Google Closed My Business For Me

I don't normally post my personally life or how I run my business on here, but I think this warrants for a just cause.

Some of you who know me personally, know that I work another full time job. And you know that I sit in front of a computer all day and copy and paste and do research. But for those of you who don't know exactly what I do, I deal with SEO, or Search Engine Optimization, for a marketing firm in my home town for our clients who have a website. Short story: I make it easier for you, the consumer, to find one of our clients. While at work one day, I noticed that my business listing was removed from Google Maps/Places. Thought it to be a glitch, waited a few days. Still nothing showed up. I submitted a report to Google and they said they found the issue but didn't want to give me a time frame of when they would get it fixed.

I decided to update my Google+ Page one day and noticed something wasn't completely right. Google had disabled my Page from making edits and had hidden my listing on the map. And just like that, overnight, I went from driving a $100,000 car to a 100,000 pieces car (figuratively speaking of course). Now if you own a business or work for a small business that sells a unique product or service, you know how important it is to be in the first few pages of a Google search result. But because of this "mishap," you can't find me anywhere on Google.

If you're someone who doesn't deal with marketing or is a business owner, you can probably stop reading here. But before you do, if you're local to my area and you like my work, please help spread the word of my photography business to anyone who may be looking for a photographer. (Yes, I just did a cry for help...so sue me.)

Now if you're a business owner or deal with marketing for your company, you better starting listening.

How can Google do this to your business?

It's simple really, it's Google. When you click that little "I agree" button, they completely own your internet marketing strategy. So if you even bend one little guideline for Places, you're done. And it could be a VERY long time until the issue gets resolved. And once they cut you off, you better start praying to a higher power of some sort because your business WILL suffer.

What is Google doing to businesses exactly?

There's actually two things going on right now. 1) Google changed their quality guidelines of what information and what businesses can have a listing on Places back in the summer so they're cleaning house. 2) They made the switch from Google Places to Google+ Local and it caused a MASSIVE glitch. Here's the short list of the new guidelines:

• If you are a business that has 100% face-to-face consumer interaction, you MUST show your address and it MUST be a commercially zoned building.
• If you are a SAB (Service Area Business. (You serve your customers at their location.)), you MUST hide your address in Places.
• If you do NOT do 100% face-to-face business with your consumers, you MUST hide your address. (This includes businesses that have a COMMERCIALLY zoned building.)
• If you are a SAB, and you have a Google+ Page, you MUST delete it as it has your address on it. (A Google+ Page plays a HUGE part of your SEO for your website so deleting kills your business even more.)
• You CANNOT have keywords or "spammy" content in your business listing name. If your business handles multiple areas of expertise, add those areas to your "Categories" in your listing. Neglecting to do so will result in your listing being deleted completely. (a perfect example of this would be AMP Studios Photography | MN & IA Wedding, Senior, Maternity, Newborn, Family Photographer. Whatever your LEGAL business name is, that's what needs to be seen.)
• If you own more than one location, you can only have ONE (primarily your main base of operations) in Places.

There you have it. It's completely summarized and I'm sure there's a few things I'm missing, but that's why this is here. Google Places Quality Guidelines.

So since you're a photographer, is every other photographer going to get deleted as well?

No. It's honestly all dependent on how one of Google's "quality control moderators" is feeling that day and how "to the T" they follow it.

"I do *BLANK* type of business, so I'm good."

Wrong.

At first, it was SAB type businesses. Photographers, web designers, marketing firms, interior designers and decorators, contractors; the types of businesses that could potentially be run out of a home. But NOW, businesses such as lawyers, doctor offices, plumbers, HVAC guys; are getting removed from the map. The best part? These businesses are following the guidelines, do business out of a COMMERCIALLY zoned building AND do face-to-face business AT the location!!!

So no, you're not good.

Ok, now I'm worried. What can I do to prevent this?

Read the quality guidelines and see if you're breaking the rules. If you are, change it NOW. There is one huge downside to this. Making the said changes will actually FORCE Google to review the changes and at that point, they could remove your listing. It's a Catch 22 or a double edged sword or a "damned if you do and damned if you don't" moment or however you else you want to call it.

What should I do if Google removes my business listing?

You get in line by clicking here, choosing My listing is showing up and wait. Nothing more you can do. There are a couple hundred thousand businesses being affected by this so I'm sure they're just a little backed up.

Good luck.

In case you're still unsure of this, look through the Product Forums and there are myriad of  posts about this issue. I will also update this blog posting if and/or when my issue is resolved and what happened.

Cheers and Allons-y