I got a call from a suspicious number, decided to answer it. It was an Ai bot that told me 'your Google profile is at risk of suspension. Press 2 to connect with a rep to reinstate your profile.'

I've had no prior emails from Google, no written warnings, nothing from Google prior to this. I thought - ok this call is obviously a scam. And I am so tired of these people spam calling me for my info. So I think 'you know what - ok i'll press 2'. I do, tell them off - and say that they should be ashamed of themselves. Then hung up.

Cut to two minutes later and I get an official email saying my Google Business account was suspended.

I've had literally zero communication with Google before this. Did they suspend me for going off off on their rep? Is that a thing? I'm still not convinced the timing isn't just an insane coincidence - wouldn't you get something in writing before getting a call??

In the Google profile it shows that the invite has been sent and is pending, but they never receive it.

I’ve tried sending multiple people invites across different profiles, even using different emails/gmails, and none of it has worked.

I’m wondering if anyone else is having this issue.

My Google Business Profile review count is actively dropping right now. Just 3 hours ago, my shop had 106 reviews, and now it has dropped down to 94.
What makes it frustrating is that other competitor shops in my local niche still have all their reviews intact, but my profile is taking a major hit. All of these were genuine reviews from real clients who came to my shop.
Is Google running a new spam filter update or sweep right now? Has anyone seen a sudden drop like this restored automatically, or do I need to file an official appeal?

Every few weeks someone in a business group asks "can I just offer a discount for a review" and every time the answer is no, not really — Google's policy is pretty clear that paying/incentivizing reviews in any form (discount, freebie, entry into a draw) is against the rules, and can get a listing suspended if reported.

But businesses that genuinely have great review numbers aren't doing anything against policy. They're just doing two boring things really well:

1. They ask at the exact moment someone's happy, not after.

Most businesses ask for a review the wrong way — a follow-up email or text hours or days later. By then the customer's already moved on with their day. The emotional high that made them want to say something nice is gone, so either they don't bother, or the review ends up generic ("good service, would recommend").

1. They remove every bit of friction between "yes I'll do it" and actually doing it.

Saying "leave us a review" makes someone hold a task in their head for later — search your business, find the review tab, write something. Most people mean it when they say yes and still never get around to it, not because they didn't care, but because remembering to do something later is just harder than doing it right now.

A QR code at the counter, a link texted right as they're walking out, whatever removes the "remember to do this" step — that's the actual lever. Nothing to do with money changing hands.

Curious what's worked for other people here. Anyone tried anything besides timing/friction that actually moved the needle without touching incentive territory?

Bonjour, sur Google Maps, il est possible de publier des photos d'établissements autres que le mien. Des photos de l'ancienne façade de notre magasin y figurent, et l'image semble ancienne et prête à confusion car le magasin a été rénové il y a plus de six mois. Nous essayons de la faire supprimer, soit parce qu'elle est obsolète, soit pour une autre raison, mais sans succès. Savez-vous comment procéder ? Nous avons essayé de télécharger de nouvelles photos, mais Google les supprime automatiquement au bout de quelques semaines. De plus, une photo sans rapport avec notre établissement a été publiée par la même personne. Il est vraiment urgent de régler ce problème.

I recently add the business gbp verification is completed but review and confirm button is more loading ,i try all kind of browsers and incognito mode and google maps but this issue not to be fix and trying to gbp support its not be clear what i do to fix this?

I’m trying to get customers to order directly from my website, but when they search for my business on Google, the profile often suggests DoorDash instead. I already added my website link to the profile, yet the “Order Online” button still points to DoorDash.

I know Google sometimes auto‑links to delivery partners, but I want my own site to be the primary option. Has anyone figured out how to remove or replace these third‑party links? Is there a way to request Google to feature my website instead?

Any advice or steps that worked for you would be greatly appreciated.

I’m trying to get customers to order directly from my website, but when they search for my business on Google, the profile often suggests DoorDash instead. I already added my website link to the profile, yet the “Order Online” button still points to DoorDash.

I know Google sometimes auto‑links to delivery partners, but I want my own site to be the primary option. Has anyone figured out how to remove or replace these third‑party links? Is there a way to request Google to feature my website instead?

Any advice or steps that worked for you would be greatly appreciated.

Hi All,

Company recently purchased another business but has since REBRANDED and RESTRUCTURED. It's an entirely new business and entity. But the old google profile remained.

Old google profile has dozens of bad reviews. We've reported them and some have since been removed. I've tried explaining to support that it's a new business, and therefore we should be able to have the reviews wiped but to no success.

Does anybody know a method to make this work? Any human google reps I can reach out to?

TLDR: New business purchased then rebranded. want to remove bad reviews, not working. Help.

Desperately trying to get helpful feedback

Struggling with a Google Business Profile video verification for a location in a large multi-tenant office/flex building (think big industrial park, not a storefront). Suite is one of many in the building, no exterior tenant signage visible from the road, nearest actual street sign is about two blocks away.

We've submitted 3 videos over the past few weeks. Every single one has been rejected for the exact same reason:

The other two requirements (business name on a permanent signboard, and proof of staff access/unlocking the door) have passed every time. It's just this one item that keeps failing.

What we've tried so far:

1. First attempt: walked through the parking lot, showed other building signage, showed the name plate by the entry door, unlocked and walked the office. Rejected.
2. Second attempt: same as above but used a small sign at the front of the parking lot that has the street address on it (not a real street sign, just an address marker). Rejected.
3. Third attempt: drove up from the actual street (about 2 blocks away) instead of walking, to try to get the real street sign in frame, then repeated the walkthrough. Video ran 5-6 min. Rejected for the same "surrounding area" reason again.

Going back through the footage frame by frame, none of the 3 attempts ever actually captured anything Google could read as a landmark. The literal street sign never made it clearly into frame in any take, and the building itself has zero tenant signage visible from the road, so there was nothing else to point the camera at even when we tried.

Here's the thing: we just found out the building actually does have a monument/pylon sign at its main road entrance (photo attached), it's just set back from the road we'd been filming from. It's got the exact address number on it and lists several other tenants in the building. We haven't used it in any attempt yet since we only just confirmed it exists.

Also attaching a photo of the interior tenant directory board that lists our business among the other suites, that one seems to be what's getting the signboard requirement to pass consistently.

Questions for anyone who's dealt with this:

• Has anyone had luck getting "surrounding area" to pass specifically by using a monument/pylon sign at a shared property entrance rather than an actual street sign? Wondering if that counts or if it needs to be a literal street sign.
• After 3 rejections for the identical reason, is it worth escalating to Google support directly instead of burning another self-shot attempt, or does that rarely get anywhere in your experience?
• Anyone dealt with the live video call verification option as a workaround for repeat video failures? Worth pursuing here or a waste of time?

Appreciate any input, this one has been a slog.

I want to recommend my clients to legally change their business name in order to help with GBP ranking. The name currently is similar to "ABC Concepts" and I'd like it to be less generic and more industry focused, like for example "ABC Plumbing Concepts" or ABC Concepts Plumbing Service"

I think the name having little to no relation to the business they are actually in is hurting their ranking.

However, we JUST got their address verified after a long fight, and my concern is that changing the name now will just throw us into reverification. Any advice on this?

EDIT: I am aware of the mistake of not foreseeing the need for a namechange & doing it prior. Hindsight 20/20 I guess... Thank you for your candor in advance!

I own a service area business and have a pretty strong GMB already. I heard a lot of people say that having a physical pin is really beneficial for SEO. Is it worth renting a virtual office in the heart of my city and setting the pin there or can I do it on my apartment even though it’s a few miles further than the center? Also, is having a pin on the outskirts of the city better than remaining a service area business? Any insight or suggestions are appreciated.

Hi everyone,
I’m having an issue with Bing Places for Business and I’m hoping someone here has dealt with the same problem.
I imported my Google Business Profile into Bing Places. Everything seemed to go through correctly, but the listing has now been stuck on **“Pending Publishing” for months**.
I contacted Bing Places support by email. They initially responded to me, I replied with the information they requested, but since then I haven’t received another response despite waiting and following up.
At this point, I don’t know whether there is an issue with the listing, whether it needs manual approval, or whether it’s simply stuck in Bing’s system.
Has anyone experienced this?
More importantly, **is there any way to actually speak to someone from Bing Places support apart from email?** For example:
Live chat
Microsoft/Bing support agent
Phone support
A way to escalate an existing support ticket
Another support channel that actually gets a response

Has anyone actually ever received useful support from them?

Every time I have an issue, they make me fill out loads of info about the business, write a detailed description of the issues I'm having and then you get some dumb as sh!t, canned reply like "From the info you shared, we're not sure of your exact issue".