Protect your Google Business Profile from hijack and suspension

For many service businesses, the Google Business Profile is the first thing a new customer sees: the map pin, the phone number, the reviews. Google says you can add or claim your profile “at no charge”. It can also be lost. Someone else can end up controlling it, such as a former agency, an ex-employee or a stranger, or Google can suspend it for breaking rules you may not know exist.

This guide draws on Google’s own help pages. They change without notice, so check the linked page before you act.

New: contact details in posts

Google has changed its rules on contact details in posts, the updates and offers you publish on your profile. According to Search Engine Roundtable, the old policy banned phone numbers in posts outright. The content policy now says: “To avoid fraud or abuse, we may remove posts with unverified contact information. This includes phone numbers, email addresses, and social media handles.” Its posts help page adds that posts with a phone number in the description “might get rejected if they cannot be verified as being connected to the business”. Google doesn’t date the change. Trade site Search Engine Roundtable reported the new wording on 25 September.

Google’s suggested fix is to “attach a Call now button to your post”, which “uses your verified Business Profile phone number”. If you use a second number, such as a mobile for after-hours jobs, Google lets you add up to 2 more phone numbers to the profile itself. On our reading, adding them to the profile is safer than typing them into posts. A post that’s been knocked back shows as “Not approved” in your posts list.

1. Make sure the business owns it

Google has two roles. An owner has “full control over the profile”, including adding and removing people and deleting the profile. Managers have “mostly the same access” but “can’t add or remove users or remove the profile”. A profile can have several owners but “only one primary owner”.

Google’s ownership guidelines are clear about agencies. Only business owners or authorised representatives may manage a profile. Representatives must “never claim a Business Profile without express consent from the business owner” and must “always transfer Business Profile ownership to the business owner immediately upon request”. Google says representatives must, “whenever possible, encourage the business owner to create an account, own the Business Profile, and add authorized representatives as managers”.

In practice:

The primary owner should be someone in the business, using an account the business controls, not an agency’s or a departed staff member’s.
Give everyone their own login. Google says each user needs their own Google Account “to access and manage Business Profiles without the need to share your password”.
Add a second owner you trust. A primary owner can’t hand over the role unless someone else is already on the profile. Google says a profile “must have at least one other owner or manager to transfer primary owner access to”.
Transfer before you need to. Google imposes a wait: new owners and managers “have to wait 7 days” before they can do some things, including removing other users and transferring primary ownership. If you sell the business, transfer primary ownership to the buyer so reviews and business information are kept.
Sign in now and then. Google says owners who don’t use their profile “for long periods of time may have their access revoked”, and lists not signing in recently as one reason ownership can be removed.

2. Lock down the Google Account behind it

Whoever controls the Google Account controls the listing. Turn on 2-Step Verification for every owner and manager. Google recommends passkeys or security keys, which “protect your Google Account from phishing attacks”, and warns that codes sent by text or call “can be vulnerable to phone number-based hacks”. Google also says: “Never share your verification codes with anyone… You won’t receive a call from Google to verify a code.” Its verification page says the same about the codes used to verify a business: “Google will never ask for your verification code.”

3. Watch for edits you didn’t make

Google can change your profile itself. It says: “If sources report that your profile info is incorrect or outdated, Google may update your profile”. Its changes show in blue in the editor, with a notification at the top of the page. When a member of the public suggests an edit that needs your review, “you have 4 days to accept or reject the suggestion”. If you don’t respond, Google may publish it anyway when other public information supports it. Google also says it “may apply suggested user edits to your business information without prior review”.

Check the profile regularly and read Google’s emails about edits. A changed phone number or website is the edit that costs you enquiries. Our enquiry follow-up checklist covers where else calls go missing.

4. Stay inside the guidelines

Google says: “We may suspend or disable Business Profiles that don’t follow our guidelines.” The rules are in Google’s guidelines for representing your business. These are the ones most relevant to small service businesses:

Business name. Use your real name. “Including unnecessary information in your business name isn’t permitted, and could result in the suspension of your Business Profile.” Google’s examples of what not to add include marketing taglines, service information, location information and phone numbers.
Address. A virtual office “isn’t eligible for a Business Profile”. “P.O. boxes or mailboxes located at remote locations aren’t acceptable”. Google’s policy overview says merchants who set their address at a P.O. box “will have their profile suspended”. A co-working desk only counts if it has signage, is staffed and receives customers during business hours.
Service areas. If you don’t serve customers at your address, Google says “you should hide your business address from customers”. Your service area “shouldn’t extend farther than about 2 hours of driving time from where your business is based”, though Google adds that larger areas may suit some businesses.
Reviews. Don’t pay for reviews, offer “discounts, free goods and/or services” in exchange for them, or only ask happy customers. Google can block new reviews for a set period, unpublish existing ones or show a warning that fake reviews were removed.
Big changes. Google says it “may reject some types of edits, such as significant changes to the business name or category.” If you change your name, you might need to verify again. If you move, you must, and Google’s help pages differ on whether to update the existing profile or start a new one, so check its current guidance first.

5. Know the scam calls

Google says it “will never ask for payment, credit card information, or account passwords. If a caller asks for money to keep your business on Google, it is not a call from Google.” Some callers say they work “with Google” or “for Google”. Google’s advice: “hang up. Do not press any buttons even if the voice prompt tells you to.”

If someone else controls your profile

If a verified profile for your business is owned by someone else, request ownership. For a shopfront or hybrid business, go to business.google.com/add, find the business, and choose Request Access when you see “Someone else may manage this Business Profile.” Service-area businesses are directed to contact Google instead. The current owner “has 3 days to respond”. If they don’t, “you may have the option to claim the profile”, though Google says that option “isn’t always available”. If they refuse, you can suggest edits or appeal.

Don’t create a second profile to get around it. Google allows “only one Business Profile for each business”, and duplicates don’t show on Search or Maps.

If your profile is suspended

Use Google’s appeals tool, linked from the suspended profiles help page. It shows the restricted profile, the reason and the policy Google says you broke. Fix the problem first, then appeal. Google “highly recommend[s]” submitting evidence, such as business registration, a licence, tax certificates or utility bills. The name and address should match the profile. Once you open the evidence form, “you must submit it within 60 minutes”. Google emails its decision. Its help page doesn’t give a timeframe.

While the appeal is under review, “Do not create a new Business Profile for the same business.” If the whole Google Account is restricted, every profile it manages is suspended. Appeal the account restriction first, from your Google Account, then appeal each profile’s suspension.

Checklist

Check who has access. Go to Business Profile settings, then People and access. Remove anyone who has left, and make sure the primary owner is someone in the business.
Add a backup owner on a separate account the business controls.
Ask your agency to be a manager, not the owner. Google’s guidelines back you.
Turn on 2-Step Verification, preferably a passkey or security key, for every owner and manager.
Fix your posts. Remove contact details from posts that Google may not be able to link to your business. Use the Call now button, and add extra numbers to the profile.
Audit the basics against the guidelines: real business name, eligible address, hidden address if you don’t serve customers there, and a realistic service area.
Review Google updates promptly, and respond to suggested edits within 4 days of being notified.
Brief staff that Google never calls asking for payment or codes.
Keep evidence handy: registration, a licence and a recent utility bill, in case you need to appeal.