
Running a small business is rarely smooth sailing, but nothing quite prepares you for the moment Google tells the world you have vanished.
Back in November, I randomly discovered my Google Business Profile had vanished. My map location pin, my company info and all my lovely reviews had all disappeared. In the digital world, it felt like someone had pulled the plug on my identity.
I have been trading for more than a decade, as a Limited Company I'm registered at Companies House, and my 100% 5-star genuine reviews were written over time by real people I've served and supported. Yet in an instant, it looked as though none of it existed.
Not even a courtesy email from Google telling me they'd pulled the plug! I was internally marked as "Business does not exist" - that is when the stress kicked in.
The Google Business Profile dashboard is maddening. You cannot speak to anyone. You cannot explain yourself. You certainly cannot ask the one question you most want answered: Why?
Instead, you sit in a slow queue of unhelpful, generic copy/paste AI-generated replies. There is no human acknowledgement. No guidance. Just a sense that you are shouting into a void.
All I was told is that I had “violated Google’s Business Profile guidelines”. But have I? Nothing has changed. Everything has been consistent, and every few weeks when a new review comes in, I make sure I reply. I have not done anything differently in ten years.
After jumping through hoops and submitting documents, I was briefly reinstated. My relief lasted less than 24 hours before I was suspended again! No explanation. No reason. The cycle simply began again.
The truth is, Google will never tell you what triggered your suspension. So you are left alone and guessing.
So I was left guessing at possible causes, and Google Business Profile refuses to explain or guide you.
The injustice is hard to ignore. I see local Google Business listings that absolutely should not be there. Duplicate listing tactics, questionable setups, and fake reviews remain untouched. Meanwhile, my genuine business with history, reputation and trust markers everywhere is erased without warning or notification.
Despite the setbacks, I am feeling positive. I submitted Companies House records, proof of domain ownership spanning ten years, certified bank statements and more. When a business is reviewed and verified by a person rather than assumptions made by automated systems, Google’s internal trust signals tend to improve. And hopefully that will now lead to a stronger and more stable business profile.
This experience has highlighted something bigger. The Google Business Profile system is deeply flawed. It is too easy for duplicate listing and questionable setups to appear, too easy for bad actors to remove legitimate businesses, and too easy for established companies to be suspended without clarity or recourse.
I know I would happily pay a fee for it!! Genuine businesses could submit official documents for proper human scrutiny (rather than being assumed by AI) and receive a Verified tick. This could stop unwarranted algorithmic suspensions and give customers more confidence in the legitimacy of what business they see.
Projects have been flowing, more exciting work is already booked-in for 2026. This ordeal has been stressful in the short term, but it will not define the future. If anything, it has made me more determined to keep building, keep improving and keep showing up for the clients who trust me. Google might have briefly erased me, but I am not going anywhere!
Edit: 6th December - I'm reinstated (again) 🎉 …and now cautiously hopeful that everything is finally resolved.