Why Your Google Listing Is Suspended and How You Can Restore It

Logging in to your Google My Business Listing only to see a message conveying that your account has been suspended can be a huge blow, especially when it has helped you generate numerous leads. You might be wondering what possibly led to the temporary ban and how you can recover the listing, regardless of the reason. In this guide, we’ll discuss why your Google Listing is suspended. Before we go into the reasons behind this suspension, it’s important to understand the two main types of suspensions.

Two Main Types of Suspensions

Hard Suspension

Hard suspension means your business will be totally removed from search results, which is why this type hurts you more than soft suspension. To restore your listing, you have no option but to patiently follow Google’s protocol, which is discussed later in the article.

Soft Suspension

In this situation, your business listing will be marked “suspended”. Yet, it will continue to be displayed on SERPs. At the same time, you must create a new Google account and reclaim and re-verify your listing from this account.

Let’s now study the reasons why your Listing might be suspended:

Reason Why Your Google Listings Is Suspended

Although Google won’t tell you the exact reason why it suspended your Google Listing, certain suspected policy violations, red flags, and activities that are known to be suspicious contribute to the ban. Some of these events include:

Change of Information in Your Listing

Google may suspend your Listing if you makes changes to the primary or secondary categories of your account, website URL, business name, phone number, address, switching the service area with a visible address to one with a hidden address, or ownership or management.

When Your Address Infringes Google Policy

In any of the following instances, your Listing can be suspended by Google any time:

• Having a forwarding phone number or forwarding URL
• If your business only operates digitally and has no physical location
• If you’re found to have multiple listings for the same business
• When you have no authority to claim that the mentioned address belongs to your business
• Virtual address, P.O. Box, UPS/FedEx Store boxes.

If Your Primary Category Is a High-Risk Industry

Certain industries are recognized by Google to have higher risks than others. These typically include home services businesses like plumbing, locksmiths, heating and cooling/HVAC, etc. If your Listing’s primary category belongs to a similar sector, Google can suspend your Listing any time.

Now that you know why your Google Listing is suspended, let’s find out what you can do to recover it:

What You Must Do to Restore Your Suspended Google Listing

To get the suspension lifted from your Google Listing, you must prove yourself as a legitimate business to Google by providing one of more of the following documents:

• State business license
• Tax identification documents
• Professional licensing
• Video certification
• Rental agreements and/or utility bills as proof of occupancy of location
• Images of business location, including clearly visible brand logo, company vehicles parked with the location, and/or the street address of the location.

Connect with Google My Business Support to determine which of these documents you must provide for your individual case.

Conclusion

While following the aforementioned tips should help you recover your suspended Google My Business Listing, you’ll need to be patient through the process. Trying to rush things and pushing Google too much can exacerbate the situation as Google may take it as another red flag and permanently blacklist your business.