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As you know, Advice Local’s proprietary listing management services allow your clients to take control of their Google Business Profile and more. Despite efforts to maintain the guidelines for Google Business Profiles (GBP), keeping them functional, easy to use for online search and full of good information, profiles occasionally get suspended. While this restriction isn’t good news, by following these steps clients can restore their profiles.
Appealing a Google Business Profile Suspension
To begin, clients need to ensure their profiles adhere to Google’s Business Profile guidelines, then they’ll want to gather their proof. The time it takes to appeal a GBP suspension isn’t long, but preparation is key to increase the chances of success. Once the evidence submission form is open, users only have one hour (60 minutes) to submit all documentation, so having everything scanned and ready to go is important.
Qualifying Evidence for Overturning a GBP Suspension
The following items can be used as evidence for a GBP Appeal.
- Business license
- Official business registration
- Tax certificates
- Utility bills (electricity, internet, etc.)
It’s a best practice to submit as much qualifying proof as possible. In this case more is absolutely better, because once that form is closed nothing else can be added. As always, make sure the business name and address on the documentation matches the NAP for the GBP.
Submitting the GBP Appeals Application and Evidence
When all the documentation is ready, open the GBP appeals tool and select the correct account and profile. Once inside, the client or account manager can see the restricted profile, the reason for the restriction, and a link to the policy violation. Knowing this helps in the reversal process.
If the prompt appears to submit evidence, Google highly recommends following this step to strengthen the appeal. When everything is complete, click Submit Appeal. And in case a prompt does not appear here for evidence, there is another step after submitting the appeal.
After the initial appeal information is complete, select Add Evidence. Remember, once the window is open you’ll only have 60 minutes to do so. Review the business data once again and check for any inconsistencies. Next, select Upload Documents then Choose File to select your evidence. There’s even space to provide more context based on the situation. After adding all evidence, select Submit. Then it’s time to wait for an email from Google with their decision (usually made within 3–5 business days). However, this short waiting period will not always apply, as the recent wait time is around 6 weeks for appeals filed directly by the business.
Current Advice Local agency partners with an active listings management service can submit a support ticket in the partner dashboard to get our team’s help with filing the appeal. For an additional fee, you can be assured that everything is being done correctly, also shortening the wait time. We’ve had great success getting these suspensions reversed much more quickly than when a business does it on their own.
Additional Information About the GBP Appeals Process
After Google reviews the appeal they are likely to require that the business do a video verification (in addition to submitting evidence). This is one more step that teams need to prepare for ahead of time. Review our tips on how to speed up GBP verification to get ready.
While waiting for a response, the status of the appeal can be tracked in the affected GBP. The status will read as one of the following:
- Submitted.
- Approved.
- Not Approved.
- Can’t Be Appealed.
- Eligible for Appeal.
In the event of a rejected appeal, the team can submit further information for an additional review. This will allow one more chance to submit info not previously included—and this is why we suggest submitting as much evidence as possible with the initial appeal.
How to Deal With Issues After the GBP Is Reinstated
If you run into any issues after the GBP is reinstated by Google, the great news is that Advice Local is always here to support you as you help your clients. Our Enhanced Google Business Profile Tools give the control to maintain updates to the business and keep it from further suspensions. These include the power to auto-reject public edits, monitor reviews through the dashboard, keep listing data updated with GBP Sync, analyze profile authority and more.
These tools allow our business partners and their clients to stay on-track and up-to-date to avoid Google account and GBP guideline violations.
Get Access to Our Enhanced Google Business Profile Tools Today
This is one of many listing management services offered by Advice Local. To learn more about all of our tools to keep your clients out of GBP suspension and keep ranking in the local pack, request a demo or give us a call today at (214) 310-1356.