Repeated violations and spam suspensions on a Google Business Page can result in complete suspension forever! When you create a business page, you agree to the terms of service which are clearly laid out in the Google My Business Guidelines, yet business owners repeatedly violate these guidelines then post the obligatory “my business is suffering”, “Google is killing my business” cries for help.

 

There are different levels of Spam suspensions, what these are, and how many are required is not revealed by the Spam team, but once you reach a certain level thats it, you’re out.

 

Google Has One Principle

 

The single biggest driver in these decisions is governed by Google’s main principle, to provide the best possible information to a user.

Google provides a free service for you to create a business page, they will en-devour to show it to as many relevant people as possible in search and maps, and they trust you, to provide accurate information. When you continually erode that trust, they cannot confidently display your information to searchers.

You did that, not Google.

 

What Triggers a Business Page Suspension?

 

Google will not tell you why your account got suspended, and why should they, you broke one or more guidelines and the onus is on you to regain that trust by correcting the information provided in your business page.

There are quite a few reasons that a business page will get suspended for spam, but the main one that I typically see day to day are address related.

 

1. Your Business is not at the listed address

Businesses have realized that by having a centralized address helps to appear more prominently for location based searches. They use UPS addresses, hire a suite in a large office block that does not make sense for the business type, or manage to get the postcard after delivery to an address.

UPS offices are very easy to spot, they are usually listed, after all they are a business themselves and market their addresses. Large office blocks with suites, although this is perfectly fine, a locksmith that is open 24hrs and says they offer key cutting is not going to be located on the 7th floor of an office building.

 

2. You should be a serviced area business or keep switching

A business that is a serviced area business ( you serve customers at their location ) should be marked correctly as this. This also includes a business type that should have an office location and they used an office address to register, but keep switching back to a serviced area business to target users.

Even if you have correctly selected a serviced area business page, this does not mean the address you used to verify the business page can be a false address, see point 1.

 

3. The address used is a location of a class / service that you don’t own

You cannot register a business page at a location that you use temporarily to hold a class or meeting. This could be a fitness class at the local cricket club, a roller blade class in the local park.

 

4. Multiple businesses at same address

You should have 1 business page for a business at an address. You cannot have business pages for services of the main business. The main Business page being for a Building contractor but you also create business pages for kitchen fitting, conservatory extensions and bathroom installations. These are services of the main business, not separate businesses.

Rule of thumb being, the amount of businesses you pay separate tax on, are eligible for their own page.

 

When is it a Permanent Suspension

 

To reiterate, business pages work on trust and you can be reinstated a number of times, but when you cross that threshold, there is no coming back.

We know when that point has been reached, when the message we get back from the team reads, “we are unable to re-instate this account”

At this point you have been given enough chances and even a letter from the mayor ( yes, you do try it on some times ) will not get the account re-instated. My only suggestion would be to re-build the trust.

 

• Remove all your Google accounts.
• Create a new Google account for Analytics, Search Console and Adwords.
• Use Adwords to drive traffic to your website, keep this in good standing.
• Correct all business details about you online

 

For how long?

Truthfully I have no idea!
You need to build your trust back with Google. Register your business properly and use only these details in creating your new business page.

Once created, it will probably be immediately suspended, you will now need to file an appeal.