Google Business Profile Suspended for Suspicious Activity: What Does It Mean?

Your Google Business Profile suspended for suspicious activity? You’re not alone. Suspensions have surged in 2025, with appeal times stretching from 5 days to 5-6 weeks. Common triggers include mismatched business information, virtual addresses, keyword stuffing, and flagged user accounts.

The fix involves cleaning up your data, creating fresh Gmail accounts, and submitting a proper appeal. Most legitimate businesses can recover their profiles with patience and the right approach.

Getting hit with a Google Business Profile suspension can feel like a punch to the gut. One day you’re ranking locally, and the next day you’ve vanished from Google Maps and Search entirely. If you’ve received that dreaded notification about suspicious activity, take a deep breath – you can fix this.

The Reality of Google Business Profile Suspensions in 2025

Google Business Profile suspensions have surged, with appeal times growing from five days to five weeks. The situation has only gotten worse, with current wait times extending to 5-6 weeks for reinstatement appeals. In February, forum complaints about suspensions reached their highest level since last August.

This isn’t just affecting small businesses either. Google Business Profiles within specific niches are facing suspension, being hidden from search results and losing traffic.

The impact is significant when you consider that local businesses get 105 monthly website visits from verified GBPs and receive around 595 calls per year from verified GBPs.

What “Suspicious Activity” Actually Means

When Google flags your business profile for suspicious activity, it’s usually not about anything genuinely suspicious. Instead, Google’s algorithms have detected patterns they consider potentially manipulative or guideline-violating.

The Most Common Triggers

• Flagged User Accounts When Google suspends a listing for “suspicious activity,” the most frequent reason is that one of the User email accounts has been flagged. This could be any Gmail account that’s been used to manage your profile.
• Address Issues Using a virtual office or P.O. box address is a major red flag. Google wants to see real, physical business locations where customers can actually visit.
• Information Inconsistencies Mismatched NAP (Name, Address, Phone number) details across platforms confuse Google’s systems and trigger suspensions.
• Keyword Manipulation Keyword stuffing in business names or descriptions violates Google’s guidelines and leads to quick suspensions.
• Operational Details Incorrect business hours or categories might seem minor, but they’re common suspension triggers.

Why Your Google Business Profile Gets Flagged

Understanding the root causes helps prevent future suspensions:

Data Inconsistency Across Platforms

Your business information needs to match exactly across Google, your website, social media, and directory listings. Even small variations in how you write your address or business name can trigger Google’s fraud detection systems.

Virtual or Shared Addresses

Google requires legitimate physical addresses where customers can visit your business. Virtual offices, P.O. boxes, and shared workspaces often result in automatic suspensions.

Rapid Changes or Bulk Edits

Making too many changes too quickly to your profile can appear suspicious to Google’s algorithms. This includes mass uploading photos, frequent category changes, or multiple address updates.

Account-Level Issues

Sometimes the problem isn’t your business – it’s the Google account managing it. If your Gmail account has been flagged for other violations or suspicious activity, it can impact your business profile.

The Recovery Process

Step 1: Don’t Panic (And Don’t Make Changes Yet)

Experts warn against profile edits once you’ve been suspended. Any changes you make could complicate your appeal or trigger additional flags.

Step 2: Audit Your Business Information

Before appealing, ensure your business information is:

• Consistent across all online platforms
• Accurate and up-to-date
• Compliant with Google’s guidelines
• Free from keyword stuffing or manipulation

Step 3: Prepare Your Appeal

Make sure you gather all the necessary documents to prove that you are running a legitimate business at the address you are using. Review all the documents to make sure your data is consistent across the board and add them to a Google Drive.

Make sure they are well sorted and named correctly. Here are all the steps involved in making an appeal!

Step 4: Submit Your Appeal

Use Google’s official reinstatement form to appeal your suspension. Be clear, concise, and honest about your business. Don’t try to game the system – Google’s reviewers can spot manipulation attempts.

Step 5: Wait Patiently

This is the hardest part. In early 2025, there were sometimes 5–6 weeks of wait times for appeal responses. During this time, resist the urge to submit multiple appeals or make changes to your suspended profile.

Step 6: Follow Up Appropriately

If you don’t hear back within the expected timeframe, you can follow up once. Don’t spam Google with multiple appeals – this often backfires.

Prevention: Keeping Your Profile Safe

We wrote a comprehensive guide explaining how to avoid suspensions before they happen. Here is a summary of the best practices:

Maintain Clean Account Hygiene

Use dedicated Gmail accounts for business profile management. Don’t use these accounts for reviews, comments, or other activities that might flag them.

Keep Information Consistent

Regularly audit your business information across all platforms. Use the exact same format for your business name, address, and phone number everywhere.

Make Changes Gradually

When updating your profile, make changes slowly over time rather than all at once. This appears more natural to Google’s systems.

Follow Google’s Guidelines Religiously

Stay updated on Google Business Profile guidelines and follow them exactly. When in doubt, err on the side of caution.

When to Seek Professional Help

If your appeal gets rejected or you’re dealing with a complex suspension, consider working with a team of local SEO professionals who specialise in Google Business Profile recovery. At Search Scope, we understand the nuances of Google’s systems and have experience with successful appeals.

The Bottom Line

A Google Business Profile suspended for suspicious activity isn’t the end of the world, but it requires patience and the right approach to fix. Most legitimate businesses can successfully appeal their suspensions by following the proper process and avoiding common mistakes.

If you are stuck, contact our team for professional help, and take a look at our GBP profile recovery service page to see how we can help!

Remember, Google wants to show accurate, helpful business information to users. If your business is legitimate and follows their guidelines, you have a good chance of getting reinstated. The key is being patient with the process and not making things worse by trying to rush or game the system.

The current surge in suspensions means you’re not alone in this experience. Stay focused on providing accurate information, follow the appeal process correctly, and give Google the time they need to review your case.

Sources and References

1. Our full guide: https://searchscope.com.au/how-to-fix-a-suspended-google-business-profile/
2. EmbedSocial – Google Business Profile Suspended? Check Out This 6-Step Fix!
3. Localo – Google Business Profile Suspended: How To Restore Visibility
4. Search Engine Journal – Google Business Profile Suspensions Rise, But Appeals Are Delayed
5. Birdeye – How to reinstate a suspended Google Business Profile in 2024
6. Sterling Sky Inc – The Ultimate Playbook for Google Business Profile Suspensions
7. GoSite – Why Your Google Profile Got Suspended (and How to Fix It)
8. DemandHub – Google Business Profile Suspended? X Reasons and Here’s What to do