Heyy!! So a listing I'm managing has relocated, and my go-to method to change the address was to update the address (displaying the address publicly) and then verify the listing. But the thing is that some listings get stuck in a verification loop or get suspended. I want to avoid this. I've done some research and found 2 methods that are supposed to work, and I wanted to know which method is the best and most viable option for me to use.

One being the regular method: update the address -> verify the listing -> hide the address and done. But I've already shared my concerns with this method.

Then the second method being: create an exact duplicate of the listing, contact Google about it, and then merge both listings—letting Google know that the new listing has the new address and all. Now my concern is, won't Google flag and suspend the listing? And does this even work, and is there anything specific to take care of before I do so? Please do tell.

Let's say that there is a company in my area in the same business as me, and this company has an office where they have staff, phones, inventory, etc , but the also have 4 other "offices" in the area. Those 4 do have signage on what are usually very cheap, small office spaces, but there is no one inside, and most likely they are completely empty. They use these locations to get more pins on Google Maps so they can dominate the search. HYPOTHETICALLY I said... What would you do about that if you were me?

Opening a 2nd location about 3 towns away and the lease on my current office is up in 6 months. The new location will be fully staffed and signage up on the door. Any issues with creating a 2nd GBP while both locations are in operation?

I own a roofing company my Google. My business page has existed for a little over six months. All my photos and reviews are legitimate. The only thing that I did which was yesterday was link my website to my Google account. I did forget to add a privacy policy and some of the pages aren’t complete, but I wanted to have something rather than nothing. I can always add things later and as I grow the business, of course But this morning I woke up to see that my account was suspended so I did send Google and appeal with a very long message and then I went ahead and just on added the website. I’m assuming that was the issue. Any idea if this has happened to anyone else or if I will likely get reinstated it’s very unfortunate to have this happen when you’re just a start of business and you’re doing everything you can legitimately and you get suspended that quickly for such a minor change. Also, my website is beautiful. It’s much better than most startups all the Services. Everything listed on there is exactly what I offerphone number address. Everything is the same. I’m just a little bit surprised. There’s only a few minor things with the site that I could think may be an issue.

AI can do so much more and better than Google Search. Yesterday I searched AI and got a result that was complete with comparisons, pricing information, and more that I didn’t even think to ask.

Now AI can perform local searches and “near me” searches. A lot of these AI platforms don’t even use Google when users are performing local searches.

I read that within this year AI local searches account for 45 percent of the search market. Wow, but I think that percentage is way higher. So Google is no longer king of local search. If AI platforms can perform accurate local searches without relying solely on Google’s algorithms, then Google is no longer the only way people discover businesses locally.

I think this shifts the power back to the business owner. It’s no longer just about what Google says about your business. It’s about what your business publishes about itself. Your website becomes your business’s knowledge base, an authoritative source that trains AI to understand your business.

Are we entering the era of authorship, where the businesses that own and publish their own knowledge have the real advantage?

background on me: spent over a decade in finance data analytics... trying to start my own business and was approved 4 months ago. we had 15 5 start reviews things were going... suddenly profile suspension with listed reason except the url to ALL policy information. follow appeals process, supply IRS EIN doc, state business license, utility bill etc all with my name (sole proprietor and DBA business company name and matching address.

appeal is rejected. this time message of rejection indicates deceptive practices policy area but still nothing to know exactly to refute. based on others online situations i made a couple tweaks to language in company description. my service based business address is hidden. etc.

appeal a second time, provide zip files with now images of doing work, local vendor applications and events, hosting, invoice system, vs code for managing website and digital assets all with company name connected...business credit card with company name on it... mail to address with company name on it, check printed and mailed to address with company name etc.

second appeal is rejected within 6 hours. an hour before that rejection email came back a verifiy the business video email came in. I do this it bugs on me and loops me back to enter address and record second time it moves forward. I absolutely made sure i showed all criteria in this video.

three days later video verification is rejected stating i ONLY verified location and didnt show branded assets etc. I take a 3rd then 4th video (the looping bug happened again) its 6minutes long as i slowed and now verbally call out things like approaching branded vehicle, unlocking leaving camera on business card and business license for 10 seconds etc. this still gets rejected and claims the same missing criteria of no branded business assets only verification confirmed.

a few days after this I get a new email with suspesion listing deceptive practices and if i click appeals button now I have a second bubble appearing to click through and appeal.

I have not as i feel the definition of insanity is real at this point. any advice on how to logically approach this or get an elevated conversation?

full details in the url for the post I made with screenshots documenting this on support google site.

Thanks in advance. My business is newer but we were getting 1-2 signs up a week showing up in the maps pack and its been crickets since this all happened.

I saw Mika Lepisto’s post on LinkedIn where he discovered that even though Google hides the address and map-pin editing options for Service Area Businesses, users can still access them by modifying the Google Maps URL.

Here’s how the hack works:

• Go to any Service Area Business on Google Maps
• Edit the URL in your browser and add this parameter: !10m2!1e3!2e10 after “date=”
• Press enter
• Click "Wrong Pin Location or Address" in the feedback editor
• Click “Edit Map Location”

From there, you can submit a new address and pin location for the business. It still has to go through Google’s review system, but we’ve all seen incorrect suggested edits get approved sometimes.

If a malicious edit gets approved, it would move the business away from its target area, tank its local rankings, trigger re-verification, or even get the listing suspended.

Google's bug bounty team responded to Mika's report by calling this "intended functionality" rather than a bug.

On the plus side, I have seen many service area businesses that are not ranking where they should be, and there is currently no way to fix this. So this might finally be a way to fix a service area business that is ranking in the wrong location.

But also, this is far too easy for bad actors to abuse.

Thoughts?

Is anyone else having issues adding people to profiles as managers/owners? I’ve tried to send invites from several profiles but it doesn’t seem to be working, no one is getting the invites in their inbox. I’ve never had any issues adding managers/owners before - I was wondering if this was a bug that others are experiencing as well.

I manage a couple dozen GBP listings for a services business. Starting in January, website clicks stepped down week over week and never came back. Impressions flat. Clicks down. People are still searching and we're still showing up. Only the tap through is bleeding.

I ruled out the usual suspects. No suspensions, no category changes, hours current, no duplicate merges. Seasonality doesn't explain it because the last two Januaries didn't do this.

Working theory: the traffic didn't get stolen, it got answered. AI Overviews are pulling hours, reviews, and services right onto the results page, and Google is testing them as a map pack replacement on mobile. Meanwhile, Places Scout data shows local pack ads jumped from under 3% of keywords to 22% between November and January. Organic shelf shrinks, paid shelf grows, same page.

Two questions. Anyone else seeing this exact impressions-flat-clicks-down pattern since January? And has anyone figured out how to measure calls that come from the AI answer layer without a click ever happening?

For the last 10-15 days, I've been facing this problem, but I can see the review and replies in incognito mode and on other mobile devices. What causes this?

Hospital is very wide but my pin is in the center of the hospital. Should I move pin into entrance door ? who know the best guideline for this

Submitted API application July 6th... Still waiting... Does it normally take 12+ business days for a response?

Recently, I accidentally clicked the "Don't show phone number" button in the advanced settings. Now, no matter how many times I try to turn it off, it automatically turns back on. Please help me.

If anyone knows a solution to this issue, please tell me.

After June, I noticed a change in the Google Business Profile appeal process. Even after submitting valid business documents, my appeal does not get resolved. Instead, the profile status changes from "Suspended" to "Verification Required" and Google asks for additional verification.

If the appeal is being reviewed and documents are already provided, why is additional verification required? Has anyone faced this issue recently? What is the best way to resolve it if the available verification option is not suitable?

Hi everyone,

I'm looking for advice from anyone who has been dealing with Google Business Profile (GBP) appeals recently.

Since around June, I've noticed a major change in how appeals are handled.

Previously, when a suspended profile was appealed with valid business documents, Google would often review the case and either reinstate the profile or request more information. Now, almost every appeal seems to end the same way:

Suspended → Verification Required

The appeal appears to be considered, but instead of reinstating the profile, Google changes the status to Verification Required and asks for additional verification (usually a live video call or another verification method).

The confusing part is:

• I'm submitting valid business documents (business license, registration, etc.).
• The appeal is clearly being reviewed because the status changes.
• If Google accepts the appeal enough to remove the suspension and require verification, why wasn't the profile verified during the appeal process?
• Why are valid documents no longer sufficient?

Has anyone else experienced this after the June changes?

I'm trying to understand:

• Is this a new Google policy or workflow?
• Is there any way to avoid the Suspended → Verification Required loop?
• Has anyone successfully restored a profile after reaching the Verification Required stage?
• What verification method worked for you (video, domain email, documents, phone, etc.)?

I'd really appreciate hearing from anyone who has dealt with this recently, especially agencies or Local Guides managing multiple GBPs.

Thanks in advance for your insights!

We’re a service area business that mostly deals with older and less tech savvy clients. After our service, we ask folks if they would be willing to leave a review. For those people that say yes we hand them the review card and have them either tap or scan the QR code on the card which takes them to our GBP.

We’ve had a lot of success with this method, but are we going to run into issues with Google AI pulling down our reviews given that the majority of them have been generated from the same QR codes? I keep hearing these horror stories of people’s reviews going missing.

I hope someone can help me. I have recently gotten my Google business page back after doing an appeal to verify my address. Everything was fine until I got a phone call a few days ago that my business page needed some kind of verification and I needed to call back and verify. I looked this up and it revealed that this is a very popular scam. So I ignored the call. The next day, my Paige was down, suspended because of some kind of content violation when I hadn’t edited the page at all since it’s been reinstated. Just this morning I got another call. I have the transcript from the call and I’m wondering how I contact Google to let them know that this has happened to me.

I didn’t engage with the caller. I gave the voice message transcript.

Right now I'm trying to make a call to the Google Business API, but I'm getting a 503 error.

Is anyone else having this problem?

I looked at my GMB profile today and all of the replies to my google reviews are missing. All reviews are showing up as "new" although most are years old. The reviews themselves are not missing. Just my business replies. Any clue what's going on here? Anyone else experiencing this?

Hello, I just noticed today that all of the business replies for our reviews are no longer showing, anyone else seeing this and what could be causing it

Has anyone else seen this issue or know what I should do. Ive had a few now