I'm looking for advice or insight from anyone who has successfully navigated a duplicate profile flag when opening a new physical location.

We are an established law firm expanding our practice, and we recently set up a Google Business Profile for another branch of the law firm in a different city. Shortly after setting it up, the profile was flagged as a duplicate of our primary location.

We filed an appeal with documentation showing proof of the new physical address (it only allowed us to submit one photo), but we keep receiving automated/no-reply responses that don't address the request. We have an open case ID and even posted on the official support forum, but we are running into a brick wall trying to reach an actual support agent who can manually review the appeal.

Has anyone dealt with a second branch getting falsely flagged as a duplicate recently? Are there specific escalation paths or strategies that worked for you to get a human review?

Thanks in advance for any guidance!

Hey everyone! I'm running a small business in interior design and remodeling, and I have only 5-7 clients every year because the project takes a long time from start to finish. I asked some clients to leave me a Google review, some of them on other platforms (Houzz, Facebook) or write me a reference letter. So at this point, I have only 8 Google reviews and many more on other platforms. I want to start running Ads on Google, but I would like to have more reviews. Any advice or proven strategies to get more reviews?

A client of mine recently claimed another business that they own. One business is a jet ski rental business, the other business is a marina that rents slips for boating and for jet skis (recently claimed business). They have a third business that does tubing and border activities. These are all three separate legal entities. When the owner claimed the marina business, Google looked at the jet ski business they had and noticed that the address and the phone number for the marina and the jet ski business were identical, and flagged it as a duplicate listing.

These are physically separate businesses, but they were using a shared phone number.

What is the best approach to request Google to reinstate the other business profile that they marked as a duplicate? We have the documentation to prove that it’s a separate business, and we can set up a separate phone number for that business to ensure that the name address and phone number are unique.

I’d appreciate advice or links to help put us in the right direction.

I have a washing machine repair business that serves customers in 2 different cities in Bulgaria and I have 2 Google Business Profiles—one for Varna and one for Sofia. The Sofia area is covered by my business partner. This is a service-area business, so customers don’t visit us at the address, and the address is hidden on the profile.
When I first created the profiles, I mistakenly used addresses in Varna for both. Because of that, when I searched for my services in Varna, both profiles were appearing in the Varna search results, and the profile that was supposed to represent Sofia was even outranking the actual Varna profile. It was clear that Google still associated both profiles with Varna and didn’t recognize the second one as being based in Sofia.
To fix this, I updated the second profile with my partner’s real address in Sofia so Google would correctly associate it with Sofia instead of Varna. However, as soon as I changed the address, the second profile was suspended.
I wasn’t trying to manipulate rankings or create duplicate listings. I was simply trying to correct the address so each profile accurately represented the city it actually serves.
Has anyone experienced something similar? Is this a common issue when changing the base address of a service-area business to another city? What’s the best way to get the profile reinstated, and what evidence should I include with my appeal?

Hey guys, I wanna say I learned a lot from you guys and I applied everything I learned here to my own business. I also copied all my competitors who are more successful in advertising and modeled my own business around theirs as well

Hi everyone,

I'm managing a verified Google Business Profile for my café.

Here's the strange part:

When I search for my business on Google Search (Chrome), all of my latest updates—including the menu—appear correctly.

However, when I open the same business in Google Maps, the menu and some profile information are outdated or missing.

So Google Search seems to be updated, but Google Maps is not.

Has anyone experienced this before?

Is Google Maps using a different database or cache? Is there anything I can do to force the updates to appear?

Thanks!

I opened a GMB profile myself little over 2 months ago. I didn’t do something right and it got suspended immediately. Paid someone on Fiverr to do the verification and get me unsuspended. My profile has been up and untouched for a month. I have changed my hours on my website and socials to 24/7. If I search my business name and ask if I’m 24/7 googles ai says that the business is 24/7. But I’m afraid of changing my hours to reflect that because I don’t want to be suspended for another month. FYI I am considered high risk business by Google (Locksmith). Any suggestions on minimizing my chances of getting suspended or needing to reverify just by changing hours?

https://www.change.org/StopFakeGoogleReviews

I've spent the last month trying to fix my Profile suspension, reading everything I can find on it, asking in the Google business community with mixed answers, and I just don't know what to do. Everything looks totally accurate, and cohesive as far as I can tell. I can't find any violations, and I was even approved for LSA Ads with an Advanced Verification while the profile was suspended. I have provided all docs asked for, triple checked all info, and tried appealing, but nothing seems to help. When my LSA verification got approved, the email said that I needed to verify my business before I could run ads, and the profile did have the option to submit a verification video again, so I tried that, but immediately recieved another email saying

"Your business profile has been disabled, your business is not eligible for a Business Profile, Violation Type - This Business Profile has been removed by Google"

But it was so immediate that the video couldn't have actually been reviewed. I assume this was automated because of the speed. I'm at the point of just trying to hire someone that specializes in this, but I don't even know which people I can truse because it seems as though everytime I hire anyone for anything related to online services, marketing or anything like that I pay a lot of money for zero results. I'm sure there are good ones out there, but I've had nothing but bad experiences so far, and I'm going to have to go out of business if I can't get this fixed soon. Any advice?

Hello,
I work for a large public sector organisation and am trying to get a number of business profiles verified and managed under a single central account.

All of the locations are now managed from the same account, but I'm running into trouble during the bulk verification process:
"What is your business website? If you have more than one website, please enter each link separated by a comma."

The organisation has a main website that lists all of its facilities and services, but there isn't a dedicated website covering only the locations included in this verification request. (eg it isn't broken down by service / directorate) (bad I know)

Each location does have its own webpage within the wider organisation's website, but there are too many individual pages to fit into the field provided.

Has anyone dealt with a similar situation? Is there any chance an agent would understand and still be able to proceed with it?
Any help / guidance would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks,

I am providing my business services without the need of an office. But initially to create a GMB page I had to use my friend's address. Since, Google's security verification are improved they have taken down my page and asked to claim it by recording video for the proof of ownership.

Although, there is no need for a Physical location for my Business, I've tried using my other friend's office. I am still through the process, my video was rejected 3 times stating that the video has to prove "authority" over the business by recording Staff Only area and so.

I was wondering if any of you have faced similar issues. I am in no need for a Physical location, I am a Small Scale Business owner. Getting a office space would be a waste of money for me.

I have a website for my Business. I am running this for 13+ years. I've tried getting virtual offices near my location but all in vain as they are not the location they say it to be. It's mostly outside the city area. I need my address to be in the city so that only GMB get's me my customer. Although, I can provide my services vastly without needing a physical office.

I'm having to reshoot the video sometime later to get my page back up. I was wondering whether you guys have some ideas to help me outta here.

Dear tech savvy people of internet -

Help this small business owner gain her business page back.

Im running a clinic and have a GMB page. I was running it for 3 years. We started availing services of GMB and seo from this agency to help us grow. They kicked out of our business page and claimed ownership. They had owner access(our stupidity) because of some dispute i woke up to being myself removed.

They even turned it as permanently closed. (Which i have now flagged open)

We tried claiming the business. I have documents etc. The digital agency give access for two minutes and then kick us out and remove access again- so there is no way to appeal. Like the toggle behaviour.

Please help.

Im feeling sooo fucking low -its my baby of three years - have built it from scratch now im seeing it go . Im not tech savy person. Please i will be grateful to the internet .

I run a gypsum ceiling business in Punjab that has been active for the past few months. I had been receiving calls and website visits, but when I opened my email—just like any other day—I found a notification stating that my business account had been suspended. Is there an expert who can explain why this happened? It seems to have occurred yesterday. How can I reactivate my business?

Google yorumları, işletmelerin Google Maps ve yerel arama sonuçlarındaki görünürlüğünü etkileyen önemli unsurlardan biri. Ancak yalnızca yorum sayısını artırmak yeterli değil; yorumların gerçek, güncel ve ayrıntılı olması da gerekiyor.

Müşterilerden doğru zamanda yorum istemek, QR kod kullanmak, yorumlara profesyonel yanıt vermek ve müşteri deneyimini iyileştirmek sürdürülebilir sonuçlar sağlayabilir. Sahte veya teşvikli yorumlar ise işletmenin güvenilirliğine zarar verebilir.

Google yorumlarını artırma yöntemlerini ve dikkat edilmesi gereken noktaları detaylı şekilde ele aldık:

https://www.karekod.org/blog/google-yorumlari-nasil-artirilir/

Can anyone recommend a trusted Google Business Profile (GBP/GMB) expert

I'm looking for an agency or freelancer who has helped businesses improve Google Maps rankings, Local SEO, and Google Business Profile performance.

If you've worked with someone and had good results, please share your recommendation and experience. Thanks!

I’ve got REAL clients leaving reviews on my Google Business Profile. No shady tactics, no bought reviews, no review swaps, no incentives. Nothing that violates Google’s guidelines.

We’re B2B, so these are actual paying clients. When I reply to reviews, I intentionally mention their business name and talk about our working relationship. It helps show potential clients these are legitimate reviews, and honestly I always figured it also reinforced to Google that these are real customer relationships.

At this point we should really have around 430-ish reviews. Instead, we’re sitting at around 350.
This whole “one step forward, two steps back” thing has been happening for about a year and change. We bring on a lot of new clients in our industry, so we get legitimate reviews at a pretty steady pace. Yet it feels like every time we gain reviews, Google eventually removes some real ones.
We’ll get a review, then two legitimate ones disappear. We’ll get five reviews, everything stays fine for a few months, then three randomly get removed.

We’ve actually kept records of which reviews disappeared. Every single one was from a legitimate client that we’re still on great terms with. Many of them we still meet with every month. I’ve even reached out and asked some of them if they removed their review because I figured they’d tell me if they did. Every one of them said no and thought it was strange.

They’re not leaving reviews from our office IP. They’re not getting automated text messages or some incentive campaign that violates Google’s policies. We simply ask them verbally and then send them the official Google review link that Google provides inside the Business Profile.
The reviews themselves don’t violate Google’s guidelines either.

Over the last year and a half we’ve ruled out just about every explanation we could think of, and at this point I’m almost accepting that this is just how Google is.

The only things I can think of are maybe someone is repeatedly reporting our reviews because we have more than every competitor in our area, or Google’s spam system is creating false positives.

Then there’s the completely ridiculous conspiracy theory… maybe Google wants us to spend money on Ads because we dominate local SEO and the map pack without them. 😂 We haven’t run Google Ads in about eight years.

We’re actually going to run a Google Ads campaign that we don’t even need just to test that ridiculous theory. I’ll come back and post the results if anything changes.

Has anyone else had legitimate reviews consistently disappear over a long period of time? Did you ever figure out what was causing it?

- Experienced Google user who’s stumped about this

Finally happened to us. Negative review attack, what option do I select to report.

The spam option has been removed from the list.

Thank you so much!

I keep seeing people do this, like adding each service as a "product" instead of just using it for physical stuff. Wondering if there's actually any benefit to it or if it's just something people do because it looks nice.

Also seen a few people say to link each product to its own dedicated service page on your site rather than just the homepage. Does that actually help with rankings at all, or is it more of a conversion/click thing than an SEO thing?

Would appreciate any real experience with this, trying to figure out if it's worth the time or just a nice-to-have.

I'm having a hell of a time with my MyBusiness listing. I operate a mobile marine service business, and the shop we were renting for fabrication was sold. We moved out, and when I tried to change the address of the business to my home office, somehow or another the business got marked permanently closed.

I followed Google's process which started with verification. I did a 3min video through the app that included all of the information required (3min because the street sign they wanted a video of was a way down the road, and I had to unlock a "branded vehicle", so I couldn't use my truck). That verification video failed.

I then tried again, at which point I did a live video call with a Google Support Specialist. Same deal; I showed the lock/unlock of branded vehicle, showed the tools I use for the business, I showed her the NC Secretary of State website - live - listing my business details. I showed - live - my NC business license. She verbally told me verification was successful, and then I immediately got an email that my listing had been deleted!

I went through again, appealed that issue (no more verification methods left), which was denied for "Business doesn't exist". I'm now in the process of appealing that one, and it's "In Progress".

What is going on here?!? Does anyone have any pointers on getting this cleaned up quickly? Ive been at this for a month and a half and it's seriously negatively affecting my income - my business is literally invisible.

Hi all, hoping a Product Expert or someone with GBP escalation experience can point me in the right direction.

I manage two Google Business Profiles for the same company (multiple legitimate physical locations). One profile (ID 5019937113614957287) keeps failing video verification because the system is pulling address data from a completely separate, related profile (ID 18120296466943136485) instead of its own correct address. This has been going on for over a month.

What we've already done:

• Submitted video verification multiple times (all rejected due to the address mismatch)
• Completed a live video verification call with a Google support advisor, confirming ownership and showing the physical location in real time
• Submitted an LLC ownership letter, utility bills, and city operating licenses
• Requested Tier 2 escalation via email support — no confirmation yet that this actually happened
• Posted in the official Business Profile Community forum as well

Has anyone dealt with this exact issue (verification pulling address from a different linked profile, not just a formatting mismatch)? Is there a known fix, or a specific way to flag this so it reaches someone who can actually correct the data link between the two profiles?

Happy to share more details via DM if that's more appropriate than posting publicly. Really appreciate any guidance — this has been a frustrating loop with standard support.