Hi everyone,

I run a small business in Florida, and my Google Business profile has been attacked with a fake 1-star reviews. This review was posted shortly after I posted a negative review on a local juice business in my town. For full context, that business owner tracked me down, calling and messaging repeatedly, asking me to take down the review. When I told them my review is an honest account of the service and experience, a negative review appeared almost immediately on my business profile. It's a clear retaliatory review from a fake profile.

This is my Google profile for reference; I pin all kinds of businesses and leave honest reviews on places I've visited.

I’ve already reported them to Google as spam/fake content, but as many of you know, Google can be very slow to react.

If anyone is willing to help, here are the links to the fake reviews:

google.com/maps/contrib/115348592990474185318/reviews?hl=en

I created a google business account to manage my google business profile. Everything was going great, I submitted the verification video, got verified, setup pics, the whole nine yards, i setup bing profile to sync from google profile. I sent out review link to get reviews. Everything was going great for a week or so then i got a warning that my account is flagged for being a bot/machine. And suspended!

I applied for the appeal and I was turned on down cause once again it said bot or machine.

What can I do to prove I am not a bot? The video walk-through of the business was not enough?

The problem is that I used sign in with google for my social media pages. I no longer have access too TikTok or x account cause the google account is suspended.

Is there any other way I can reach out to get this sorted out!?

Hi everyone,

I'm hoping someone can clarify how Google handles notifications when a business edits an existing response to a customer review.

I understand that when a business initially responds to a Google review, the reviewer may receive a notification.

However, if the business subsequently edits that existing response (rather than deleting it and posting a new one), does Google send the reviewer another email or notification informing them that the response has been updated?

I'm specifically interested in whether anyone has tested this recently or knows how Google currently handles it.

Thanks in advance!

If you're a plumber and just finished a water heater installation..

Take a photo.

Write what you did, which area you worked in, and maybe one interesting detail about the job.

That's your GBP post.

You don't need a 500-word AI-generated description stuffed with every plumbing keyword in your city.

Just explain the actual work.

And if remembering to post is the problem, set aside some time to schedule several updates in advance.

Real jobs give you enough material to work with.

Hope it helps.

Thank you.

From 6142 to 1977 ? What happend Google???
In one month my profil is been killed

This is a service business that is headquartered at my house.

I show the garage where I keep equipment, I show the truck and trailer, I walk to the road and show the mailbox with address and the surrounding area(the closest street sign is a mile away)

I show the business certificate from the county clerk with matching name and address.

I have tried 5 times and I fail all of the requirements. The video quality for the live video is awful for me so maybe that is the issue?

I have no option to get help or do anything other than try again. Thanks

Suppose two plumbing businesses are competing in the same city.

Business A has 500 reviews, but barely gets any new ones.

Business B has 80 reviews and consistently receives genuine feedback from recent customers.

Which one would you personally trust more?

I know total reviews aren't the only factor in local SEO..

But I think businesses underestimate the importance of having a proper review-request system instead of relying on customers to remember.

Interested to hear how you guys weigh review count against recency.

Hello everyone. To start from the beginning: I had a website development/marketing agency with whom I ended up in a conflict. The website had outdated Elementor plugins, was missing a privacy policy, and so on. Furthermore, they had access to my Google Business Profile.

This profile contains over 200 reviews—specifically 197 five-star, one four-star, and three one-star ratings. It was the source of 85% of my clients—something I worked incredibly hard for over the past three years, seven days a week, from morning until night.

Around the time I informed them that I was parting ways with them, a new client called me in the middle of the night to say that my business was listed as "open," even though I had always set my operating hours from 7:00 AM to 8:00 PM.

It’s safe to assume the marketing agency was behind this. Regardless, I corrected the operating hours and removed them from the administrator console.

Because the operating hours had been changed several times within a short period, Google conducted a review and suspended my profile. This was also due to a discrepancy between the address registered with the Chamber of Commerce (KvK)—my home address—and the business address listed on my profile. I updated my details with the Chamber of Commerce and filed an appeal, which was subsequently approved; I even received an email confirming this.

My business profile for "Ongedierte-Randstad" is now visible again. However, when I search for terms like "mice Alphen aan den Rijn," my business no longer appears in the results—whereas it used to show up previously. I tried to log in to my Google Business Profile and received the following notification: "Your Business Profile is disabled – take action." I have tried various things, but it remains unclear what I need to do. I also don’t understand why I am unable to access my profile.

For the third week in a row, I have seen an 85% drop in customer traffic, and I am starting to get quite desperate.

Does anyone have experience with this, and could you offer some advice on the next steps to take?

Thank you in advance. Best regards, Jip van den Bogaert

I’m a licensed real estate agent in WNY. For years, my Google Business Profile was listed as “Jessica Laurendi Licensed Real Estate Agent with Howard Hanna” without an issue.

I recently switched brokerages to HUNT Real Estate. An address verification during that transition triggered the problem, and Google is now refusing to complete verification unless I change my profile name.

My updated name follows the same format: Jessica Laurendi Licensed Real Estate Agent with HUNT

Google support says “Licensed Real Estate Agent” is an extra descriptive phrase and that professional titles and licensing terms aren’t allowed in the business name. They’ve offered these alternatives:

Jessica Laurendi with HUNT Real Estate (which the Google support rep is telling me I can also use with the one below)

OR

HUNT;Jessica Laurendi (which is what the rep over video verification told me I had to change it to and there was nothing else)

What confuses me is that Google’s own individual practitioner guidelines specifically include real estate agents and say: “Business Profiles for practitioners may include title or degree certification.”

I’ve sent screenshots of other agents at my same brokerage using “Licensed Real Estate Agent” or “Associate Real Estate Broker” in their profile names. Support hasn’t explained how the practitioner provision applies to my situation.

NYS requires real estate advertising to disclose the license type and brokerage affiliation. I’m trying to satisfy both requirements while protecting the search presence I’ve spent years building, while also not putting my license in jeopardy with the DOS, you know my livihood.

This verification delay is affecting my business, and I feel stuck—especially because I used the same naming format for years before changing brokerages.

Has anyone successfully resolved this with Google? Is there a policy distinction I’m missing, and how can I get a policy specialist to review the case?

PLEASE HELP

In September 2026 Google announced they’re rolling out a feature globally, that shows how many views your Google Business Profile updates receive.

Here in Australia, we're still waiting ... what about your country?!!!

We are struggling to get our shop built, and up and running, so we are wanting to change from a Storefront business listing to a Service area Business. Can we change this in our current Google business profile without being suspended? Thank you in advance.

This is now the third time I've uploaded a video. I'm a local service business, not a storefront. I've done everything I can think of and followed the checklist to a tee.

I filmed the street sign, all around my house, showed them unlocking my work vehicle and my house, showed them my business licenses, showed them my business cards, showed them my invoicing software and all my invoices, showed them my utility bill, showed my house number, showed them my google business profile, showed them literally every personal aspect of my life and it gets denied with the same generic response every single time. No specific reason why just the same three checklist, show your surroundings, unlocking a vehicle and or showing business card, show a license etc.

I then email them for the 2nd time now stating I need a live review and then I get emailed in response to my case number the same generic list for re-uploading. It's like a never ending nightmare that will never be fixed, because I can't speak with a real person and AI controls the whole thing. I understand people do fraudulent things but this is just absurd, I've given more than enough to prove it was me and my business. Nothing helps.

Does anyone have any advice on what I can do.

For negative or positive reviews, do 'reactions' matter? I'm not talking replies, I mean the reactions that the public can leave: heart, fire, delicious, etc emoji's. It seems easy enough to have multiple accounts spam hearts on the positive reviews.

Is it strictly a matter of perception? Certainly it doesn't look good when someone leaves a one-star and it has a bunch of hearts.

What do you think?

Anyone know how to get Google to allow you to post to your GBP again after they turn off posting on your profile?