Google Business Profile suspended: what a practice should check and how to appeal

For many practices the Google Business Profile is the first thing a new patient sees: the map pin, the phone number, the reviews, the directions. When Google suspends it, that listing can stop showing or stop being editable, and the calls it used to bring in go somewhere else.

Google’s help pages describe the appeal process step by step, but they are spread across several articles. This guide puts the parts that matter for a medical, dental, chiropractic or med spa practice in one place, using Google’s own wording where it counts. The sources are linked at the end. If the problem is your Google Ads account rather than your listing, see our guide to disapproved healthcare ads and ad account suspensions. If a single post was rejected rather than the whole profile suspended, see our guide to Google Business Profile posts and offers.

First: do not create a new profile

The natural reaction to a suspended listing is to make a fresh one. Google’s appeal instructions say plainly not to create a new Business Profile for the same business. Its guidelines also say not to create more than one page for each location, in one account or across several. A duplicate does not fix the original problem and adds a second one.

Instead, open the Google Business Profile appeals tool while signed in to the Google Account that owns or manages the profile. Google says the tool shows the date of the decision, the reason, a link to the policy involved, whether the decision can be appealed and its current status. Read that reason before changing anything.

Check the profile against the guidelines

Google says it may suspend or disable profiles that do not follow its guidelines for representing a business on Google, and asks you to make sure the profile follows all of them before you appeal. These are the parts of the guidelines that most often touch a practice.

The business name

Google wants the name to reflect the real-world name used on your signage, website and stationery. It says unnecessary information in the name is not permitted and could result in suspension, and it lists marketing taglines, service or product information and location information among the things a name must not include.

The address

• P.O. boxes and mailboxes at remote locations are not acceptable.
• A virtual office, a mailing address you rent but do not operate from, is not eligible.
• An office in a co-working space qualifies only if it has clear signage, receives customers during business hours and is staffed by your own staff during those hours.
• Businesses that show their address should have permanent, fixed signage with the business name at that address.

Situations worth checking at a practice: a second “location” that is really a room used one afternoon a week, a suite in a shared building with no sign, or a telehealth-only service listed at an address patients never visit. If patients cannot walk in during the hours you list, read the address rules closely.

Practitioner profiles

Google names doctors and dentists as individual practitioners who may have their own profiles, with titles such as Dr. or MD. A practitioner should have a dedicated profile only if they are public-facing and can be contacted directly at the verified location during stated hours. Support staff should not have profiles, and one practitioner should not have several profiles for different specialties. Where several practitioners work at one location, the practice should have its own profile, and each practitioner’s profile should carry only their name, not the practice name. Our Google Business Profile guide for practices covers how to set this up, including what to do when a provider leaves.

Phone, website and hours

• The phone number must be under the direct control of the business, and Google prefers a local number to a central call center where possible.
• Phone numbers and URLs must not redirect people to landing pages or numbers other than the actual business’s.
• Hours should be your regular customer-facing hours. Google lists businesses that operate only by appointment among those that should not provide hours, which matters for some med spas and specialty clinics.

Reviews

Fake or incentivized reviews fall under Google’s Fake Engagement policy. Google says it can restrict a profile that violates it, for example by stopping new reviews for a period, unpublishing existing reviews for a period, or showing customers a warning that fake reviews were removed, and that it notifies owners by email before applying a restriction. That is a different process from a suspension, with its own appeal form. If you have ever offered patients something in exchange for a review, read our guide on asking for and replying to patient reviews.

Gather evidence before you appeal

Fix whatever does not follow the guidelines first. Then collect documents. Google lists these as evidence that can help an appeal:

• Official business registration
• A business license
• Tax certificates
• Utility bills for the business, such as electricity, phone, water or internet

Google’s tip is to check that the business name and address on every document match the profile you are appealing. For a practice, the documents most likely to line up are the entity registration, the lease or a utility bill in the practice’s name at that address, and a photo of the signage if a sign is at issue. Do not send documents containing patient information.

Submit the appeal

1. Open the appeals toolSign in with the Google Account connected to the profile, confirm the account, and select the suspended profile.
2. Read the decisionNote the reason and the linked policy, and whether the decision can be appealed at all.
3. Explain and attach evidenceUse the optional text box to explain, briefly and factually, why the profile should be reinstated and what you corrected. Attach the documents.
4. Submit onceGoogle says an appeal can be submitted only once, so do it when everything is ready, not as a first try.
5. Watch the status and your emailGoogle sends the decision by email. The tool shows the status as submitted, approved, not approved, can’t be appealed or eligible for appeal.

If the appeal is denied, Google says it may be able to do an additional review, and you can add evidence that was not in the original appeal. Groups with more than 10 suspended locations have a bulk route in the same tool, with a spreadsheet of profile IDs and supporting documents.

When the Google Account itself is restricted

Sometimes the problem is the account, not the listing. Google says that when an account is restricted for a policy violation, the profiles it manages are suspended and it cannot create or claim other profiles. The account restriction is appealed first, from the restrictions page in your Google Account. Once it is lifted, you appeal the profile suspension separately.

Google also explains what happens when an account is removed. If the owner’s account is removed, all locations owned by that user are removed with it. If a manager’s account is removed, that manager loses access but the locations are not affected. That is one more reason for the practice, not a former employee or an outside agency, to hold the owner role.

Keeping the profile out of trouble

• Keep the profile name identical to the name on your sign and website
• List only addresses where patients are seen, with signage and staff during the hours shown
• Use a phone number the practice controls, not a number that forwards to an unrelated service
• Ask every patient for reviews the same way, with no rewards and no filtering
• Keep the owner role with the practice, give agencies and staff manager access, and remove people who leave
• Make sure your website shows the same name, address and phone number as the profile

Profile setup and upkeep are part of our healthcare SEO work. If you want to know what local search work should and should not cost, see what local SEO costs a practice.

Questions practice owners ask

Sources

• Google Business Profile Help: Fix suspended or disabled profiles
• Google Business Profile Help: Guidelines for representing your business on Google
• Google Business Profile Help: Business Profile restrictions for policy violations
• Google Maps user contributed content policy: Prohibited and restricted content

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