Updates Prompting Suspensions - Resolved?

[aputtock]

Hello community!

Due to the massive amount of suspensions that we have seen and the fact that Google is dealing with a backlog of suspended listings, we have been extremely cautious with the care of the listings that are Live.

We noticed that when the suspensions started about a month ago, many of them were prompted by simple updates to the Info tab.

For example, updating the domain or NAP of the listing caused a suspension.

We are putting updates on hold, but the amount of pending updates is starting to pile up.

Has anyone else experienced something like this?

Are we being overly cautious, perhaps?

Is it safe to start updating the listings, or should we wait until Google's backlog is resolved?

Any insight would be helpful!

Many thanks,
Abi

 

[JoyHawkins]

Hey Abi,

I'll copy over the paragraph in my guide that shares my advice on this. The amount of suspensions has died down a little bit but there are certain business categories that will always have more suspensions than others.

"If you are working in spammy industries like locksmiths, drug rehabs or personal injury attorneys, be very careful not to submit too many edits to the listing in Google My Business at once or it could trigger a suspension. For example, I wouldn’t suggest adding attributes, a business description, and changing categories all at the same time. Instead, spread this work out over time and only do one or 2 edits at a time." (Taken from the Expert's Guide to Local SEO)

 

[aputtock]

Hi Joy,

Thanks for the follow up. Just to confirm, for those industries, it is better to only do two updates at a time? The risk of suspension has died down, in our experience, but we are still so hesitant to undertake the amount of edits that we still need to edit.

The ones that we have updated so far have mostly gone through (about 25), with only one or two getting re-suspended.

There was a huge backlash this time, so just wanting to be cautious.

We will try out the 2 edits for now!

 

[JoyHawkins]

I do one at a time unless it's photos (I've never seen adding a photo trigger a suspension).

 

[Wes]

I do one at a time unless it's photos (I've never seen adding a photo trigger a suspension).

We have had 6 legit listings be suspended for 4 weeks now. This is absolutely ridiculous.

 

[BenFisher]

I suggest doing an edit, waiting till it clears the pending update status, then making your next edit. (Usually about 45- 60 seconds)

 

[DavidH]

Still here, suspended, 10 weeks later.