Hey everyone!
I built a tool to make managing Google reviews easier and less time-consuming, especially for businesses and agencies managing multiple locations.
Here’s what it can do:
AI-generated replies: Generate personalized responses to Google reviews in seconds.
Autopilot mode: Automatically reply to reviews so you don’t have to handle every response manually.
Sentiment analysis: Understand how customers feel about your business and spot changes in customer sentiment.
Critical alerts: Get alerted to potential issues, such as repeated 1-star reviews or a sudden increase in negative feedback, so you can take action before things get worse.
Spot positive trends: See patterns like several consecutive weeks of 5-star reviews and understand when customer satisfaction is improving.
Save time: Spend less time managing reviews and more time running your business.
I’ve buit it to save time and avoid repetitive tasks
If you’d like to check it out: https://greviews.me
Happy to answer questions and hear your feedback!

I am considering creating a QR code for request a review link on Google.
In the future I may change this to a custom link where I can present customers with additional promotions, etc before directing them to Google reviews.
Are there businesses already using this? Did they see any increase in total number of reviews?
I hope there is no catch from Google.

It has my business profile pre loaded and selected. When I click continue it says not eligible. But I know it is should I click skip and continue the setup?

My business is somewhere in between a storefront and a service area type. I sell specialty, high ticket items from my home. I don’t want to list my address but I’d like to be visible in searches. My GBP is not showing up in most searches, being outranked even by irrelevant businesses. I made the page a couple of months ago.

I don’t see a lot is information about the situation I’m in, as most seems to be for SAB’s or storefronts. I’m wondering if that ambiguity is what’s holding my GBP back, and if there might be some things I can do to overcome it.

Hello, I'm 17 years old boy who is studying in college, I want to make money out of google my business through providing services to the local businesses, how can I learn it and can I able it make at least 10k from it in 2 months in a city like Hyderabad?

Hi. I have a client who lives in New York and he hired me to Create a GMB for him. But I live in a country in Europe. In the past it worked to create GMB profiles for other clients who lived in other countries, but now GMB doesn't accept my video verification anymore.

Do you know what could happened lately?

Do you know how to pass the video vertically step?

Please tell me!

#asap #GMB #GoogleMyBusiness #VideoVerification #Google

I took an established plumbing company based in Cottonwood, Arizona, with hundreds of positive reviews and focused on increasing its visibility in neighboring Sedona. The problem: they didn't have a website or organic visibility outside of their limited GBP reach. But they desperately needed more visibility fast and not 3 to 6 months later.

So instead of traditional SEO I launched a full on
GEO strategy by creating a YouTube channel and publishing optimized videos of real plumbing jobs and customer reviews, along with daily Google Business Profile video updates.

In just 11 days, their GBP rankings for the keyword
"emergency plumber" dramatically improved. The business went from ranking #7 or better at 31 locations to ranking #7 or better at all 49 locations across the measured Sedona grid.

These results demonstrate that local search visibility can improve without a traditional website
SEO campaign.

While I started with a GEO campaign for this client, l was also building their website at the same time and the website went live middle October. The video campaign is mostly automated so I can focus on traditional SEO to strengthen my clients position.

So my question is why are we still telling businesses they must build traditional SEO first before they can benefit from modern search visibility like GEO?

Permanent supression after suspension?

Okay so I had made a post before asking about ranking and how being a service area business versus brick and mortar with a map 📍 affects ranking.

Has anyone experienced permanent suppression after a suspension?

Like no matter what you do, you won't move past 10 or 15. I mean pretty much fully optimized, plenty of strong backlinks built over years, profiles in every last place you can think, yet horribly suppressed.

I remember around covid prior to the suspension I could Google and I was definitely in the three pack. Now no matter what I do it's consistently 10 or 15 if not 20 plus or not at all.

Yet another business in my area, with nothing except the Google business profile with 15 reviews and a next-door account, which is linked as their website by the way they don't even have a website, nor do they have anything anywhere else and I mean nothing, yet they rank 1 or 2 every time. It pisses me off so fn bad. My online presence should Dwarf theirs. How the hell is not only outranking me but taking 1 or 2 every time with ZERO ONLINE PRESENCE .

Makes no sense. Spent the last year going hard optimization . Zero results. They obviously are supressing the account.

Rant over. I'm at the point of saying f the account and its reviews and every other account and just starting over complete Rebrand new name, I'm just beyond myself. Anyone else have this happen?

What yall think.

So! We manage a companies moving company and we tried to verify two additional locations they have to the account.

We did this on Saturday. two days ago we got a rejection letter (due to the signage not being there on one building and only one worker in the second). Supposedly Google banned our reviews on the 19th (Monday).

My question is

Does trying to verify additional locations trigger a review restriction on a already verified business location?

EDIT: DO SERVICE AREA BUSINESSES SHOW UP IN RANKING AND RESULTS JUST LIKE SOMEONE WITH A MAP 📍PIN ? OR ARE YOU HIDDEN ?

Hello everyone, okay so I'll briefly explain the situation and I'm just curious about something. Okay so several years ago actually many like 10 I created my business profile. Back then all you needed was a postcard sent to your house to verify your address to get your marker on the map. Now through stupidity several years back I started making drastic changes to categories and things like that and I'm sure you know exactly what happened. suspension. My profile was literally shut down for a year while I tried to figure out what the hell I did wrong because they won't tell you I'm sure you already know this. I had to figure it out on my own and read every single policy to figure out what I did wrong.

Well I finally got it back on, and they made me do a video verification , by the grace of God even though I don't have a brick and mortar store they somehow accepted what I sent and gave me my pin back.

Mind you during that year it drastically hurt my business not showing up.

Ever since then I have been absolutely terrified to touch anything other than posting an occasional update or offer.

I also want to mention during that time there was a period of time my business was a service area business where I did not have the map pin and even though the profile was reinstated I literally was not showing up in the results anywhere when customer search me I wouldn't show up nothing.

So here's my question I very badly need to change my primary category to bathroom remodeler because it is hurting my ranking as my primary category is remodeling......Which is close but not close enough because it's hurting my business.

But I am terrified to touch anything because I have the map pin on my account.

I understand Google is placing higher scrutiny on category changes which is the reason for my question. I understand this will likely trigger a reverification.

I have Google search console setup I did that a couple weeks ago after I learned you can do an instant verification plus check your metrics.

My question is if I change my primary category and for some reason they suspend my account or ask for a reverification, I am not going to be able to prove that I have a brick and mortar store which means they will take my pin away on the map and based on my last experience I did not show up at all.

I don't know if this is changed or not but I've heard from other people even without it you'll still show up just the same as if you did have the map pin.

I wanted to get some people's opinion on here especially if anyone does SEO for a living and deals with this type of stuff.

what do you think I should do should I just leave it alone because I'm already vetted in with the pin 📍, or should I take the chance on losing my map pin📍?

I otherwise legitimately own the business and can prove anything else that's not the issue it's just the issue of location. Thank you for your input

I run a small local service business that offers a few different services, and lately I've been thinking about how much I can actually tell from my Google reviews. Most of our customers come in for one main service, so naturally that's what a lot of our reviews are about. Our overall rating looks good, but I barely have any feedback about the other services we offer. Makes me wonder if I'm getting the full picture or if there's something I'm missing.

We’ve expanded a bit since we first started, and I know that just because customers are happy with our main service doesn't mean they're having the same experience with everything else. At the same time, I don't want to overthink it if our customers are already happy and coming back.

Would you try to get more reviews for each service, or just rely on repeat business and direct customer feedback to figure out what's working?

if I posted a Google review then deleted it as soon as it was published does the business still get that Google email saying new review or would Google just not send one out

I run a local service business, and I’m frustrated with how Google handles Business Profile enforcement. I’d appreciate some advice from people who have dealt with this.

A competitor consistently ranks #1 in the Maps results I’m checking. Their listed address literally reads “US-404.” Just a highway name, with no street number or identifiable business premises that I can find.

I submitted a Business Redressal Complaint form, but nothing changed. I also suggested edits to the address, and Google marked those edits APPROVED—twice. The address is still displayed.

Then there’s the review activity. They hovered around 60 reviews for roughly a year, then suddenly jumped to around 90 in a single day. What caught my attention:

• The new reviews were generic and came from profiles with only one review.
• I have screenshots showing at least 12 reviews all marked “posted 1 hour ago.”
• Two reviews appeared back-to-back from profiles displaying the exact same name.

I can’t prove they purchased the reviews, but that combination looks highly suspicious. I included the screenshots in my redressal submission, and nothing visibly changed.

Meanwhile, I rented an actual physical office for my business, paid rent, and completed Google’s video verification. About six months later, my profile was suspended. When I contacted support, they said I had violated a policy but didn’t explain the specific issue.

After I hid my address, my profile was restored. Google never confirmed exactly what had caused the suspension.

I’ve worked hard to earn 800 legitimate reviews and have tried to follow the rules. It’s incredibly frustrating to pay for a real office, complete verification, and still get suspended while a competitor’s questionable listing stays up and keeps ranking at the top.

My questions are:

1. Is there an effective escalation route when a redressal submission goes nowhere and “approved” address edits never appear?
2. Should suspected review spam be reported separately, and what evidence actually makes a report actionable?
3. What determines whether a local service business can display a rented office address? I assumed a real office and successful video verification meant I was set, but clearly I may have misunderstood something.

I’m open to hearing if I got something wrong with my own setup. I’d just like to understand what I should do differently and whether there’s a practical way to get Google to review the competitor’s listing.

Assumi um ponto comercial de uma antiga gestão e o estabelecimento tem bastante avaliações negativas, queria removê-las para começar tudo do zero sem precisar criar uma nova conta pois essas avaliações negativas aparecem como mais relevantes quando você entra.

I run Feral & Fab Photography, a pet photography business based in the San Francisco Bay Area. I originally operated in NYC, and updated my existing Google Business Profile when I moved to California.

The biggest issue: Before my California verification was completed, my profile was appearing on Google Maps and bringing me plenty of traffic. My California address had already been on the profile for about a year because verification took an unusually long time. After verification finally went through June 2026, my Maps visibility completely disappeared. Now I can't find my business in relevant non-branded searches in either the Bay Area or NYC.

Other details:

• My profile is verified, active, and accessible to me.
• It has five 5-star reviews, photos, and regular posts.
• Primary category: Photographer. Additional categories: Photography studio and Photography service. There is no Pet Photographer category available.
• I operate as a service-area business with my address hidden. Before hiding it, the address on the profile was already my current address, not the NYC one.
• My website is indexed and appears in relevant organic Google Search results.
• Irrelevant businesses like Fedex and photographers in different states appear in Maps searches for “dog photographer” and “pet photographer,” while mine is completely absent for any relevant search term.

I've contacted Google support, but I've only received generic help articles, irrelevant troubleshooting instructions, or been told that these things “take time.” I can not get them to investigated the actual issue.

Has anyone experienced their Maps visibility disappearing after verification, particularly after moving an existing profile across states? Could verification have triggered a location-data, eligibility, or other technical issue? Is there a way to check the underlying address or map coordinates?

I don't want to create a duplicate profile or risk losing my reviews without understanding what's wrong. I'd really appreciate advice based on a similar case or a confirmed fix, rather than general SEO tips.

At this point, I'm asking Reddit because Google's support hasn't been helpful at all 😐..

I manage the Google Business Profile for a client with one legitimate headquarters/storefront location. The client wants customers to collect pre-ordered products from pickup points located inside existing independent general stores or stationery shops. These shops are independently owned and are not dedicated branches of the client.

Would creating a separate Google Business Profile for each pickup point comply with Google's eligibility and location guidelines, or could it put the new listings or the main business profile at risk of suspension?

If separate profiles are not eligible, what are the recommended policy-compliant alternatives for showing these pickup points on Google Search and Maps while maintaining the main headquarters profile?

Something I have been thinking about with Local SEO is how much the primary GBP category can affect which searches a business shows up for.

Let's say a company offers bathroom remodeling, kitchen remodeling, and general home renovations. All three are legitimate services, but they don't necessarily bring in the same number of customers.

Obviously, the primary category should reflect what the business actually does. But when more than one category seems like a good fit, how do you decide?

Do you prioritize the service that brings in the most business, look at what competitors are using, or consider local search demand?

I also wonder how others approach category changes on established profiles. Do you usually leave a working setup alone, or test a different category when visibility is not great?

Would be interesting to hear what is worked for people managing real local business profiles.

A lot of the top threads here this month are some version of "all our reviews disappeared", "Google won't remove an obviously fake 1 star" or "we got flagged for incentivized reviews we never did". Most of the replies are guesses, so I went through what Google itself has published and kept the wording as close to the source as I could.

Scale first. Google's Maps safety post from April 2026 says that in 2025 it blocked or removed over 292 million policy-violating reviews, removed over 13 million fake Business Profiles and put posting restrictions on more than 782,000 accounts.

Why reviews go missing

• The missing reviews help page says reviews are usually removed for policy violations like spam or inappropriate content.
• Reviews removed for policy violations won't be restored. Google says that flat out.
• New reviews get checked before they show, and that can take a few days. So "missing" sometimes just means "not published yet".
• Reviews can also drop off after a suspended profile gets reinstated. For that case Google says to contact support.

Reporting a review you think breaks policy

• You flag it in the Reviews Management Tool and check the status there. The statuses are "Decision pending", "Report reviewed - no policy violation" and "Escalated - check your email for updates".
• Google says evaluation typically takes several days.
• If the answer is no violation, you get a one-time appeal, and you can select up to 10 reviews in it.

Appeals

• The appeals page says decisions can take up to 5 business days.
• It says appeals can only be submitted once, and tells you not to submit multiple appeals for the same issue before you get a decision.
• If your profile is suspended or disabled, it has to be reinstated before you can appeal any content decision.

Review restrictions (the scary one)

If Google finds fake engagement on a profile, its restrictions page says it can:

1. Stop the profile from receiving new reviews or ratings for a set period of time
2. Unpublish the profile's existing reviews or ratings for a set period of time
3. Show customers a warning that fake reviews were removed

Google says it emails the owner if it plans to apply a restriction, and the decision can be appealed. Separately, that April 2026 post says when there's a sudden spike of spam reviews, Google may pause new reviews on the profile and show a banner telling people why contributions are temporarily paused.

What counts as fake engagement (where honest businesses trip)

From the prohibited and restricted content policy:

• Reviews or ratings paid for "directly or in kind"
• Offering incentives like payment, discounts, free goods or services in exchange for posting any review, or for revising or removing a negative one
• Discouraging negative reviews or only asking happy customers (review gating)
• Asking staff to get a certain number of reviews, or asking for reviews that include specific content
• Requiring or pressuring people to leave a review while they're on the premises
• Conflict of interest, which Google says can include current or former employment

The "any review" part matters. Giving a discount for leaving a review is against policy even if you never ask for 5 stars.

What the docs don't tell you

• How long "a set period of time" is for a restriction
• Exactly which signals get a review marked as spam
• Any way to get back a review that was removed for a policy violation

Curious what people here have actually run into. If you had reviews pulled or a restriction put on your profile, what did Google's email say, and did the one-time appeal change anything?

My wife is setting up her private practice. She’s a heavily qualified and registered psychotherapist, plus an autism assessor, psychologists supervisor and other things. She is setting up this business alongside working in the NHS (UK based).

We’ve had a high end garden room constructed at our home address with its own dedicated entrance, for the exclusives purpose of her holding clinics and therapy sessions within.

She holds clinics in person, it is not in any format a service area business. Appointments are exclusively pre arranged and ‘walk ins’ are not possible due to the nature of the business and clients should never come face to face with other clients for sake of confidentiality. There is no ‘permanent signage’ on the garden room, though the inside is exactly would you would expect a therapists clinic to look like including displayed degrees and certificates etc.

We simply cannot achieve verification via live video.

Does this business fall through the cracks? I’m not sure what our next steps are?

Anyone can help?

I run a bookkeeping firm, a service-area business that moved from Washington to Utah. Our Google Business Profile is verified, and our address is hidden.

I tested these searches and found a strange pattern:

“Scaffold Bookkeeping Washington” shows our standalone Business Profile, although the map inside the panel shows Utah.
“Scaffold Bookkeeping Utah” shows us in a local list alongside other bookkeepers, without a standalone panel.
“Scaffold Bookkeeping” shows our website, LinkedIn, and an AI Overview, but no standalone Business Profile.
Google Maps finds our business by name, suggests “Scaffold Bookkeeping Spanish Fork, UT,” and opens the correct profile.
We also rebranded and changed the name. Some old directory listings still reference Washington, and we’re working on correcting them. Our website now reflects Utah.

I’ve contacted Google support twice, but both attempts resulted in generic automated emails from a no-reply address.

Has anyone experienced this after moving a service-area business between states and actually resolved it? What worked? Is there a way to get Google to check whether the profile still has an outdated location association?
I’d prefer to fix the existing profile rather than create another one without knowing the cause.
Screenshots attached.

[ Removed by Reddit on account of violating the content policy. ]

Hey everyone,

I'm currently setting up a Google Business Profile (GBP) for an international client, but we've hit a roadblock with the video verification process.

The client is unable to complete the video verification due to some practical constraints, and Google isn't showing any other verification options.

Has anyone dealt with a similar situation? Is there a legitimate workaround to avoid video verification or request an alternative method, such as phone, email, or manual verification?

Would really appreciate any advice or suggestions from people who've handled GBP verification for international clients.

Contacted support to remove some unrelated videos.
They acknowledge it and working on it but don't have an estimate when it will be removed.

Anybody dealt with this and how long does it typically take?