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GBP Suspensions Due To “Google Account Restricted”

Last Updated: December 19, 2024

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If you’ve ever dealt with a Google Business Profile (GBP) suspension, you know it’s frustrating, confusing, and disruptive to your business. One sneaky root cause we’re seeing more often is tied to a “Google account restricted” email. Let’s break it down.

What Does “Google Account Restricted” Mean?

This issue pops up when an email tied to your GBP (whether it’s the owner’s or one of the managers’) gets flagged by Google for bad behavior. When that happens, Google will suspend any profile tied to that email address. Ouch.

It will look like this:
Google account restricted - sample message illustrating how it will appear to the user

The tricky part? Many GBPs have more than one email associated with them, so figuring out which email is restricted can feel like solving a mystery. For a marketing company like Prospect Genius, we can tell if it’s our email causing the problem by looking to all the other GBPs tied to that account. But most business owners have just a single GBP so it’s much harder to rule out any of the emails that way.

Why This Happens

Since some marketing companies don’t follow Google’s rules, we’re starting to see a rise in the number of “restricted account” issues tied to emails owned by these firms. Unfortunately, if they get flagged for bad behavior on a different GBP, yours will get taken down too, just because it’s tied to that “restricted” account. This makes it critical to choose your partners wisely.

What You Can Do to Protect Your GBP

Here are our best tips for staying ahead of this headache:

  1. Monitor Your GBP Regularly
    Keep an eye on your profile’s status. Suspensions can happen without warning, so it’s better to catch them early.
  2. Vet Your Marketing Providers
    Do your homework on any marketing company you work with. Are they following Google’s guidelines? A rule-breaking company could bring your GBP down with them.
  3. Track Who’s Connected
    Know exactly which emails are listed as owners or managers of your GBP. The more people connected, the more potential for issues. If you have a “restricted” account, you’ll need to identify and remove it ASAP.

Don’t Risk DIY Debugging

Remember: Google only gives you two chances to reinstate a suspended listing. Use them wisely. If you’re unsure what caused the suspension, call in a pro early in the process. Waiting until after your two tries are up severely limits your options.

The Bottom Line

While “deceptive content” remains the most common reason for GBP suspensions, these “Google account restricted” cases are increasing. Stay proactive by monitoring your account, choosing trusted marketing partners, and seeking help when you need it.

Keeping your GBP in good standing is critical to staying visible online. With the right precautions, you can avoid being caught in someone else’s mistakes.

Google Business Profiles: Address-Based, Service-Area, and Hybrid

Last Updated: November 8, 2024

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A Google Business Profile (GBP) is an essential tool for local businesses looking to boost visibility in Google Search and Maps. However, we find there’s a lot of confusion about Google’s rules governing the use of each type of GBP. “There are different types?!” Yeah, that’s usually where the conversation starts…

Google offers different profile types—address-based, service-area, and hybrid—designed to match various business setups. Knowing the differences and rules around each type can help your business to not only appear in relevant searches and attract the right customers, but most-importantly, to avoid the dreaded penalties associated with picking the wrong one for your situation.

Let’s explore these three types of profiles and discuss which one is best suited for your business type.

 

1. Address-Based Google Business Profile

Address-based profiles are designed for businesses with a physical location where customers can visit. By listing a visible address, these profiles can rank highly in searches within that area, making them powerful for businesses aiming to capture nearby customers. This local ranking advantage has led some businesses to use virtual addresses in desirable locations, like city centers, to rank higher—though Google strictly prohibits this practice. Furthermore, they have implemented new verification requirements that make these sorts of tricks effectively impossible to pull off.

Pros:

  • Strong Local Ranking: Address-based profiles rank well for searches close to the listed address. This can be particularly advantageous in high-demand areas, as the business is seen as “established” and easy to locate.
  • Increased Customer Trust: A visible address signals legitimacy and reliability, which can be especially reassuring for customers seeking a physical location.

Considerations:

  • Follow Google’s Rules: Using a virtual address or other tricks to appear in high-traffic areas is now very difficult and can result in severe penalties, including suspension of your profile. It’s crucial to stay within Google’s guidelines to avoid potential setbacks.

 

2. Service-Area Google Business Profile

A service-area business (SAB) profile is ideal for home-based businesses or those that only travel to customers. For industries like plumbing, HVAC, and electrical work, a service-area profile allows you to show your general service radius without displaying an exact address. While not as powerful in local ranking algorithms as an address-based profile, the SAB option gives you the visibility you need while protecting your privacy. After all, you don’t want an upset customer knocking on the door where your kids live…

Pros:

  • Privacy for Home-Based Businesses: You can list a service area instead of an exact location, so potential customers won’t see your home address. This maintains professionalism and privacy, reducing the risk of unexpected visits.
  • Reaches Nearby Customers: Though less powerful than address-based profiles, a well-defined service area helps your business appear in searches within your radius, allowing you to connect with customers in your service zone.

Considerations:

  • Accept Limitations in Search Rankings: Service-area profiles may not rank as highly as address-based profiles for nearby searches. However, using an address for your SAB profile is against Google’s rules and could result in suspension.

 

3. Hybrid Google Business Profile

The hybrid profile is designed for businesses with both a physical location where customers can visit and an on-site service component. Hybrid GBPs show an address while also allowing you to list a service area radius, making them ideal for businesses with a “brick-and-mortar plus” model, like pizza shops with dine-in and delivery or professionals like photographers who work both in-studio and at clients’ locations. Other examples include massage therapists, any type of take-out restaurant with in-store seating (Chinese food for example), or automotive glass repair services.

Pros:

  • Flexible Customer Reach: Hybrid profiles allow businesses to rank for both “near me” searches as well as broader service-area searches, giving you the best of both worlds.
  • Appeals to Diverse Customer Needs: This setup can attract walk-in customers and those looking for services delivered to their door, helping you grow your client base.

Considerations:

  • Only Use If Applicable: Google expects hybrid profiles to accurately reflect businesses that operate in both modes. Trying to use a hybrid model without a genuine physical location or service area can lead to penalties.

 

Final Tips and Best Practices

  1. Stay Within Google’s Guidelines: Attempting to game the system by misrepresenting your address or profile type can result in harsh penalties, including the suspension or removal of your listing. Google’s rules are in place to ensure accurate and helpful results for users, so it’s crucial to adhere to them.
  2. Keep Your Profile Updated: Accurate information on hours, service areas, and contact details is essential for all profile types. Google rewards profiles that keep their information current, so regularly review and update your GBP.
  3. Choose Based on Business Needs: Each profile type has unique benefits designed to suit specific business models. By aligning your GBP with how your business truly operates, you can maximize your reach without risking penalties.
  4. PRO TIP: Your hours of operation now help to control when you’ll be shown for searches. If you list that you’re only open until 5pm, you can expect not to be shown in searches for your services after 5pm. It’s worth considering solutions that would enable you to receive live customer calls longer than you previously have, so that you can expand your advertised hours of operation and rank in more searches.

By selecting the right Google Business Profile type—whether address-based, service-area, or hybrid—you’ll build credibility, improve local visibility, and attract the ideal customers to your business.

The Google My Business Updates You Didn't Hear About

Last Updated: May 26, 2017

If you follow our blog at all, then you know at least a little bit about the ever-changing nature of Google. The search giant is constantly updating its algorithm and the way it presents information to users. For major updates, Google typically makes a public announcement. However, for smaller changes, there’s often no warning. Webmasters and marketers are left to detect and analyze updates on their own. This is where Internet marketing specialists really earn their stripes.
It should come as no surprise, then, that there’s been more than one Google My Business update this year that flew under the radar. In fact, according to a recent article by Joy Hawkins on Search Engine Land, there have been at least seven. Hawkins’s article, “7 Unannounced Updates to Google My Business We’ve Seen in 2017,” illuminates them and offers helpful, actionable advice on how to deal with them. We highly recommend reading the full article!
In this blog post, we wanted to highlight a few of these Google My Business updates. The updates we chose particularly relate to our clients, who tend to be local business owners and service providers. Let’s get started!

“Permanently Closed” Listings No Longer Appear in Local Results

First, Google has stopped listing businesses labeled “permanently closed” in its local finder. This is good for users, as they won’t have to bother with closed locations in their search results. However, it could prove to be a potent weapon for dishonest business owners who mark their competitors as “permanently closed.” Since Google doesn’t notify you when your business is labeled as such, you won’t have any way of knowing about this label unless you check your Google My Business dashboard.

You Actually Can Review Edits to Google Business Listings

Another discreet Google My Business update is the new capability of reviewing edits to your business listing. Ever since Google got rid of MapMaker, countless business owners—and even SEO practitioners—have mistakenly believed there was no way to see edits made to their listings. However, as it turns out, you can review any edits made to your listing from the Google Maps app on your smartphone. (Hawkins points out that practitioners never noticed this feature because they’re typically working on desktops, not mobile devices.) Unfortunately, the only other way to review edits is to be an official Local Guide, which is essentially an elite Google Maps user. This capability for all Local Guides is the actual update; unfortunately, it doesn’t help too many small business owners. Still, most people were not aware they could use the Google Maps app for this purpose, so this is good news to many of us.

Google Is Removing Website Links From Certain Local Search Packs

A third Google My Business update that’s slowly affecting more industries has to do with what Hawkins refers to as the local “Snack Pack.” The Snack Pack is a specific layout for local search results that, for some reason, does not include links to businesses’ websites. Instead, each item in the results gives only the business name, address, phone number, and rating, plus a photo.
This tells us two things: 1.) Google wants to keep users on Google sites and not encourage them to visit other pages; 2.) It’s incredibly important to have your Google My Business profile completely filled out, in detail. This way, users can get as much information as possible from your listing since they’ll be less likely to navigate to your website. So far, according to Hawkins’s article, the industries affected are pest control companies, jewelry shops, and sporting goods stores. Knowing Google, more industries will join this group soon, so be on the lookout!

Find Out About the Other Google My Business Updates

Want to discover the other four Google My Business updates from Hawkins’s article? Check it out over on Search Engine Land!

Google My Business Updates You Need to Know About

Last Updated: September 29, 2016

If you’ve been frustrated with how difficult it is to monitor activity on your Google My Business account, you’ll be relieved to hear about some updates that just rolled out.
Most notably, business owners are excited about an update that now pushes notifications to your dashboard. You can see in real time things like new customer reviews, location status changes (e.g. published, disabled, or pending verification), and NAP data updates.
In short, the new Google My Business API V3.1 makes it much easier to keep tabs on your listing.
Check out Mike Blumenthal’s write-up to learn more about other noteworthy updates. And be on the lookout for these new features of Google My Business, which you should start seeing in the next couple of weeks.

Enrich Your Local Business's Google Profile by Adding Images

Last Updated: September 22, 2016

We’re always harping on business owners to up their photo game. Websites with photos simply perform much better than those without. Plain and simple.
But did you know it’s just as important to have photos on your business’s Google profile, too?
This hasn’t always been the case. In fact, it’s only been in the last year or so that Google and Bing have been displaying images and logos in their local search results. They made this move as users increasingly want to see photos of whatever they’re searching for.
As of right now, images aren’t automatically displaying in search results for every business—only for businesses in certain categories. However, as images in search results are bound to become an expectation rather than a bonus, it’s likely they’ll be automatically generated for all categories before long.

Add Images to Your Google Profile

That’s why, regardless of your industry, your best bet is to set up your Google profile with high-quality images sooner than later. In his latest article on Search Engine Land, Wesley Young gives some great advice for optimizing Google profile images. Check out some of his suggestions:

  • Take control of which images appear on your listing. Don’t let Google set a default profile photo by selecting one of your images at random. Go to Google My Business yourself and select your own profile photo.
  • Make sure the image is cropped and sized to fit perfectly.
  • Make sure your profile photo is a high-definition image: no graininess, no visibility issues.
  • Don’t use blatant stock photos because they’re usually pretty easy to detect.

Want more? For Young’s full list of suggestions, head over to his article on Search Engine Land: “8 Tips to Make Sure Your Google Profile Images Boost Your Local Search Results.”

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