Google Business Profile Suspension - Help needed to redress profile

Start a Business
,
1

Hello dear shopify community,

We are seeking help to redress our Google business profile back and seeking insights into what exactly we have to display on our profile to make it eligible by Google.

On March 20th, 2025, we’ve had our Google Business Profile suspended following a series of events.

Context :

End of January 2025, early February, we saw the number of review diminish day by day. The Google business profile team resolved the issue. mid February.

Also in February, we received an email about “business profile being trustworthy and reliable with a focus on genuine feedback.”
February 8th, our Google profile was soft locked/ restricted, ( all owner pictures disappeared, we couldn’t interact with our users ) However the profile was still publicly visible. To gain back functionality, we had to go thru a verification process, with videos.
We initially uploaded a video and gained back functionalities for a few days before getting features revoked again because. Google wanted a bit more signages and branding. We’ve done a second video, this time with a frame with our logo on it, showing our atelier and the shopify admin page with orders we had. We gained back profile functionalities briefly.

March 20, 2025, we were suspended.

Violation type Content that violates our policies isn’t allowed Learn more about our suspension policy To appeal this decision, click on Appeal .

Not knowing what exactly was the issue we appealed and asked what exactly the problem was so we could fix it.
We didn’t hear anything for 2 weeks.

April 5th, our appeal was not approved.
ELZi Studio, your appeal has not been approved Your recent appeal for a restricted listing has not been approved. Content that violates our policies on deceptive content and behavior isn’t allowed. Deceptive content intentionally misleads or deceives others.
To this point , we didn’t upload any documentations as it always was flagged as optional.

But then for the appealing the appeal, we did upload utility bills documents and a government link showing our business registration information. and sent information about what we did on our profile.

April 14th

We receive this message from Google

We checked your account and it appears like your Business Profile isn’t eligible to display on Google because it violates the GBP quality guidelines.

We aren’t being told exactly what was the problem is, despite clearly demonstrating genuine efforts and willingness to correct the issues. So it’s spinning around.

We do have a legitimate business and the profile is 4 years old.

We did a few business pivot, all within the garment business.

That’s the story.

We are looking for someone that can help us redress our profile.

Thank you

JB from ELZi Studio

ELZi.ca

2

Hello @DigitalMinimal ,

Your profile has been flagged for “deceptive content,” which usually means Google can’t confirm that your business really exists at the location or under the name you’ve provided. Even though you’ve submitted videos and documents, the profile still needs visible, on‑site proof that matches exactly what’s in your listing.

Here’s what you need to show on your Business Profile:

  • Your exact legal business name, no extra keywords or taglines (e.g. just “ELZi Studio,” not “ELZi Studio – Best Garment Makers”).
  • A live URL on your website where your address and phone number match the profile.
  • Photos of your storefront with clear signage that includes your business name.
  • Interior shots showing your work in progress, staff, or finished products—anything that makes it obvious this is a real, running garment studio.
  • A local phone number (not an 800 or forwarding service) that rings through to your shop.
  • Your primary business category set to the one you actually operate in (e.g., “Clothing Alteration Service,” not a broad or unrelated category).

Once all of that is live and matches exactly in your profile, wait a few days for Google to crawl your website and street‑view imagery, then file a fresh appeal via the “Appeal” link in your dashboard. In your appeal note, explicitly call out:

“We have updated our profile name to match our legal business name, added storefront photos with visible signage, updated our website with matching contact info, and set our primary category correctly. Please reinstate our profile.”

If you still don’t see movement after a week, consider posting in the Google Business Profile Community forum or using a professional service that specializes in GMB reinstatements—they’ve seen every suspension scenario and can often spot the missing piece quickly.

2 Likes
3

Thank you very much Carlos-Sz for your reply.

We are using an operating business name , under a legal name . The operating name is legit and can be seen publicly on Quebec enterprise registry. I did provide the link to the Google Profile Team.

The address I used in the profile is the exact same as the Quebec enterprise registry. ( The address is somehow not the same for utilities bills , because montreal Merged cities and some kept the old city names ( Canada post delivers to both address no mater what. )

We run a homebase operation since 2021 ( it’s been very low key up to now ).

I don’t have a storefront per say. We did decorate the interior with more branding over time and specially since the verification.we have stickers on our sewing machine, a frame with our logo on it on the wall. All of this was in the verification video.

Our clients need to book appointments prior their visit. It’s specified in our Google profile and on the website. ( Even if we had a store, they would have to book appointments nonetheless given the nature of our personalized dressmaker services. IE, we cannot serve two customer at once if they aren’t part of the same family / group of friends. We are not quantum beings yet ).

We’d like a store at some point, but it’s very expensive to make the jump and it seems further out of reach with a suspended profile.

We are willing to make investments, but it has to be under guidance of someone with authority. Going out and leasing a location for a year to get a storefront to learn after that it wasn’t the problem and we still cannot reinstate the profile is quite of an horror story.

I am willing to use a professional service, but let’s be honest, it’s sketchy as hell.

I posted publicly twice, once in X and once here. both times I got a private message communication from people across the global smelling desperation and requesting manager access to my business profile and store.

We don’t know who we are dealing with, it’s a completely lawless environment and we have to hand over the keys to our digital business ?

Triggers a huge scam alarm.

I tried to reach out for a google advisor, but the service is only available in the US.

From a Shopify client perspective, I’d like Shopify to offer this service to me.

I trust Shopify and my customer service experience so far has been top notch with them. In fact, I had to undergo a Shopify verification process and got help from customer support to do so. Went very smoothly. Taxes, banks accounts are in there. Why am I legit with Shopify and not Google ?

As a second best option, it would be nice if they could refer me to someone vetted that is within the boundaries of the law I could reach out to.

Gut feeling this is the type of work that requires privileged internal Google access to see what is being flagged in the system or has legal authority.

Even better, there should be a tool that would allow me to simply vet my own profile ( or they can simply flag specific items in the profile itself… so I can correct it right away , could be this simple, really )

I went a bit sideways.

I’ll post on the Google Business Profile Community forum and see what happens.

Do you know how to vet the GMB specialist ? How do I know they won’t scam me ?

Cheers.

4

@DigitalMinimal

If you’d like to hand this off to a pro?