How to Avoid Your Google My Business Listing from “Your listing Has been suspended. Learn more.” message.

As of November of 2019, Google is clamping down hard on all the spam listings out there that show up in the Local Pack or Map Pack near the top of all Google searches where local businesses are involved. The trend seems to be increasing in 2020 especially for companies that just recently got verified. Google is on the right track here as many unscrupulous companies are gaming the system and trying to get a leg up with these spam listings by dominating a certain local business category and getting a lot of the calls.

But, the problem here is that many, many legitimate companies are getting swept up in the great GMB suspended listings snare. There is nothing more frustrating than having a legitimate business and all of a sudden you see the horrifying words on your Company Google My Business Listing “Your listing has been suspended due to quality issues. Learn more.”

The good news is that if getting your GMB listing suspended has happened to you or if you just want to make sure you want to avoid getting your listings suspended, we have answers for you.

Suspended GMB Listing Warning
The dreaded Suspended message with red ink.
What to do if your GMB listing is already suspended

If your Google My business listing is already suspended, do the following

  1. If you advertise on Google ads, login to your account
    1. Click the “?” in upper right corner. of the page.
    2. Type in your 10 digit Google Ads code.
    3. Wait for the prompt and hit option 3 on your phone’s keypad. This will transfer you to a Google My Business representative.
    4. They will then have you go into the info screen of the business being suspended.
    5. In the upper right corner they will have you click “Learn More” then “Appeal to Be Reinstated.”
    6. It is important that you do this while on the phone with them.
    7. Once you have filled out and submitted the form, the GMB representative will escalate the ticket to get it expedited.
    8. Assuming you are a legitimate business, you should be reinstated within 72 hours.
What to do if you just want to avoid getting your GMB listing suspended
Suspended GMB Listing Lear More Button
Do not wake up to find this!

All good digital marketers want to know how to avoid getting your listing suspended. While I was on the phone, I asked the representative why I was suspended in the first place. It turns out that we were suspended because we made changes to the listing of this newer company while the verification postcard was in transit. Apparently the spam listings have been using this loophole to drastically change their listings while the postcard was “in the mail”. So naturally, Google is cracking down on this.

To avoid having your Google My Business Listing from getting suspended, do this one simple thing: If you are setting up a newer company with Google My Business, complete as much of your profile as you can before sending the verification card out. This includes all addresses, categories, service areas, pictures, videos, etc. Once done, then trigger the verification. And while that postcard is in transit, do not touch your listing. Don’t change a thing until you are verified. Even after, I’d wait a few days for the dust to settle.

I hope that helps. Let me know your thoughts and comments below.