Help! My Google Business Profile Got Suspended!
A Guide for Mental Health Professionals
As a mental health professional, your Google Business Profile (GBP) is a crucial marketing channel for connecting with potential clients in your area. A well-maintained business listing significantly improves your visibility in Google Search and Google Maps. However, I had the misfortune of waking up to an email stating that an account I manage had been suspended.
This is the lovely email I woke up to on January 28, 2025.
The truly frustrating thing with Google is how they often don't clearly communicate the rules, and then remain cryptic about which of these rules you broke, and how. In my case, I only got the hint that it was a "content violation."
Suspensions happen—sometimes even when your profile had absolutely nothing wrong. These suspensions often occur because Google is being overly vigilant against spammers and scammers. However, for legitimate mental health practitioners, a suspended profile can significantly impact your ability to reach new clients.
For a good overview of the issue, watch the video below from Ranking Academy.
They specialize in Local SEO and Google Business Profiles are are an excellent resource on the topic.
Understanding Your Google Business Profile Suspension
A suspended profile means your business listing is temporarily removed from their search results and Maps due to policy violations or discrepancies in your business information. For mental health practitioners who rely on local search to find new clients, this can potentially be devastating to your ability to reach potential customers. Even if you get most of your clients through a Psychology Today profile or insurance referrals, it certainly doesn't help.
When your GBP listing gets suspended, Google doesn't typically disclose the specific reason in the suspension notice, making it frustrating to identify and fix the violation to submit a reinstatement request. Instead, they'll direct you to review Google's guidelines, which contain extensive rules about how businesses should be represented.
For therapists and mental health professionals, this suspension can be particularly harmful as many potential clients seek help through Google Search and may rely on the information in your GBP to make decisions about reaching out. When your profile gets suspended, you not only lose visibility but also credibility—the digital equivalent of having your office door locked without warning.
Remember that your GBP is one of the most effective marketing channels for local businesses that meet with clients in person or provide services within a specific geographic area. In the mental health field, where building trust is essential, having a complete, accurate, and visible profile can make the difference between struggling to fill your calendar and having a waitlist.
Common Reasons for Suspension Among Therapists
Inaccurate or Misleading Information
The account that got the suspension notice was the first profile I had ever set up, and it included several mistakes that may have contributed to the suspension:
Service Area Issues: I had set the service area as the two states where this therapist was licensed. While this might be true in a licensing sense, these profiles are meant for local businesses where clients can physically visit or services can be delivered within a reasonable distance. Service areas are limited to 120 miles or 2.5 hours driving distance from your registered business address.
Potentially Fake Reviews: Your profile can be suspended if Google detects potentially fake reviews, whether they were purchased, solicited in exchange for incentives, or created by employees or relatives posing as clients.
Business Ownership Verification: When I set up the account, I sent the business owner an invite to claim ownership of the profile, but they never completed the process. Because neither the business owner nor anyone connected with the business was officially linked to the account, this might have appeared suspicious to Google.
Home-Based Practice Complications: For online-only therapists working from home, there's a gray area. If you have no location clients can visit and deliver services virtually, Google may question if you're truly a "local business" as defined by their guidelines.
Address Display Issues: If you're a therapist working from home, you don't have to display your address in your profile--in fact it's discouraged unless you have permanent signage and see clients there. As a service area business (SAB), you can choose not to display your specific address but still have a map pin generally mark your location, which helps with local search visibility while protecting your privacy.
Outdated Information: Mental health professionals who move practices, change phone numbers, or modify business hours need to update their Google Business Profile immediately. Having an old address or phone number listed could trigger a penalty if a client visits that address or calls that number only to find it's completely wrong, and then complains through the map feedback option. This is also true for hours – if you list your address and have specific hours posted, and someone visits your practice "during business hours" only to find the place locked up, they can file a complaint that puts your listing on Google's radar. These user-submitted corrections signal to Google that your business information isn't reliable, which can lead to suspension of your Google Business Profile.
Policy Violations
Keyword-Stuffing: A common mistake is adding keywords to your business name. For example, if your practice name is "Nancy Smith, LCSW," you shouldn't add phrases like "Therapy for Trauma and Anxiety in Cleveland" to your name. Stick to your verbatim registered business name as it appears on official documents. People sometimes do this to show up in searches for those keywords.
NOTE: If you spot a competitor doing this, you can go to their profile and click "Suggest an edit" and correct the information. Google will review and change information if appropriate.
Shared Address/Phone Issues: Google typically flags multiple business profiles sharing the same address or phone number. This can be problematic for therapists in group practices or shared office spaces. If Google determines that there are multiple listings for the same business or multiple businesses using the same contact information, this could trigger a suspension.
Frequent Edits: Google may find it suspicious if core information (business name, address, phone number, or business categories) gets edited frequently--because this is not something a that changes much in reality. This is particularly relevant for therapists who might be transitioning between multiple office locations.
Types of Suspensions
Hard Suspension: Your entire Google Business Profile disappears from Google Maps and search results. Potential clients searching for mental health services in your area won't see your business listing at all, making it nearly impossible for new clients to find you through local search. This is the kind my client had! Yikes!
Soft Suspension: Your profile still appears online, but you can't manage or update your listing. This means outdated information might be displayed to potential customers, which could hurt your legitimate business operations.
Account Suspensions: These can be categorized as manager account suspension or owner account suspension, which can remove your ability to work with your profile. Sometimes the owner's Google account gets suspended, which affects all business listings they manage.
Reinstatement and Appeal Process
When your profile gets suspended, Google offer you a chance to appeal with a friendly-looking blue button through their appeals tool.
IMPORTANT: Once you push that button and begin the appeal process, YOU ONLY HAVE 60 MINUTES to gather any supporting materials they'll ask for in the evidence form. So don't push that blue button yet!
Before Appealing
Carefully review guidelines: Read Google's guidelines for representing your business thoroughly and take a close look at your Google Business Profile to identify potential violations. Pay special attention to address violations Google flags frequently, such as suite number issues or address match problems. You can review Google's guidelines here.
Gather evidence: Collect documentation connecting your business name to your address. The best documents to upload evidence and provide proof to Google include:
Business licenses or official business registration documents
Tax records showing your business name and physical address
Utility bills in your business name for the physical location
Photos of permanent signage (if applicable, not printed signs)
Professional licensing documentation (particularly important for therapists)
Letter from property management confirming your tenancy (especially useful for therapists in shared office spaces)
Business insurance documents showing your business name and location
State professional certification documents showing your practice address
Prepare your files: Make sure your files are small. The file size is limited, and you only have 60 minutes to upload everything. Have all documents as PDFs and images as JPGs, each no larger than 1-2MB. Images can be compressed together into a ZIP file.
Write your appeal statement: Be honest but compelling. Explain that you're a mental health therapist dedicated to supporting the well-being of your local community and that your profile is an important way for clients to find mental health support. Mention if your practice is woman-owned, veteran-owned, minority-owned, or disabled-owned.
Submitting Your Appeal
Once you have these documents ready, it's time to appeal! Click the button and follow the on-screen instructions.
First, it will ask why you are appealing and what changes were made. This is where you tell them: "I'm appealing because my account was suspended due to accidental policy violations. I made [specific changes] to my business profile, and I believe this addresses the issue."
After this, you'll be able to upload your documentation, and that's pretty much it!
If you have everything lined up, the process should only take a few minutes.
Now comes the difficult part—waiting. It can—and often does—take a few weeks for these appeals to be processed.
My Experience
In my case, once the appeal was filed, it took about 3 weeks before I received an email stating that the appeal was approved and the account was active again.
The email finally saying the appeal has been approved. Whew!
So while these hiccups are annoying, don't panic. Get your documentation lined up, go through the process, and you should be fine.
If Your Appeal Is Rejected
If your appeal is not approved, it's likely that whatever you fixed was not actually the issue. This is where you'll have to go back to the beginning, re-review Google's business profile guidelines, and take a fresh look at your profile to identify what went wrong.
The stakes are higher this time, as this is your FINAL chance to appeal. If you don't correctly fix the issue when you appeal again, you may lose your profile permanently—including any reviews you've received.
Options When Google Denies Your Appeal
Try to contact Google directly: While notoriously difficult, you can attempt to reach out to Google through their support channels. Some businesses have found success by:
Using the Google Business Profile Help Forum
Reaching out via Google's social media channels
Finding a Google representative through local business networking events
In short, trying to contact them directly can be a HUGE hassle and become a full-time job in itself. It will be up to you to determine how "worth it" this really is, and, honestly, it's probably only worth trying this route if you have 20+ reviews.
Assess what went wrong: This can be tough, but if you know other therapists that have also had their profile suspended, you could work together to identify the specific violation(s).
Consult with a specialist: Consider hiring an expert who knows the ropes and has done this process before--someone who knows your industry and knows what to look for.
Start fresh with caution: If this second appeal is unsuccessful, the account is gone forever and it's time to rebuild. At this stage, it's crucial to understand why your Google Business Profile was suspended so you don't repeat the same mistakes with your new business listing.
If you didn't have many reviews, setting up a new account probably won't be that significant of a loss. However, exercise extreme caution—Google may detect if you're creating multiple business profiles for the same business and could suspend your new profile as well.
Preventing Future Suspensions: Best Practices for Mental Health Professionals
For mental health practitioners, maintaining a compliant Google Business Profile is crucial to avoid future suspensions. The consequences of losing your profile can be severe—lost visibility in search results, disappearance from Google Maps, and the loss of valuable reviews that build trust with potential clients.
Essential Guidelines for Your Google Business Profile
Use your exact business name: Use only your verbatim registered business name without additional keywords or descriptive phrases like "depression therapy" to avoid suspension
Complete your profile: Fill out every available field; select qualifying designations (woman-owned, veteran-owned, etc.) which may help during disputes.
Write a professional description: Create a clear, non-spammy description that accurately describes your therapy services.
Add appropriate photos: Include professional photos of yourself and your office (interior/exterior) taken at your actual location to build trust with potential clients.
Obtain legitimate reviews: Gather authentic reviews while maintaining client confidentiality; consider colleague endorsements or anonymous reviews through platforms like TrustPilot.
Set realistic service areas: Limit your service area to within 120 miles of your location, even for telehealth providers licensed across multiple states.
Choose appropriate categories: Set "Psychotherapy" as your primary category with relevant secondary categories like "Counselor" or "Mental Health Service"; avoid unrelated categories.
Use professional email: Connect your profile to an email address from your business website domain to establish legitimacy.
Verify your business location: Ensure your listed location matches your actual registered business address.
Record your reviews: Take screenshots of positive reviews as backup in case your profile gets suspended; these can also be displayed on your website.
Regular Maintenance of Your Google Business Profile
While these may not relate to profile suspension, these are best practices in managing your profile.
Check weekly: Be proactive and check your GBP listing once a week. This helps you catch any unauthorized changes or updates that Google makes to your profile based on user suggestions.
Update promptly: Google Business Profile is an active platform—pay close attention to ensure your listing reflects any changes to your service offerings, hours, location, etc. For therapists who may adjust their specialties or take breaks from accepting new clients, keeping this information up to date is crucial.
Monitor and respond to reviews: When you receive new reviews on your Google Business Profile, respond professionally and promptly. For mental health professionals, this means acknowledging feedback without revealing client relationships or treatment detail, so you can say "thank you for the kind review", etc.
Stay updated on guidelines: Google occasionally updates its policies, so stay informed about changes that might affect mental health practitioners. Join professional groups for therapists where these updates are often discussed. This includes new categories.
Verify information (business citations) across platforms: Ensure your contact information, hours, and services are consistent across all online platforms. Discrepancies between your Google Business Profile and your website or other directories can raise red flags. While it may not trigger a suspension, Google sure doesn't like to "promote" businesses that have inconsistent listings.
Special Considerations for Mental Health Professionals
Mental health practitioners face unique challenges with Google Business Profile management:
Privacy concerns: Since you work with sensitive information, be careful about what you share in your profile. Never post images of clients or session rooms with identifiable client information.
Managing multiple locations: If you practice at multiple locations, each location should have its own Google Business Profile, but they should all clearly indicate they're part of the same practice.
Telehealth services: If you primarily offer telehealth services, you must still have a physical location where you conduct business operations, even if clients don't visit. This location must comply with Google's guidelines.
Conclusion
A suspended Google Business Profile can be a major setback for mental health practitioners who rely on local search visibility to connect with potential clients. Understanding why your profile was suspended is the first step toward resolution.
The impact goes beyond just lost visibility—a suspended profile can damage your professional reputation and credibility at a time when potential clients are searching for mental health support. For many therapists, psychologists, and counselors, their Google Business Profile serves as the first impression for potential clients, making proper management essential.
By following Google's guidelines, promptly addressing any issues, and maintaining accurate information, you can reinstate your profile and avoid future suspensions—allowing you to focus on what matters most: providing mental health support to your community.
Remember that managing this profile is an ongoing process, not a one-time setup. Regular maintenance and staying up to date with Google's ever-evolving guidelines will help ensure your practice remains visible to those seeking mental health services in your area.
If your profile got suspended or you need help setting up a compliant profile for your mental health practice, feel free to reach out, and I'll see what I can do to assist you. Your online presence is too important to leave to chance, especially in a field where connecting with those in need is the ultimate goal.
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