November 2022 SEO Newsletter PDF
GOOGLE CAN SUSPEND YOUR GOOGLE MY BUSINESS ACCOUNT WHEN NOT FOLLOWING THE RULES
If you receive this message from Google, “Your business profile on Google has been unfortunately suspended, and the reason for the suspension normally is only “due to quality issues” or “suspicious activity”, if you are on Google Business Profile Manager, or “this profile doesn’t follow the guidelines” if you are on Google Search Dashboard,” Google has suspended your account.
Let’s know more about the “Suspended” alert messages from Google and the most common reasons for a profile suspension.
Main Suspended Messages from Google:
- Suspended for suspicious activity:
- “Your listing has been suspended because it was flagged for suspicious activity”
- “This location has been suspended because it was flagged for suspicious activity
- or “Your Business profile on Google has been suspended because it was flagged for suspicious activity”
- Suspended due to quality issues:
- “Your listing has been suspended due to quality issues”
- “This location has been suspended due to quality issues”
- “Your profile has been suspended due to quality issues”
- Suspended because this profile doesn’t follow the guidelines:
- “Your business is not visible” followed by “Your access has been suspended because this profile doesn’t follow the guidelines. Edit your business info and learn how to regain access”
Want to know what that means? Continue Reading
Here are the Main Reasons That Get Your Google Business Profile Suspended:
- Keyword stuffing your business name.
- Using a P.O. Box or UPS store address.
- You set up your listing at a virtual office or co-working space address.
- You have a service-area business and are displaying a physical address.
- You have an online-only business.
- You are in a high-risk business category, like lawyers, plumbers, HVAC, locksmiths, rehab centers, etc.
- If another business shares the same address.
- You have made a bunch of changes/edits to your GMB profile in one sitting.
- The URL you add to your GMB profile forwards/redirects to another website or links to a social media page.
- If you change your listing from a Storefront to a Service Area Business (SAB).
- Your address or hours don’t match what is listed on your website or other online business directories/citations.
- You list your business hours as 24/7.
- An owner user (sometimes a manager) on your profile got their Account suspended – so your listing got suspended because they got suspended.
- You created multiple listings for the same business at the same address (duplicate listings).
- Photos, Posts, Services, and Business descriptions are spammy or against Google’s policies.
Continue reading Google’s advice on how to resolve the business profile suspension issue
RECENT LOCAL RANKINGS SHAKEUP WAS NOT DUE TO AN UPDATE!
Many business owners and SEO experts had a baffling afternoon on Friday, September 23rd. The reason being the roll out of a fix for the bug that caused a number of businesses to experience a drop in local rankings in the last month.
A local search expert uploaded a post on Twitter about this.
Referred to as the “Kansas” bug, it has been dropping some service area businesses in the middle of the USA — in Independence, Kansas in Google Maps / Google My Business.
However, thanks to the recent fix rolled out by Google, some of the businesses have recovered their local rankings, albeit not as they were before the shakeup.
Why this matters — It’s always nice to know it wasn’t you when it was them.
A SHORT GUIDE TO WRITING QUALITY META DESCRIPTIONS
Your meta descriptions are important for your website’s SEO. Make sure they are clear and concise so potential viewers will be able to get a good idea of what your page is about before clicking through to it. In addition, high-quality descriptions can be displayed on SERPs, and can also help improve the quality & quantity of your website’s search traffic.
Let’s dive into some examples to get better at writing meta descriptions:
