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Google Business Profile · the foundation
«The listing is there, and it brings nothing»
A profile that exists, and belongs to you
We set profiles up, take them through verification, bring them back when Google takes them down, and keep them working afterwards.
Google Business Profile (formerly Google My Business, and to most people just the listing in Google Maps) is the free company profile Google shows in Search and Maps: name, address, hours, photos, reviews and the buttons people press. For a local business it is the main way you appear when somebody searches nearby.
Three ways this usually starts
Suspended · locked out · not there at all
Pick the one that sounds like you. Each says what we actually do, and what to know before we start.
Suspended
The listing has gone. Google sent a notice that explains almost nothing, and the appeal form gives you one box.
What we do
- Work out what triggered it before touching the appeal
- Fix the thing that triggered it — otherwise it comes back down
- Prepare the appeal with the evidence Google actually looks at
- Follow it through the review, including a second round if needed
What it takes
From you: access to the profile, and whatever Google sent you. If a video verification is asked for, you film it — we tell you exactly what has to be in shot.
A second identical appeal is usually refused the same way. That is why we start with the cause and not the form.
Locked out
The profile exists and works, but nobody at your company can get into it. Often it sits on a former employee's email, or an old agency still holds it.
What we do
- Establish who currently holds ownership and how it got there
- File the ownership request with the documents that support it
- See the waiting period through and confirm the transfer
- Hand the owner rights to you, not to us
What it takes
From you: proof the business is yours — registration, a utility bill at the address, anything Google will accept.
The process is slow by design and there is a waiting period nobody can shorten. Claiming a profile a second time from a new account makes it worse.
Not there yet
No profile at all: a new business, a new location, or nobody ever got round to it.
What we do
- Create the profile and fill it in the way Google's rules expect
- Choose the category, services and service area
- Take it through verification, including the awkward video cases
- Hand you the owner rights
What it takes
From you: the details a real business has anyway — address or service area, hours, phone, what you actually do.
Most first suspensions happen here, in the first weeks, usually because of the address or the business name. Getting it right the first time is cheaper than an appeal.
Something else?
It is often none of these exactly: two profiles on one address, a move, a change of name, duplicates to merge, a listing for a business that closed next door.
Why listings get taken down
Six reasons profiles are suspended
Almost always one of these, and almost always something that was set that way months before it caught up with you.
- 01
Keywords in the business name
«Emergency Plumber Reading 24/7» instead of the name on the van. A short lift, then a long removal.
- 02
An address with no sign on it
A flat, a coworking desk, a virtual office. Google checks this on video, and this is where most appeals fail.
- 03
Two profiles at one address
An old listing nobody remembered and a new one. Google merges them or removes both.
- 04
The wrong category
Chosen for how you describe yourself rather than how people search. It also pulls in rules the business cannot meet.
- 05
Too many edits at once
Name, address and category changed in the same week reads as a different business taking over the listing.
- 06
A restriction on the account
Sometimes it is not the business at all — the Google account managing it is the one that got limited.
Trades working out of a van are hit more often than shops. That is not bad luck: it follows directly from how the address rule is written.
What a profile is made of
Seven fields, and each one can cost you
This is our own profile. The notes say what each field is for and where it usually goes wrong.
Tap a number
01
Business name
Your legal name or the one on the sign. Google checks it against how the business appears elsewhere — your site, directories, documents.
Why it mattersIt has to match everywhere. Adding a service or a town to the name is the single most common reason a profile is suspended.
02
Primary category
The one that decides which searches you can appear in at all. Secondary categories widen it; the primary one sets the ceiling.
Why it mattersThe wrong primary category quietly costs more than anything else here, and almost nobody notices it is wrong.
03
Reviews and rating
Both the number and the recency matter. Answered reviews — including the bad ones — read differently to a person deciding.
Why it mattersBought reviews are found and removed, and they take the profile with them. Reviews that vanish on their own are usually a filter, not a bug.
04
Opening hours
Kept current, including bank holidays. Google shows 'open now' from this and people believe it.
Why it mattersSomeone who drives to a closed door leaves a one-star review about it. That costs more than the hour you saved.
05
Address or service area
A place a customer can walk into, or a service area with the address hidden. One or the other, not a mix.
Why it mattersA virtual office, a mailbox or a coworking desk is not a staffed place in Google's terms. This is where most trades get caught.
06
Photos
Real ones, added regularly: the vehicle, the work, the team. Not a stock photo of a handshake.
Why it mattersA profile with no photos looks abandoned, and people scroll past it to the one that doesn't.
07
Website link
Points at a page that answers what the profile promised, not always the home page.
Why it mattersA dead link or a page that loads slowly on a phone wastes the click you already earned.
If the profile is suspended
The cause first, the appeal second
Appeals now take weeks rather than days, and a reinstatement without fixing the cause tends to go down again. That is why the order is this way round.
Timings below are what we see, not a promise
- 01
Establish what happened
Whether the profile was suspended, merged with another, or had individual fields stripped. They look the same from the outside and need different answers.
- 02
Find the cause
Name, address, category, edits made by strangers. There are not many causes and they repeat.
- 03
Prepare the appeal
Fix what broke the rule, then gather what Google actually looks at: signage, documents, proof of the address.
- 04
See the review through
Including a second round if the first is refused, which happens and is not the end.
If Google asks for a video filmed at your premises, that part is yours — nobody can do it remotely. We tell you exactly what has to be in shot so it passes first time.
What you end up with
How the work finishes
Owner rights with you
The profile sits on your email. We stay a manager for exactly as long as you want us to.
Verified and visible
Verification passed, the listing showing in Search and Maps.
A month of watching
After a profile comes back we keep an eye on it. If it goes down again in that window, we pick the work back up.
Protection from stray edits
We show you how to see suggested changes, and close the obvious gaps in the data that invite them.
Questions
What people ask before they start
Not covered here? Email us and we'll answer in plain words.
What am I signing up to?
Ongoing profile work is monthly, and you can stop at the end of any month with a month's notice — no minimum term. One-off work is quoted after we have looked, not before. The profile, the accounts, the reviews and the photos are yours throughout: nothing needs handing back when we finish.
Can you guarantee my profile will be reinstated?
No, and we would be careful with anyone who does. We will tell you early if we think it can't be, rather than bill you to find out.
I have appealed already and been refused. Is that the end?
No, but sending the same appeal again usually comes back the same way. The cause has to be found and fixed first — that is most of the work, and it is why a second appeal from us is not the same document.
How long does it take?
Straightforward cases are days. Cases that need documents or a second review run into weeks. Anyone giving you a single number is guessing.
What will the reports show?
Calls, direction requests and enquiries. Not impressions, not «pages crawled», not a rankings chart that means nothing to your diary.
How is this different from Local SEO?
Profile work happens inside the listing: data, photos, posts, reviews. Local SEO is wider — the site, directories and how far from your door you appear. The profile is always needed; Local SEO matters once there is someone to compete with.
Do you need access to my profile?
To do the work, yes. To take a first look, no — most of what matters is visible from the outside.
How long have you been doing this?
Four years, most of it in Ukraine, where Google applies the same rules and the same appeal process it applies here.
Other services
A listing rarely works on its own
The profile shows you to people already nearby. To make that group bigger you need either positions or ads.
- «I don't know where my customers come from»Local SEOBeing visible across the area you actually work in, not only on the street you are registered at.
- «We ran ads. Nothing came of it»Google AdsCampaigns built around the jobs you want, with the money going where enquiries come from.
- «It looks good inside, and nobody can tell»Virtual tours360° tours published to Google and embedded on your site. This one needs someone with a camera in the room — see the page.
- «The site exists, but nobody finds it»Website SEOPages that answer the searches your customers actually type, and the technical work that lets Google read them.
- «We had a site built and it earns nothing»WebsitesSites built around the enquiry, not the slideshow. Including looking after them once they are live.
Next step
Tell us about your business
Leave your details, or just email us. We will look at your listing in Google and say what would make a difference and what is not worth paying for.
Email us- [email protected]
- Phone
- +38 (063) 066-00-96
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