ow Google Business Profile Guidelines //

You should read and understand Google guidelines, whether you’ve been using your Google Business Profile for 10 years or if you just started a business.

Your GBP listing may be suspended if you do not.

If you suspend your Business Profile, it means that it won’t be visible publicly or will appear, but will have no control over the information. It’s a bad thing!

I see this kind of post on the GBP Forum often as a Google Business Profile Product Expert.

You are responsible for knowing and following Google’s policies if you have a Google Business Profile.

Google may change these guidelines at any time and will not notify users. A slight wording change could affect whether your Business Profile is compliant.

This article covers some of the most important Google Business Profile Guidelines and the newest changes in the policies that you may not have been aware of.

Google releases updated guidelines

Google sent GBP owners and managers an email on July 31 informing them that their help documentation had been updated to make it easier to understand.

The following are the links that you should pay special attention to.

• 
  Overview Google Business Profile Policies
  
• 
  All business profile policies and guidelines
  
• 
  Guidelines on Representing your Business on Google
  
• 
  Guidelines for Business Ownership and Eligibility
  

You should bookmark these links. You’ll find many other specific documents once you dive into the guide.

Is your business eligible to have a Google Business Profile created?

Google Business Profiles were designed for local businesses who meet their customers face-to-face. If your business does not meet this basic requirement, you will not be eligible for a Google Business Profile.

Other requirements are needed for a business to be able to claim a Google Business Profile.

You must first have a physical address for your business. It must be and your (you cannot use the location of another business unless they meet specific requirements).

There are three types of GBP business locations.

• You can have a home-based business. Service Area Businesses are not allowed to display their physical address on their Google Business Profile.
• A storefront is another business model where customers can come to to shop or to meet you.
• A hybrid business is one where employees are staffed in the storefront during business hours.
  
  You can also find out more about the following:
  
  Customers are serviced by going to them.
  
  You can also read about how to get started.
  
  location.
  • An appliance store is a good example of hybrid location. It has a storefront where it sells appliances, and a team of workers that go out to repair and deliver appliances at the customers’ homes.
  • An insurance agent who has a client-facing office but also visits clients at their homes is another example.

Idealy, every business should have only one Google Business Profile.

Google does not allow home-based business to have more than one address.

If you have more than one business profile at the same address, one or both of them may be suspended. This is done to prevent spam and abuse.

You can only have one office per metro area, within a driving distance of two hours.

Google’s guidelines allow for multiple storefronts in cities. This includes franchises, such as McDonald’s, Lowe’s, or Lowe’s.

You must adhere to the guidelines for each type of business location. Read the rules and regulations if you own a Service Area Business or a Storefront Location, and follow them.

Let’s now talk about co-working and virtual offices. If you rent a physical address for your business but don’t use it, this is called a virtual location. This location will not be eligible to create a Business profile.

Businesses can also not list an office in a coworking space, unless it has a clear sign and can see the customers during business hours.

Google typically requires that you rent an office or dedicated workspace at a co-working space.

If your GBP listing was suspended, you would have to show Google a copy the lease that shows you have a separate office that is owned by your company. Google Business Profiles do not accept co-working spaces.

You can find more examples below of business types that are ineligible to have Google Business Profiles.

• A class, meeting or service that is ongoing at a place you do not own or represent. If you run an exercise company that holds morning classes in your local church basement, then your business is not eligible for a Google Business Profile.
• Lead generation companies or agents.
• Brands, organisations and artists.
• Online-only businesses.
• Rent or sell properties such as vacation homes, vacant apartments or model homes.
• A business that lists its address as a P.O. Box or mailbox located in a remote area (such as a UPS box).

Google also wants you to provide as much accurate information as possible.

Google relies on a variety of sources to ensure that the information it provides is accurate. These include user reports, licensed content, and third-party data.

Google Business Profile will be disabled if Google finds that the business you are claiming to have is not located at the address you claimed.

Google will display your address according to the information you provide and any other sources that it finds.

It is important that the address accurately represents the business, and the way the customers are treated.

Please read Google Guidelines for Representing your Business on Google.

Who should manage your profile?

Google prefers that the business owner claims, verifies and manages a Google Business Profile.

If you are using a marketing company to help you manage your GBP account, you can later add other people as Managers in your Business Profile . You should only have a few people managing your GBP.

Google’s recently updated guidelines have some specific guidelines pertaining to ownership of GBPs.

It states that only the business owner or their authorized representative can manage and verify business information in a Business profile.

Google confirmed they could revoke GBP for various reasons.

• If you haven’t logged in to your account for a while, content could be removed.
• The agency or business has confirmed that they are no longer authorized to handle the GBP.
• Google was unable to contact you via email after multiple attempts to confirm that your business is affiliated with Google.
• You or another owner of your profile deleted your profile.
• Your business profile was created through another Google product. This product profile has now been suspended.
• Access to unauthorized users is revoked if it’s determined that another merchant owns a business profile.

You can resolve owner conflicts by following the steps in this article.

Tip Don’t delete your Google Business Profile and create another Google Business Profile. This will result in a “duplicate listings” which will cause issues.

Guidelines for authorized representatives

Google’s recent update to its help guidelines also includes other important rules regarding ownership and management.

This is especially important if your business or marketing agency manages GBP listings on behalf of clients.

Google says:

“Anyone or any company who manages the information on a Google Business Profile they do not own is considered a authorized rep.” Authorized representatives could be a third party SEO/SEM firm, a friend or family member of the business owner or an online booking, scheduling or ordering provider.

Authorized representatives:

• Do not claim a business profile without the express consent of the owner.
• Never make untrue, unrealistic, or misleading claims.
• Never harass, abuse, or use untrustworthy tactics when dealing with customers, whether they are potential or current.
• Verify the information directly with business owners.
• Always make sure the business owner knows what a Google Business Profile is and how it is used.
• Keep the owner of the business informed about the actions that the authorized representative will be taking on the Business profile.
• Follow the Guidelines when representing your business in Google. The phone number for a Business Profile must be the only, official phone number for the company and the website should be verified by the owner.
• Respond promptly to requests for management access and immediately transfer ownership of the Business Profile to the owner upon request.
• The authorized representative must encourage the owner of the business to create an account and own the Business Profile. They should also add the authorized representatives as managers. ( Learn How to Transfer Ownership.
• The business owner must own and manage the website content.

If you do not follow these policies, your Google Account and/or Business Profile may be suspended.

The business owner should also be able to share with authorized representatives the following resources:

• 
  Business profile manager
  
• 
  About Google Business Profile
  
• 
  How do you edit your business profile?
  
• 
  How Google sources and uses business information
  
• 
  Requesting ownership of a verified profile
  

It is essential that the business owner understands Google Business Profile Guidelines.

It’s important that you remain involved with your GBP listing if you are a small business owner. Google Business Profiles are often vital to the success of your company.

Never put your trust solely in an authorized representative/digital marketing agency.

Your Google Business Profile may be suspended if the authorized representative violates Google guidelines even if you or your listing did not do anything wrong.

Make sure you work with a Google Business Profiles expert marketing agency. If they make a mistake, the Business Profile is responsible.

If your Business Profile is suspended due to something that the agency has done wrong, it may not be reinstated.

Rules for business names

Google says that your business name must reflect the real name of your company, which is what you use on your website, storefront signs, and stationary.

It would also be important to consider how your business appears on your vehicles, as well as any other legal documents that include your company name (e.g., LLC or incorporation documentation or a business license).

This information should match the business name on your Google Business Profile.

Google could suspend your GBP Business Name if you include unnecessary or extra words.

Your Google Business Profile name cannot include the following elements:

• Marketing taglines
• Store codes
• Trademark/registered Signs
• Words that are capitalized in full
• Hours of operation
• You can also use the URL or phone number to reach us.
• Special characters (e.g. %$@/”) or other legal terms that are irrelevant
• Information about a service or a product
• Location Information
• Keywords that are not part of your business name

Your Google Business Profile can only have your first name and last name if you are a professional, such as a dentist, chiropractor or lawyer.

The business profile of a practitioner may include a title or degree (for instance, Dr. MD, Esq. CFA, JD). There can be no other words or names added!

If you are a real estate agent, you can’t add “Realtor” to your name.

Sales associates and lead generation agents working for corporations are not considered individuals practitioners, so they are ineligible to create a Business profile.

Set your own business hours

Your business profile must include accurate hours. These hours are used by customers to decide who they want to shop from. An hour’s filter may even appear on search results to influence a customer’s choice.

If you run a Service Area Business, or SAB (Service Area Business), you should set your business hours to coincide with the time when you are ready to assist clients or customers.

Studies have shown that storefronts are dependent on the business hours of their location to determine when they can visit. It is therefore important to maintain your hours.

You should include this information in your Google Business Profile and your website if you answer the phone 24 hours per day.

If you run a business which is open 24 hours per day and your employees are on duty at the business, such as a 24-hour convenience store or grocery, it would be appropriate to list 24 hour hours.

Google recently said that certain types businesses should not set up business hours.

You should not list the hours of your business if you have a varied schedule (such as different showtimes or worship services, or class schedules) or if your business is only open by appointment.

These are examples of businesses who should not have set business hours.

• Indoor accommodation like hotels, motels and apartment complexes
• Schools and Universities
• Movie theatres
• Airports and transportation services
• Natural features and event venues (such as National parks)

Many businesses have regular business hours, so you may wonder why Google recommends instead of for displaying their hours.

Google Business Profile Knowledge Panel does not display the hours set by the business. I don’t know why.

You can read the guidelines for more information about how to set up your Google Business Profile to reflect your business hours.

Account level restrictions

With the most recent update to guidelines, a specific discussion on account level restrictions has been added. For a number of reasons, merchants may lose access to the Business Profile they created or their account access can be restricted.

Google account in bad standing

You must fix any issues with a Google Account that is not in good status (e.g. disabled or suspended).

Account restricted to Business Profile Activity

If a merchant is a repeat offender of Google Business Profile policies then their Business Profile may be restricted and all Business Profiles linked to that account could be suspended.

Content added to a restricted account will not be accepted. Before any previously removed content, such as user reviews, can be successfully restored or new content, like posts, can be added to the account.

Google account restrictions may cause profile suspension.

If a Google Business Profile is created using an account associated with another Google Product (like Google Ads, YouTube), the account restriction for the non-Business Profile account may result in the suspension of the Google Business Profile.

Google has never before provided transparency about how Google Business Profiles is interconnected with all Google products. They also explain how a business can lose their GBP listing.

Content added from a restricted account to a business profile may be rejected.

You must first restore the Google Business Profile before you can fix the problem.

Google’s guidelines are key.

Businesses have told me that when a Google Business Profile is suspended, they lose thousands of dollars per day. (Some as much as $20,000!)

It’s vital that you adhere to Google’s guidelines in order to avoid having your GBP listing suspended. You must familiarize yourself with all the guidelines and adhere to them.

It’s time to review Google’s listing guidelines and make sure your GBP listing is compliant.

The article Google Business Profile Guidelines first appeared on Search Engine Land.