 

[tarantino75]

Thank you, @djbaxter. Those have been fixed as my support team was causing chaos this morning.

 

[tarantino75]

Any idea on how long it's taking Google to review the requests?

 

[rgblocal]

Any idea on how long it's taking Google to review the requests?

I had one addressed same day recently. Could be false positives move faster?

 

[tarantino75]

What is the recommendation for creating a new listing for the same location? The client is getting impatient since it is affecting their paid lead campaign.

 

[rgblocal]

What is the recommendation for creating a new listing for the same location? The client is getting impatient since it is affecting their paid lead campaign.

You should not create a duplicate for the same location, but aim for reinstatement. There are a few threads you can read here about people who deleted the old and made a new one. Typically does not end well since organic rankings/reviews are completely wiped and you are starting from the beginning.

If Google refuses to reinstate, you might have no other option - check this thread: GMB Ranking problem following suspension

It is tricky with paid, since that extension option will no longer appear. My personal feeling is that you try and convince he client to hold off for a little longer due to the potential upside of retaining rank/reviews. You can also check and see just how involved the location extension was in driving conversions, which may help your cause if they are only assuming it led to a decline.

 

[tarantino75]

Thank you @rgblocal. We were finally reinstated this afternoon! So thank you, @Colan Nielsen.

However, when it came "back online," we noticed that a service area had been added to it. Is that normal? 2021-10-08_12-20-39.png

When I mentioned this to the client, they began to wonder if we should add other areas too.

In my experience, only true service areas business should use this feature. We have an office location that serves clients from it so I'm not sure I understand why it was added. Any insights?

 

[Colan Nielsen]

In my experience, only true service areas business should use this feature. We have an office location that serves clients from it so I'm not sure I understand why it was added. Any insights?

Google is OK with any business specifying the service area. But it currently doesn't have any impact on ranking so it doesn't really do anything anyways. Does the Service Area in Google My Business Impact Ranking? - Sterling Sky Inc

 

[rgblocal]

Thank you @rgblocal. We were finally reinstated this afternoon! So thank you, @Colan Nielsen.

However, when it came "back online," we noticed that a service area had been added to it. Is that normal? 2021-10-08_12-20-39.png

When I mentioned this to the client, they began to wonder if we should add other areas too.

In my experience, only true service areas business should use this feature. We have an office location that serves clients from it so I'm not sure I understand why it was added. Any insights?

Awesome news! I know that feeling of joy

Best of luck.