Over the last six months, Google’s Business Profile has seen a significant amount of evolution.
A rebranding, new features, and a drive to manage company profiles in a variety of ways are among the changes.
There are a lot of changes going on, and it may be difficult for business owners and marketing firms to keep up with all of them.
The nature of Google Business Profile also means that everyone who utilises it will run into challenges at some time.
In other cases, these issues or questions become significant hindrances.
The following are five commonly asked issues and their corresponding solutions from the Google Business Profile Help Forum.
Now, if none of these applies to you, don’t worry. You never know when one of these problems may arise. (This is only a point of view.)
How Do I Get Started Managing My Google Business Profile?
In your Business Profile Manager, you’ve undoubtedly seen a not-so-subtle blue banner pushing you to manage your Business Profile straight on Google Search.
Or maybe you’ve seen the “nudge” on your dashboard’s “Home” section:
Manage your Google Company Profile on search is a new experience for most business owners.
Just Google search or the Google Maps App will be able to manage your Google Business Profile if you only have one business/location.
When you log into your Business Profile Manager, you may now see the following message:
You may use the Firm Profile Manager to keep track of many Google Business Profiles if you’re an agency or business. To be on the safe side, learning how to handle profiles in search is still recommended.
On search, you can basically perform all the things you can do in the Business Profile Manager. “
What’s the problem?
The fields and choices you’re searching for may be hidden until you become acquainted to the layout.
Learn How To Take Control Of Your Google Search Profiles For Your Business
Check to see whether you’re logged into the Google Business Profile account you use to administer it.
Then use Google to look for your company name (you may be required to provide your location and/or state in the search). If you’re looking for “my business,” that’s another option.
There should be a Knowledge Panel and a Merchant Panel visible if everything goes according to plan.
Here’s a glimpse at the administrative hub.
On the Merchant Panel you’ll find the most of the editing and management work you’ll undertake for your business.
In the Merchant Panel, you’ll discover the Menu, where you’ll find all of the methods you may alter your Business Profile and the Chips, which are “nudges” from Google.
You may manage your company’s profile from the numerous options.
An overview of the many menu options is shown below.
Edit Your Profile
This is where you may make changes to the most important aspects of your business, such as your name, address, and phone number.
Products and services may be added or removed, and images and videos can be uploaded.
The Edit menu is often where you’ll see information that Google has updated because of data that disagrees with the company owner’s details or modifications that people have proposed and Google authorised.
In the event that your profile was altered, you will be notified through email.
It’s a bit of a pain in the neck to find out what has changed in Google search – whether it’s the hours of operation or the website URL or the location of the company’s goods and services.
In my perspective, this is akin to an Easter egg search.
Highlighted in blue are Google’s updates.
Promote
It is possible to examine your Google Company Profile’s insights, establish a short URL that consumers can use to write reviews for your business, add photographs and videos and publish articles and more from the Promote menu.
Customers
It’s possible to read feedback left by customers and react to their comments through the Customers menu. You can also check the call history feature to see incoming call details as well as read and respond to messages left by customers.
The Advanced Menu
To access the more complex functions, you must click on the three dots located adjacent to the main menu.
From this menu you can do more complex functions, such as adding and removing managers and owners, seeing your Company Profile ID, editing labels and shop codes, and so on. You may also permanently terminate your business or cease maintaining the profile from this menu.
It’s possible to add a new company profile and control alerts. Even if you can’t locate it in the standard menus, it’s likely to be in the advanced menu as well.
Chips
In the Merchant Center, you’ll find “chips” as well.
Your profile and other activities may be improved with the use of chips.
Recall that the Knowledge Panel offers additional editing and functionality options.
As a result, now is the perfect moment to begin honing your Google Business Profile management skills.
There is an issue with the status of my Google Business Profile. What Should I Do?
Nothing is more upsetting than receiving the heartbreaking message that your Google Business Profile has been temporarily disabled.
Google Merchant Center Menu, May 2022 screenshot.
The Google Business Profile of many small and medium-sized enterprises is their sole marketing tool (which is not a smart idea, by the way).
To put it another way, it’s a bad idea to put all of your eggs in one basket.
When your company’s Google Business Profile is suspended, this is what occurs.
Suspension may be classified as “soft” or “hard,” with the former being the more common.
While your Knowledge Panel appears in search results, it’s almost like your company has been deactivated — you’re unable to make any changes to it.
If you get a hard suspension, Google will remove your Business Profile and no one will be able to see it.
When your Google My Business account is suspended, you won’t know why it was taken down. It’s all up to you.
Is there anything more you can do if you lose your business profile?
Identifying the rule (or regulations) your profile breaks is an important first step once your Google Business Profile has been suspended.
For the most part, consumers are unaware of how often Google changes its criteria. And it’s up to you to make sure you’re aware of and adhere to the regulations.)
As a general rule, I recommend reviewing the rules line-by-line while simultaneously checking your company’s profile against the criteria.
Identifying the problem(s) with your profile is the first step in submitting a reinstatement request.
Do not submit more than one request for reinstatement at a time.
In order to be reinstated, you must demonstrate that your company is a real one when submitting your reinstatement request to Google. Uploading is the best way to achieve this.
A collection of images showing your business’s outside and interior signage.
A copy of your company’s official certificate of registration.
Obtaining a business licence from your country’s Secretary of State or equivalent licencing authority.
Photos of corporate vehicles with signs on them (if you’re in the service industry).
Your company’s name and address will appear on the phone bill, for example.
For the most part, you’ll have to demonstrate to Google that your company qualifies for a Google Business Profile.
It will take some time for Google Business Profile Support to assess your Reinstatement Request.
Support normally takes three days to evaluate your data and get back to you with a response.
Emails from their support staff will tell you of the outcome of their review of your reinstatement request.
After you get a response from the Google Business Profile Support team about your suspension, you must continue to communicate with them by email going forward.
An essential case ID number will be included in the subject line.
If your Google Business Profile is suspended, here are some more resources you may use to learn more about what to do or how to repair your Google Business Profile.
3rd Area of Operation When a company relocates from one state to another, the old state’s search results still show the old company’s profile.
There aren’t many times like this, but when it occurs, it’s a complete disaster.
This is what happens:
Moving from California to Texas, for example, is an example of a Service Area Business (SAB).
The company owner updates their business profile with their new Texas address.
To comply with the rules, they then erase the information about their location and choose Texas service regions.
Is everything ready to depart now? Most of the time, things are OK.
The Service Area Business may continue appear in search results for the previous location, even if the business has relocated to a new site.
The company relocated from California to Texas in the following scenario. Their company is still listed in the former service area when you search for their business category.
As for their new location in Texas, their Business Profile is nowhere to be discovered when you look for them there.
Google search results for [DJ service Schertz TX], May 2022, as seen on Google.
Though The Knot knows that they are located in Texas, their Knowledge Panel does not up when you search specifically for DJ Services and their precise firm name and Schertz TX (the location of their new business). Because Service Area Businesses aren’t allowed to display their locations in their Google Business Profiles for security reasons, updating and deleting their old addresses is a must when moving from one state to another. You must also change your service areas in accordance with Google’s guidelines.
After changing your business location, you may not have been prompted to re-verify your business profile.
As a result of this, Google will have to manually alter the address on your business profile.
This may be resolved by contacting the Google Business Profile Help Forum and providing as much information as possible about the problem, including:
The name of the company.
New location and previous location.
A direct link to the website.
In addition, there is a profile ID for company.
To get Google to manually resolve the problem, you’ll need to ask a Gold Product Expert or above.
Remember that Google may take some time to reply in these cases, so you’ll have to be patient.
It is possible to add managers and owners to your Google Business profile.
Management of your Business Profile is made easier by adding managers (or owners) to your profile.
There are a few things you should keep in mind before allowing anybody else to have access to your personal information.
Never appoint anybody else as the company’s principal owner.
In order to have a primary business owner, the real company owner must be the only one.
To add (or delete) people, you must be the account’s owner first.
Go to the Merchant Panel’s advanced menu in Google search to add managers (users). Right-click the main menu and choose the three dots.
Google Merchant Center Menu, May 2022 screenshot.
Then click on the “Business Profile Settings” option.
To add, modify, or delete managers for your business profile, click on the Managers option.
To invite a Manager or an Owner to your Google Business Profile, just click on the Add button and follow the on-screen instructions.
Simply type in their email address and then choose the job you’d want to assign to them. Manager or Owner?
It’s important to pick carefully the users and responsibilities that may update, add managers, and transfer ownership of the Business Profile.
For a digital marketing firm or an in-house employee maintaining your business profile, the Manager function is ideal.
You’ll get an email asking for confirmation from the person you nominated as a Manager or Owner.
They will be able to control your profile as soon as they accept your invitation.
5) My Postcard PIN Isn’t Functioning
Is there anything I can do if I get my Google Business Profile PIN postcard and I can’t use it?
For a variety of reasons, the PIN verification code on the postcard may be incorrect.
PIN verification codes are only valid for 30 days after that.
It is necessary to seek a new PIN number if more than 30 days have passed after you requested the postcard. Waiting for a new/replacement postcard will ensue.
Don’t request another postcard or make any changes to your business profile while you wait for the second postcard to arrive.
Be aware that there may be other concerns.
You may only have a PIN verification code sent to the business address you provided in the postcard request form once.
Make sure the actual location is correct/accurate and matches Google’s address requirements before requesting a postcard.
A Google Business Profile is not possible if your company’s address does not fulfil certain address requirements.
Your PIN may not be functioning for a variety of additional reasons.
It’s possible that you requested a second card while you waited for the first one.
In the meanwhile, did you make any significant changes to your Google My Business profile, such as changing the name of your company, location, category, or anything else?
In the event that you requested a new PIN number while the existing postcard was in the mail, or made changes to your Business Profile, Google will cancel the code on the postcard.
(It’s a good idea to do this in order to safeguard your online reputation.)
This means that you will have to ask for a replacement postcard.
In this case, the only PIN number that works is the one requested for the address in your Business Profile at the time the postcard was requested and sent.
In order to get a new PIN, you’ll need to alter your company location before the postcard PIN confirms your Business Profile.
Another thing to keep in mind. Make sure you don’t input the wrong PIN code more than five times while you’re entering your PIN code. Doing so will result in a permanent error in your verification process.
It is imperative that you delete your Google account’s Business Profile when this occurs. As a result, you’ll have to start from scratch.
As a result, Google restricts the amount of times a company may seek to verify their status, and they will not be allowed to change their Business Profile name until they have done so.
Because of these issues, PIN codes may fail to operate.
To request a resend of your second postcard, please fill out the Google Business Profile support form if you haven’t received it within 14 days of your request.
How can I help you?
Many modifications are being made to Google’s Business Profile.
Adding new features is usually a positive thing.
Your profile management options are being pushed to new heights.
There are many challenges, questions, and complexities that arise from this.
Keep abreast of any new features or issues and make sure you’re following all of the rules and standards.