• Skip to navigation
  • Skip to main content
  • Skip to primary sidebar
  • Skip to footer

American Academy of Estate Planning Attorneys

AAEPA, Inc

Find a Member Member's Login
Call Today (800) 846-1555
  • Membership
    • Membership Membership
    • submenu
      • Why Join?
      • Member Requirements
      • Become A Member
      • Meet the Team
  • Estate planning software
  • Education
  • Practice management
    • Practice management Practice Management
    • submenu
      • 11 Essential Systems
      • Coaching
      • Law Firm Marketing
  • Resources
    • Resources Resources
    • submenu
      • Live Training
      • Blog
  • Contact Us

Maintaining Your Law Firm’s Google My Business Listing

Home » rollover » Maintaining Your Law Firm’s Google My Business Listing

Google My Business (or GMB) is an online platform that allows law firms to manage their web presence across all Google products, including Google Maps, Google Search and Knowledge Graph. It’s considered an online business listing that contains information about your law firm, similar to other directory listings, such as Yelp or Yellow Pages. But, unlike other online business listings, GMB is vital to your law firm’s online success.

A recent report from BrightLocal, a marketing firm that specializes in Local SEO, found that 64% of consumers have used Google My Business to find contact details for local businesses. They also found that a significant number of visitors trusted the information found on GMB listings more than the info found on any other online directories.

Given its importance hopefully, your law firm has followed our past recommendations and has already create a GMB listing that’s accurate, actively used, and bringing in business.

But, what if one day, after you’ve meticulously built out your listing, you logged in to update it and found it missing?  That’s exactly what’s happening to more and more law firms each day.

GMB listings that rank on the first page of Google get 300% more clicks than the first organic spot. As business owners began to understand the value of those listings, more and more spam listings began to flood the platform.  In an effort to combat those fake listings and spammy websites, Google has begun to aggressively suspend GMB accounts.  Unfortunately, even some legitimate law firm listings were mistakenly blacklisted.

Types of Suspensions

Google is doling out two different types of suspensions:

  • Soft Suspension – If your GMB listing is still visible online, but you’re unable to manage your listing when logged into your account, the listing is now considered unverified. Google’s filters flagged your account as having broken their guidelines in some way and have removed your access to the listing. This type of suspension usually has less immediate impact on your rankings, though you won’t have the ability to update info or add new content.
  • Hard Suspension – Much more serious, your entire listing has been removed from Google Search and Maps, including all images and reviews and photos. This likely means a loss of leads, phone calls, website clicks, and your search rankings dropping significantly.

Reasons for Suspension

Google’s only goal is for searchers to get the absolute best search results with the most up-to-date, accurate information.  Google will suspend a listing if they suspect your listing doesn’t live up to that criteria, raises red flags, or has suspicious activity or suspected policy violations.

Google does not disclose the reason(s) a listing has been suspended, however there are some common reasons:

  • Information within your listing was changed. This could include your firm name, contact info, domain, or even the category you’re listed under.
  • Your address violates Google policy
  • P.O. Box, virtual address, FedEx/UPS Store boxes
  • Forwarding phone number or URL
  • Multiple listings for the same business/location
  • The listing is for an online-only business

Getting Reinstated

Even if your business is totally legitimate and your listing adheres perfectly to Google’s guidelines, it’s possible that you may get caught in their spam filters and get suspended.  But fear not, if your firm was impacted by the recent wave of GMB suspensions, there are steps you can take to have your listing reinstated.

Google may require that you send proof of your firm’s existence and location, so you should be prepared to submit documentation that confirms your law firm name and location.  That proof might include:

  • An image of your storefront showing both your address and signage at the same time. If this is in an office building, it must include your suite number.
  • A state business or professional license, showing the same address that’s on your GMB listing
  • A rental agreement or utility bill, showing the same address that’s on your GMB listing

Once you’ve gathered all of your documentation, you’ll need to submit a reinstatement request. You’ll need to be patient, as Google has a pretty significant backlog of requests. 

However, they advise that you not submit multiple reinstatement requests for the same listing as it’s just adding to the pile they’re working through.  If it’s been several weeks and you haven’t seen any progress, you can try sending a direct message to GMB on Twitter asking for an update.

Once your Google My Business listing is back, you will most likely need to do a little work to fully restore your ranking. Be sure to actively publish content and link your listing to blog posts on your website and to your social media accounts.

An Ounce of Prevention

Of course, what’s better than getting reinstated?  Never getting suspended in the first place! Three simple tips to keep in mind:

  1. Read and follow Google’s guidelines for GMB
  2. Create only one listing for your firm, unless you have multiple locations.  If that’s the case, you may create one listing per location.
  3. Be consistent across the web.  Make sure your firm name, address, and phone number appear exactly the same on your website, GMB listing, and all other directories.

Remember, Google does not proactively notify you when your law firm’s GMB listing has been suspended, so someone on your team should be responsible for actively monitoring your listing. Google also changes their guidelines and criteria pretty frequently, so be sure to subscribe to our blog to stay informed!

Rita Chaires

Director, Web and Online Marketing Services
American Academy of Estate Planning Attorneys, Inc.
9444 Balboa Avenue, Suite 300
San Diego, California 92123
Phone: (858) 453-2128
www.aaepa.com

  • Author
  • Recent Posts
Rita Chaires
Rita Chaires
Rita Chaires
Latest posts by Rita Chaires (see all)
  • 6 Content Marketing Myths Debunked - November 4, 2021
  • Law Firm Marketing on LinkedIn - October 7, 2021
  • Stop Googling Yourself and Start Accurately Measuring Your Online Marketing Success - September 2, 2021
SHARE

Primary Sidebar

Subscribe to our blog

Recent Posts

  • Spring Summit 2022: Celebrating Friendship in the Lone Star State
  • Aging Parents and Estate Planning
  • How Do I Title Thee…Part I
  • Turning Stalled Out Goals into Actions
  • What Makes a Will or Trust Invalid

Categories

  • Academy Girl Friday (33)
  • Client Services (238)
  • Coaching (33)
  • Consumer Advantage (3)
  • Counseling (21)
  • Elder Law (5)
  • Estate Planning (921)
  • Estate Planning Documents (5)
  • Estate Planning Education (199)
  • Financial Analysis (3)
  • Financial Services (1)
  • General (19)
  • Law Firm Marketing (281)
  • Law Firm Net Revenue (7)
  • Law Firm Staffing (99)
  • Law Firm Technology (45)
  • Law Firm Web Tips (185)
  • Leadership (191)
  • Legal Education (646)
  • Marketing Tools (2)
  • Medicaid (1)
  • Member Services (1)
  • Owners Compensation (1)
  • Peak Performer Focus (1)
  • Practice Building Calls (1)
  • Practice Management (496)
  • SEO/Social Media Support (3)
  • Software (6)
  • Strategic Planning (9)
  • Uncategorized (15)

Footer

logo of American Academy of Estate Planning Attorneys

About Us

  • Meet the Team
  • Site Map
  • Legal Notice
  • Privacy Policy

Explore Our Services

  • Coaching
  • Estate planning software
  • Events
  • Legal education
  • Marketing
  • Web and SEO

Keep in Touch

Mon-Fri

9444 Balboa Ave. Suite 300

San Diego

(800) 846-1555

info@aaepa.com

Take Back Control of Your Business and Your Life

+

footer section | American Academy of Estate Planning Attorneys

© 2022 American Academy of Estate Planning Attorneys, Inc All rights reserved.

We use cookies on our website to give you the most relevant experience by remembering your preferences and repeat visits. By clicking “Accept All”, you consent to the use of ALL the cookies. However, you may visit "Cookie Settings" to provide a controlled consent. Don't sell my personal information.
Cookie Settings Accept All
Manage consent

Privacy Overview

This website uses cookies to improve your experience while you navigate through the website. Out of these, the cookies that are categorized as necessary are stored on your browser as they are essential for the working of basic functionalities of the website. We also use third-party cookies that help us analyze and understand how you use this website. These cookies will be stored in your browser only with your consent. You also have the option to opt-out of these cookies. But opting out of some of these cookies may affect your browsing experience.
Necessary
Always Enabled
Necessary cookies are absolutely essential for the website to function properly. These cookies ensure basic functionalities and security features of the website, anonymously.
CookieDurationDescription
cookielawinfo-checkbox-analytics11 monthsThis cookie is set by GDPR Cookie Consent plugin. The cookie is used to store the user consent for the cookies in the category "Analytics".
cookielawinfo-checkbox-functional11 monthsThe cookie is set by GDPR cookie consent to record the user consent for the cookies in the category "Functional".
cookielawinfo-checkbox-necessary11 monthsThis cookie is set by GDPR Cookie Consent plugin. The cookies is used to store the user consent for the cookies in the category "Necessary".
cookielawinfo-checkbox-others11 monthsThis cookie is set by GDPR Cookie Consent plugin. The cookie is used to store the user consent for the cookies in the category "Other.
cookielawinfo-checkbox-performance11 monthsThis cookie is set by GDPR Cookie Consent plugin. The cookie is used to store the user consent for the cookies in the category "Performance".
viewed_cookie_policy11 monthsThe cookie is set by the GDPR Cookie Consent plugin and is used to store whether or not user has consented to the use of cookies. It does not store any personal data.
Functional
Functional cookies help to perform certain functionalities like sharing the content of the website on social media platforms, collect feedbacks, and other third-party features.
Performance
Performance cookies are used to understand and analyze the key performance indexes of the website which helps in delivering a better user experience for the visitors.
Analytics
Analytical cookies are used to understand how visitors interact with the website. These cookies help provide information on metrics the number of visitors, bounce rate, traffic source, etc.
Advertisement
Advertisement cookies are used to provide visitors with relevant ads and marketing campaigns. These cookies track visitors across websites and collect information to provide customized ads.
Others
Other uncategorized cookies are those that are being analyzed and have not been classified into a category as yet.
Save & Accept