r/GoogleMyBusiness

Hi!

I saw on another post that this was recommended for getting help with the GBP.

We run a service business (camera and security systems, locksmith) based out of our home. We have the necessary basic equipment for installation and some quick repairs/installations, but larger pieces that come on a less frequent basis are purchased through our supplier in Brooklyn.

We have been verified 3x now, and then suspended after a few days each time. Each time, we complete an appeal, uploading another video showing LLC ownership, tax documents and customer invoices, and the equipment we have in our home. However, since we are not brick and mortar based, we do not include the address in the video.

Each time, we receive notice we have been suspended due to "deceptive content". I have written asking for a more detailed explanation and/or what specific proof is being requested to no avail.

Please, if someone can help figure this out, it would be beyond appreciated. We have no ability to advertise for ourselves in order to gain traction and it's been taking a toll financially.

Thank you!

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Hi everyone,

I’m a business owner based in Pakistan and I’m having an issue with my Google Business Profile.

Someone has left a 1-star review on my Google Business Profile, but I believe this person is not a genuine customer. Because of this review, my overall Google rating is going down and it is affecting my business reputation.

I have already reported the review to Google as spam/fake, but I’m not sure what the best next step is if Google doesn’t remove it

My first verification video did not get me approved for my business change of address. 😩 The only thing I need is permenant signage. I’m a stylist at a salon that has other independent stylists so this whole process has been incredibly frustrating (been trying for months to get my new location with my prior reviews to show in search results.)
My question is, where am I going to have the best luck for placing my signage? On the front door, at my station/mirror or both? I’d really love to start getting clients to I can pay my bills. Thanks Google 😠

A few of the findings surprised me:

1. Business websites still dominate. 60% of citations went to the businesses' own websites — more than directories, forums and review platforms combined.
2. AI didn't create a new quality bar. AI-recommended businesses averaged 4.75 stars, while the regular Google search baseline was actually higher at 4.84.
3. Reddit matters. It statistically outcited Angi, Thumbtack and HomeAdvisor combined.
4. There isn't one AI optimization playbook. Lawyers, dentists and auto shops had very different citation ecosystems.
5. Geography matters. Some national sources appeared everywhere, while other directories and chains varied significantly by region.
6. The same prompt doesn't produce the same sources. Asking the exact same question twice resulted in only about 40% source agreement.
7. Individual businesses still make up the long tail. We found 3,611 unique cited domains and 4,410 unique businesses, with most appearing only once or twice.
8. This instability seems specific to AI. Google's Local Pack returned the same #1 business about 90% of the time in repeated tests. Gemini returned the same recommendation only about 7% of the time.
9. Gemini and ChatGPT don't agree much either. On the same 1,487 queries, their cited sources overlapped only 8% of the time, and they recommended the same top business just 4.2% of the time.

The biggest takeaway for me is that AI visibility doesn't behave like a traditional ranking.

You can run the same query twice and get different sources. You can run the same query through two AI engines and get different businesses.

That makes measuring “AI rankings” much more complicated than checking a single prompt and recording the answer.

Curious if anyone else testing local queries has seen the same level of volatility.

https://preview.redd.it/ikxp0a62qdkh1.png?width=1652&format=png&auto=webp&s=43421ba7c0e3a93a524706e0e8c0689afbd23c31

Hey all, legit business owner here, all licenses and documentation. I need this to be lifted but I can't get google to overrule this. Really hoping someone can help me. I sent them all required documentation.

Hello, I have two GMB profiles right now. I’ll rename the companies and industries but say one is Longview Plumbers and the other is Dallas Plumbers. Most of my leads come in from SEO and map packs. I want to start another called Houston Plumbers. My Longview location has a physical location with signs. My Dallas Location doesn’t it’s just a service area and Houston Location will be the same. Can I create a 3rd GMB profile without fear of penalty?

If it does penalize me. How am I suppose to operate a company called Dallas Plumbers if I want to service Houston?

I have battled my way to a successful verified profile. The person said 24-48 hours for something but not sure how long before google adds me to searchable places . It's been really frustrating so far so hopefully not much longer before I pop up..

How long before the algorithm showed your business on a search after verification ?

Run a small moving company in Canada , google didn’t verify our GMB until we “unhide” address .
Despite submitting documents to prove address and business is legitimately mine
Obviously would be best and safest if address was hidden , since the business isn’t done in the address .
Scared to edit and hide areas because , this may trigger being suspended . Any advice?

Hey everyone,

I’m hoping someone here can shed some light on an issue my family’s been dealing with for years.

Their business operates in both Australia and the Philippines.
They maintain a Google Business profile which services both countries.
Australian operations are pretty straightforward reviews come in normally without issues, but the reviews from clients/customers in the Philippines location are constantly being flagged and removed by Google.

The reviews aren’t fake or anything sketchy, they’re genuine feedback from their actual clients and customers.
Yet Google’s system seems to be pulling them down regularly.

It’s incredibly frustrating because:
-It hurts their credibility and ratings
-Their customers are confused why their reviews disappear
-It’s happening consistently, year after year

Has anyone else run into this with international locations, particularly in the Philippines or Southeast Asia?

I’m trying to help my family figure out what’s going on and how to prevent this.

Is there something about:
-Regional flags or verification issues?
-Google’s algorithm being overly cautious with certain regions?
-Something wrong with how our business profile is set up?
-Specific best practices for managing reviews from international locations?

Any insights, experience or advice would be hugely appreciated.

My family’s been incredibly supportive of me, so i would love to help solve this problem for them.

Thanks in advance! :)

My Google Business Profile review count is actively dropping right now. Just 3 hours ago, my shop had 106 reviews, and now it has dropped down to 94.
What makes it frustrating is that other competitor shops in my local niche still have all their reviews intact, but my profile is taking a major hit. All of these were genuine reviews from real clients who came to my shop.
Is Google running a new spam filter update or sweep right now? Has anyone seen a sudden drop like this restored automatically, or do I need to file an official appeal?

Hi everyone, thanks for reading this.

So I've had a GBP for my wedding photography brand for at least 10 years in my home town of Chicago. It recently got disabled this past June, citing "business does not exist", with further information citing, "To keep data on Google as accurate as possible, Google uses information from different sources such as user reports and licensed content. If we determine that your business doesn't exist in the location you claim, Google will disable your profile.".

Side note, the "user reports" part is rather interesting, because indeed a few months ago, a ton of colleagues suddenly ran into the same exact problem, posting about it in a private group. There was actually lots of speculation of a fellow photographer who, finding herself in hot water for other reasons, was suspected of flagging the profiles of all her competitors in the area. Not my words, but interesting nonetheless. Especially that the GBP of my other photo brand unrelated to weddings, with the same address, is just fine.

Anyhow, the current address I have on the profile is from a co-working space where I was leasing an office from mid 2024 to mid 2025. I then moved to another state mid 2025 and just never got around to changing the address.

My concern is, while I indeed live in another far away state, I still consider Chicago to be my main market. So here are my questions:

• It seems I can edit the info of the profile, change the address, add a service area, etc. If I just made those changes, would that suffice to get my profile back up? I doubt it, but maybe I'm wrong. I can't imagine Google would be okay with my personal address being in FL, with the service area being in IL, but then again, I've seen other people with huge service ares. Even my girlfriend just put tougher a GBP for a new venture, and was able to select whatever service areas she wanted.
• The other issue is, the brand name of the profile is a sort of DBA. And especially considering the fact that I moved, I definitely don't have any recent mail that has the brand name attached to it. Is that going to be a problem? I worry I wouldn't be able to have enough for a video requirement.
• On that same subject, I read some material about having to submit video that shows the service area of the business, which would obviously be impossible for me until the next time I'm there. Am I understanding this correctly?

I know this is a lot. Again, thanks for reading. Grateful for any insight anyone may be able to offer.

Thanks. 🙏🏻🙏🏻

New to this page because we are at a loss

We are a service area based small moving company, ran by husband and wife.

Possibly relevant context- our home address was listed as our business address for verification because we use our home office to run the business. Well, in March we had a house fire and lost our home. The home was officially demolished within the last two months or so. We are rebuilding and should be returning in about six months. We still own the property and receive mail at this address but are renting a home 2 miles away we here we are temporarily running the business. Our official business documents are still listed at the old address because we will be returning as soon as the rebuild is completed.
Edit: we did not change the address to our rental before we were disabled but thought possibly since the home is gone now that may have caused the issue. To be reinstated originally we put our rental home as the address for the business. We are a service area business so this is not even visible to our customers.

We were randomly disabled at the beginning of August. We did the verification video twice, showing everything that was asked for and both times it failed. We did the live video call and were reinstated, with issues however as it seemed a second different profile was created. We lost access to our original account with 300+ reviews but were able to get access back. Finally reconnected local services ads and we’re getting calls. Then got the same notice your GBP has been disabled. Why? It was just verified in the last week or two. Now there’s no option to submit a video. What do we do?

This is genuinely upsetting and destructive to the small business we have spent 10 years building from scratch. We spend thousands of dollars per month on ads with Google and get dozens of new reviews per month. This is how our business, our family and small children, and our employees families survive. We already lost our home and this is now distressing.

https://preview.redd.it/avz4gcp1m5kh1.png?width=1457&format=png&auto=webp&s=de65e16d13331aacad8e2dc4e7fa27172e42c501

Sharing this because everyone assumes Google Business Profile is for restaurants and plumbers, and B2B manufacturers ignore it completely. This client did too.

Context: [what they manufacture], based in [city], sells to [type of buyer]. Long sales cycles, average order value in the [range]. Before this they got basically all their leads from [trade shows / referrals / outbound]. Their attitude to their Google listing was that nobody buys [product] off Google Maps.

Turns out procurement people absolutely do search Google when they need a supplier, they just search differently — "[specific product] manufacturer near [city]", "[material] fabrication [region]", that sort of thing. Very low volume. Very high intent. One call can be worth [amount].

What the numbers actually say

314 calls across five months. Up 10.6% on the same window last year, which honestly doesn't sound like much until you look at the line. March was ~41. July was ~80. The total only moved 10% because the first couple of months were flat or slightly behind last year — everything happened in the back half.

That gap between "total up 10%" and "monthly nearly doubled" is worth understanding if you're reporting to anyone. If I'd shown the client the headline number in month two he'd have fired me.

What we changed

Primary category from [old category] to [new category]. Same thing I've banged on about before, still the biggest single lever.

Filled out the products and services section properly with their actual capabilities — [example], [example], [example] — using the language buyers use, not the internal language the company uses. These were completely empty before.

Photos of the actual facility, machinery, and work in progress. Not stock images of generic factories. B2B buyers are trying to work out whether you're a real operation or three people and a laptop, and photos answer that faster than any page of copy.

Started answering the phone properly. Genuinely — this mattered. [Detail what changed here if anything did.]

Reviews from [X] existing customers, which is harder in B2B because your customers are companies and the person who'd write it needs approval. Took [how long] and a lot of asking.

The May dip

No idea, honestly. [Or: it was [reason].] Could be seasonal, could be noise at this volume. At 40-80 calls a month one slow week moves the line. I'd be lying if I said I could explain every wobble, and anyone who tells you they can at this sample size is guessing.

Caveats before anyone gets excited

Calls are not leads. Some of these are existing customers, some are suppliers, and some are people selling toner. GBP doesn't tell you which. I'd treat the trend as real and the absolute number as inflated.

Also this was a low base. Going 41 → 80 is much easier than 400 → 800.

Happy to answer questions on the category change or the products section if anyone's doing B2B and wondering whether this is worth the time.

Note: Some content is created from AI.

Hello everyone,

Very strange thing happening. I run a marketing agency and have started requesting reviews for my GBP to help with local SEO. My process is to send the link provided by Google to my clients, and when they leave a review I leave a reply within 48 hours.

However, reviews are disappearing off my profile with no explanation. I had one disappear last month, then two more last week. Now I only have 7 reviews displaying, yet my profile only says 6 unless you click on “view reviews”, and then you can see all 7.

Also interesting, I list my services (SEO, web design, etc) under products, and last week my Web Design product just disappeared; no email or anything from Google.

I’ve appealed to Google twice, and have heard nothing back. How can I fix this? Everything falls in line with their policies and I can give more information if needed, but requesting my clients to leave a review again is not good practice.

Thanks everyone!

Hello. I am a marketer based in South Korea managing our Google Business Profile, and I am reaching out to request assistance regarding an account issue.

We recently completed the video verification process for our Business Profile, and the status was updated to "Under Review." However, shortly after, we discovered that our Business Profile was suspended.

The system only states that the suspension was due to "Content that violates policies," without providing any specific details or examples.

I would like to know how we can resolve this issue and whether there are any detailed reasons available for this decision so that we can correct any potential compliance issues.

In addition, since no specific policy violation was highlighted, could you please guide us on how we should properly approach and structure our appeal?

We would appreciate your detailed guidance on this matter.

Most businesses ask for reviews the same way: they remember to, once, after a really good job. Then they forget for three months. Meanwhile the competitor down the road has 340 reviews and a system.

Reviews feed both your ranking and your click-through rate. A business at 4.8 with 200 reviews gets picked over a 5.0 with 6 reviews almost every time, because six reviews looks like friends and family.

Here's what actually works.

**Ask at the moment of relief, not the moment of payment**

The best time is right when the customer's problem is solved and they're visibly happy — the leak stopped, the hair looks great, the case closed. Not three days later by email, and not while they're getting their card out. Emotion drives whether someone bothers.

**Ask in person, then follow up in writing**

The verbal ask is what gets agreement. The text or email is what makes it easy. Skipping either half is why most attempts fail.

Something like: *"Would you mind leaving us a quick Google review? It genuinely helps people find us. I'll text you the link right now so you don't have to hunt for it."*

**Remove every point of friction**

* Use your GBP short review link, not "search for us and scroll down."
* Send it by SMS, not email. Open rates aren't close.
* People are already logged into Google on their phone. That's why the link beats a QR code on a counter card.

**Make it somebody's actual job**

This is the part that separates businesses with 300 reviews from businesses with 12. Assign it to a person, put a number on it — five asks a day, or every completed job — and check it weekly. A system beats motivation. Motivation runs out in about nine days.

**Don't do these**

* Offering discounts, gift cards, or entries into a draw in exchange for reviews. It's against Google's policy, and against the FTC's rules in the US if the incentive isn't disclosed. Businesses do get caught and lose reviews in bulk.
* Gating: asking how happy someone is first, then only sending the review link to the happy ones. Also a policy violation.
* Buying reviews. Beyond the obvious, review patterns are exactly the sort of thing that's easy to detect at scale.
* Blasting your whole customer list on the same afternoon. Sudden spikes after long silence look like what they look like.

**Reply to all of them**

Every review, positive and negative. Thirty seconds each. It's a public signal that someone is home, and it's the difference between a bad review that costs you customers and one that shows how you handle problems.

For negative ones: acknowledge, don't argue, take it offline, and never mention details of their case. Future readers are your real audience, not the reviewer.

**Steady beats spiky**

Ten reviews a month for a year does more for you than 120 in one week. Recency counts, and a listing that stopped collecting reviews in 2023 looks abandoned even at 4.9 stars.

**Comment with your current review count and how you're getting them** — or what you've tried that didn't stick. I suspect "we just forget to ask" is going to be the top answer.