What’s Really Going On with Google Business Profiles (GBP) in 2024–2025?

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Here are mine (and of course AI’s) views:

1. Mass Suspensions and Poor Support

What Google says: They’re cracking down on spam and fake listings.

What’s really happening: Legitimate businesses—especially local service providers and agencies managing multiple profiles—are getting suspended without clear violations. The appeals process is slow, opaque, and often unresponsive. It’s become a systemic issue, not just a spike in spam-fighting efforts.

2. Disappearing Reviews & Posts

What Google says: Some reviews may violate policies, or AI filters removed them.

The truth: Reviews (even positive and long-standing ones) are vanishing, sometimes in bulk, and there’s no real recourse. Posts not appearing is another recurring glitch. Many believe it’s related to AI moderation gone wrong or internal testing changes not properly rolled out.

3. Verification Failures & Account Access Issues

What Google says: Standard verification requirements apply.

What’s really happening: Video verification is glitchy, randomly fails, or never completes. Support might send users in loops, request resubmission, and then ghost them. Businesses are left in limbo for weeks.

4. Inconsistent Display of Business Info

Changes in business hours, service areas, and categories sometimes disappear or revert. These seem like bugs—but they directly affect search visibility and trust.

What Many SEOs and Agencies Believe

Google is over-relying on automation and AI moderation, which is flagging legit businesses as spam.

There’s insufficient human oversight, and support teams are under-trained or overwhelmed.

These issues disproportionately affect small businesses and multi-location management agencies.

It feels like Google is silently shifting priorities from local businesses to ads, AI summaries, and e-commerce players.

What You Can Do (Beyond the Official Advice)

Avoid editing too much at once—that triggers automated reviews.

Keep a log of all changes (screenshots, dates, names of support reps).

Use the GBP Community Forum smartly—many issues get escalated if you describe them well and tag “Product Experts.”

Avoid pushing Google too hard with appeals if suspended recently—some cases are quietly re-approved with time and no re-appeal. I personally doubts this happening and am yet to see 1 such case!

Consider diversifying traffic channels (email, direct, social, paid) instead of relying 100% on GBP for leads.