Many store owners like you may already know that having an online presence on reputable platforms, especially Google My Business (GMB), is vital to your success. On GMB, your customers can visit your customer reviews, get directions to your premises, and even call you easily. Unfortunately, your listing can be suspended, and you may often be clueless why it happens.
Additionally, you may be left dumbfounded on what you can do apart from reaching out to Google since they take a long time to reply and address the issue. To ensure you know what to do, use this article as your guide to capitalizing on this valuable online resource.
What Are the Common Mistakes Most Storeowners Make Leading to Their GMB Listing Suspension?
Remember, your GMB listing should be accurate and trustworthy. If it’s not, then the Google algorithms can penalize your profile and revoke your active status. As a result, you miss out on thousands of leads for your store, affecting your lead generation, customer engagement, and sales growth. Therefore, see to it that you avoid the following common mistakes most store owners and their staff make:
- Your store’s official address is not consistent with the one on your GMB listing
- Another commercial establishment shares your address
- The name, address, or phone number specified on your directory listings mismatch your GMB page
- You put extra keywords on your listing’s business name
- You had a major change in any of the following and didn’t update your listing: address, business name, website address, phone number, and primary categories
- Your address is listed as a virtual address or P.O. box
- Your business name is not accurate on other websites
- You didn’t disable your physical address when you miscategorize your store as a service-area business
- The listed website has a forwarding URL
- Your store’s primary category is in a high-risk industry
If you feel that you were wrongfully revoked on your GMB listing because of a mistake from Google’s end, you can either contact them directly or get in touch with a GMB reinstatement service.
What Are the Possible Ways to Correct My GMB Listing?
Before you reach out to Google’s GMB support, you should first take action to fix your listing to comply with their terms and conditions. Refer to the following tips:
- Provide your storefront’s image to show the address and signage: You have to set up your GMB listing with a confirmed location. You may also need to resolve related issues, like inaccurate address information. Thus, ensure that you take a clear picture and send it for documentation.
- Submit your store’s business license, utility bill, and other proof to prevent location confusion: If your store is tagged on GMB as sharing a property with another business, you should find ways to prove your store’s legitimate establishment on a particular location. Therefore, you need to send some documentation that details your store’s address, such as the license, utility bill, video evidence, and the like.
- Change your store’s name to reflect the GMB page: It’s alright to rebrand and use a new storefront name, but it has to be reflected on your listing. Confirming this change should do the trick.
Conclusion
Working on your GMB reinstatement can be difficult, especially if you got your listing suspended for violating certain terms. Fortunately, you now have a better chance of getting it back as you assess the possible root causes and ways to address them. Meanwhile, if you know this aspect of your business’s presence is vital to sustaining your lead generation, consider approaching the experts, like our team, for assistance.
We at Internetzone I can offer you reliable GMB reinstatement services and business reputation management solutions to widen your online reach for prospective customers. By identifying your unique niche, you and your team can work towards providing the best customer experience, enabling your business to easily compete and scale further. Get a quote today to have a better understanding of our possible interventions for your situation!