Transcript
Hi guys, and welcome to another edition of Zupo's SEO Talk & Tea.
Today's conversation is your Google My Business has been suspended. What To Do Next, right? This is something that I have dealt with many times, and I think that I've done it enough times now that I really want to just film a video because the amount of stress I had experienced before with me, alongside my clients is something that you're desperate, looking for help, so I filmed this video to hopefully help those who are in a similar position, but what I do when my Google My Business is suspended. But before we begin, I want to introduce the tea we have today. Do we have a Pu'Er Tea. I put it in this box. It's, it's a, it's a Pu'Er cake, which is wrapped in here. I've, I've shown it actually in other videos, but for the sake of time, I will kind of not open it up.
It takes a couple of seconds to do so, but let's go ahead and get on brewing and talking about your Google My Business suspension. So when it comes to Google My Business suspensions, usually, you know, there's different levels of Google My Business suspensions, but let's just talk about, you know, what happens if you've been suspended... In another video, I will talk about the different types of suspensions, but generally if you're suspended, you usually fall into two. Softer heart suspensions where your listing has been affected. And so if you're in a soft suspension or hot suspension, it doesn't really matter. The issue is kind of the way that you would try to fix it is essentially very similar. So usually if your Google My Business has been suspended or removed from Google, it can be a number of different things. And this is kind of what I do first off.
Kind of make sure that things are okay. Number one, I checked the name of Google My Business. Sometimes there's a naming conflict where even if the Google My Business has been okay for years, Google will sometimes do it like a reverification on their own, or they just check on their own. And if they notice a naming difference, they might flag it saying that, so for example, if you're a business it's called pizza pizza, LLC, right? But then on your Google My Business is only called pizza. They might flag it and say, your name is different on your website and your marketing material and your Google My Business. They often want your name across the board the same it doesn't... And I want to make very clear... It does not need to be your DBA. It is just whatever you use consistently across the board.
And Google really skews it towards whatever your sign on the door says. Whatever your sign on the door you're signing in on the door when people walk into your business, whatever that says is what the name that they want to go with. So unfortunately, if your signage has a name that you don't typically use that much, you're going to have to change the site or use that name. So what I would kind of do then is check the name. Second, do you have a picture of your business and it's signage on the Google My Business profile? I have had countless Google My Business listings have a soft suspension or suspended because they say we need a, a photo of your business and it's signage so that we can come, can, we can verify that it's real. But the frustrating thing is they don't tell you this.
I'm telling you this because of more often than not, when I figure out the issue is because they want that photo. I don't know what it is, I think it's sort of like I'm not even making any comparisons. I'm just going to say whenever they do a reverification that they spot anything weird, it's like automatically you need a photo with signage. So the second thing, if your Google My Business profile does not have a photo where you can see the, the front of your business or a sign in the front of your business to have a sign. Sometimes this can be the lobby, or if you're in a office building, it could be just the directory, but you just need some variation where your office and signage can be seen so that they can verify it. That's number two, that is the most. That is the, usually the thing that solves it the most is that signage.
So even if you're not sure if you don't have phones, just go take one really quick. Even if it's with your phone, go take it. Third. We also check as the business information. So what I mean by that is, is your information accurate across the web and Google My Business. So this is kind of borders into citations, but the most important part is your website and the Google My Business. So I actually had a case where a client redid their website and the w the phone number was written wrong. It was written one digit off, and all of a sudden our Google My Business was suspended. So in that case, the business information was inaccurate. There are websites that have different phone number than the Google My Business. In that case, sometimes it's business information that can be incorrect. On another note there's, it could be your address,
it could be, you know, the zip code. It could be anything, but just make sure that's accurate on the Google My Business and your website. Now, I'm sure you're saying, Hey, Jason, I had done all of this. I've done all of this. Well, you know, they just keep kind of going down the steps. The next thing I would check is, you know your about us. And then if you've listened to any product or services, is there anything in there that sounds spammy or that you really have keyword stuff? Google does not really love that kind of thing. And then fifth of course, is constantly every single day, be reaching out to Google My Business support, letting them know the changes you make. Unfortunately, they will usually will not tell you, but if you can jump on the phone with someone, usually that will help. When I shop on the phone, someone I'll usually get a hint of what they're talking about, right?
Well, not what would have talked about, but the usually give me a hint of why it might be suspended. But so what I would do in summary is these are all the different things I might do with the number one thing, first check the name. I know it sounds stupid, but sometimes the names off, usually that might be different where once I'll see, and one does not, that might be the first case. Second, do you have a photo of signage of your business? You know, you'd be surprised at how many people the issue was that they just didn't have signage. So if you're watching this video and you never even been suspended, I would say just as a safeguard, go and take that photo because sometimes Google is still really slow about reinstating you. And so sometimes it takes a week. No one wants to deal with that on a Google My Business level.
So go ahead and just take the photo, upload all your site. Then check the information on your Google My Business is a bit is the business description, is the services on there, is the address, is the phone number, all correct? And then forth again, contact Google almost, if you can, on a daily basis, keep checking up on them, let them know what you've updated. Try to get reinstated, give them a call, ask them, Hey, you know, I'm doing this, I'm doing that. Can you please put me in the right direction? Often what I find is when I get someone on the phone and we make that personal connection, they will then help me. And so sometimes that's all it is. It's just persistence because unfortunately, Google My Business is so fresh. They just don't tell you that what the issue is. And you've got to figure it out on your own.
Other things I would do. And this video is meant to be short. And these are just the kind of steps I immediately take. There are always cases in ones I faced before, where I've done everything I just said, and it's still suspended. Then that is the case, when, if you're contacting Google My Business support, they're still not helping you, you want to go to the community. I used to go on this forum called local search forum that I used to go all the time too. And there's some great people on there that would do a, do a lot of help. It's for the people from Sterling sky. And I think I forgot his real name, but Keizer holiday. He's a user on Google search form as well. In addition to the Google My Business support forums, they will help you as well. They can help point you in the right direction of trying to get your Google My Business listing fixed.
And you know what, actually, I just remembered one more. Sometimes if your Google My Business has multiple locations, there can be some conflict there where they, if you have Google My Business locations in other places, sometimes they might flag it as duplicate, even though the actual legitimate businesses. In that case, you do need to call rule. And each one of them needs to have signage as well to confirm that each one is real. Because a lot of people do try to scam the system and the credit, a Google My Business listings everywhere, and an actually they're fake. So sometimes Google has pushed more for signage. So again, that reaffirms my second point, take a photo of your business with signage so that you can confirm it's real. So again, I would say if all I talked about today, isn't helping you go to the local search forum, go to the Google My Business support forms, and you will find help there.
I have found great help there myself. And so if you can't figure it out on your own, it takes a little bit too much time go there. There's a lot of great people that can help you there as well. And then they're really in tune with a Google My Business 14. So I'm going to go ahead and leave it there. Hopefully those steps will help you first diagnose what might be issue, but again, these might not be everything. And if that's not the case, there are some other great rituals that you could find as well. I'm going to go ahead and pour out my Pu'Er Tea. I didn't say it earlier, but this is like as close as you're going to get some black coffee in the tea section. So I love drinking this. It really gives me that kick I want. I'm going to go ahead and enjoy this, but if you guys found the video valuable, please like, and subscribe. I'm going to go ahead and enjoy this tea.
I hope to see you guys again soon. Thanks everybody. Smooth.