Expert Tips For Google My Business Pages

Having a Google My Business (GMB) page is a must for local SEO, local optimization, and to help you rank locally on Google. These free profiles are now ubiquitous. All your competitors have them, and the most relevant profiles display at the top of Google search results when Google users are searching for your type of business in their specific area.

Because Google My Business is so important to local SEO and helping your rank locally on Google, it makes getting your GMB suspended all the more frustrating because GMB suspensions instantly decrease your business’s online visibility.

If you try to log onto Google My Business and see that your profile is suspended, you are likely wondering, “Why is my GMB suspended?” The first step to answering this question, and to getting your GMB reinstated, is to find out if you have a soft suspension or a hard suspension.

Why Is My GMB Suspended with a Soft Suspension?

While no business owner wants their Google My Business page suspended, if it’s going to happen, you want it to be a soft suspension. This is because with soft suspensions:

• You still show up on Google search results, so you can still rank locally on Google.
• Mobile searchers can still call your business by tapping your phone number.
• You won’t suffer from the visibility issues associated with hard suspensions.

The most likely reasons for soft suspensions are quality issues. Examples of quality issues may be an incorrect address (which can happen if you abbreviate your street name type from “Road” to “Rd.” or use “Ste” instead of “Suite” to note your suite number), or if you have accidentally created duplicate pages for the same address.
Soft suspensions are generally easy to correct.

Why Is My GMB Suspended with a Hard Suspension?

When it comes to having your business rank locally on Google, hard GMB suspensions are much more serious. That’s because, with a hard suspension, your Google My Business page won’t display at all. And while you can rectify issues that caused hard suspensions and get your page reinstated by appealing to Google, after a hard suspension you’ll lose all photos and ratings that your customers have previously posted.

There are several reasons why you may receive a hard suspension. These include:

• Having Account Issues

When you have a Google My Business page, you get to assign users who can access and edit your page. At a very minimum, your users should include you or your internal marketing person, and your digital marketing agency.

Sometimes, however, certain users can cause your page to be flagged and receive a hard suspension. This is especially true if a user who has permission to modify your page has a recent activity that Google considers spammy.

If you recently added a user to your page and your account was quickly hard suspended, immediately remove that user and file an appeal to Google. If you’re the only user on your page, go to https://www.localguidesconnect.com/.

If you see that your account is no longer a part of the “Local Guides” program on Google, then your account is the reason for the hard suspension.

• Using a Rented Mailbox as Your Business Address

If your Google My Business page is going to list a business address, it has to be an actual address of a business.

Rented mailboxes, such as post office boxes, FedEx mailboxes, and UPS boxes aren’t eligible addresses for Google My Business. If you attempt to list one of these types of rented mailboxes as your business address, you can expect a hard suspension

• Listing Service Areas if You Have a Physical Address or Vice Versa

Google recognizes that some businesses have physical addresses, while others don’t but instead are service area businesses. Google wants to help both types of businesses rank locally on Google. That’s why you have the option to either display your physical address or your service area. Listing both, however, looks spammy to Google and is a surefire way to get a hard suspension.

• Google Algorithm Updates That Don’t Work in Your Favor

Unfortunately, sometimes Google algorithm changes affect your ability to rank locally on Google and cause hard suspensions. In this case, you need to contact your digital marketing agency, make sure your Google My Business page meets all appropriate criteria, and submit an appeal to Google.

How to Appeal a Soft or Hard GMB Suspension

Whether you’ve received a soft or hard Google My Business suspension, you can appeal the decision in attempts to improve local optimization and rank locally on Google once again. To do so, first, rectify any issue that you’ve identified that may be causing the issue. If you work with a digital marketing agency, reach out to them for help with this. Digital marketing agencies frequently manage Google My Business pages for their clients and are well-versed in how to fix issues that result in suspensions.

Once your profile is updated and accurate, go to the “learn more” button that appears in the red suspension box on your profile to submit your appeal.

Rank Locally on Google By Getting Our Professional Help with Your Google My Business Page

As a leading digital marketing agency that specializes in local SEO and local optimization, we help several of our customers rank locally on Google by managing and optimizing their Google My Business pages. Many of our clients turn to us for GMB help because they don’t have the internal resources to manage digital marketing, they’ve tried optimizing their Google My Business pages on their own but still don’t rank locally on Google, or they simply want to be working with the best of the best in order to have the highest Google rankings possible.

We can help you with your Google My Business page all year long and are ready to go into crisis mode if you receive a soft or hard suspension. To learn more about how we help you rank locally on Google and manage your local SEO efforts, reach out to us today. You can call us at (877) 682-2012 or fill out our online contact form.

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