Google confirmed yesterday that businesses who have not not logged into their “Google My Business” account may risk losing their verification.
Google’s Jade Wang made the following statement yesterday:
In some cases, we may contact Google My Business users via email to confirm that they are still actively managing a business page. If a user is unresponsive to our attempts to contact him or her and has not logged into Google My Business for a significant length of time, then we may unverify pages in the account. We’re doing this in order to continue to provide users with the best experience when they’re looking for local businesses like yours. If you find that a page in your account has been incorrectly unverified, please contact support to get assistance restoring verification.
It’s a good idea to keep an eye on the inbox associated with your Google My Business (Locations) account. It’s also a good idea to regularly log into Google My Business (Locations) to confirm that your business information is current and accurate.
Additionally, Matt McGee of Search Engine Land reported Brian Barwig of Integrated Digital Marketing posted a phone conversation with Google, where a representative told him that pages that have had no “action” in six months can become unverified. Barwig discovered the issue when seeing several of his business listings were disconnected.
Brian also noted:
I think anyone managing listings in Google My Business accounts need to make sure to login and update and/or post at least once every six months or the account will be unverified by Google.
Once the listing is re-verified, the Google rep told me the listing was good to go. Typically there is a 6 month process after verification where Google wants to be sure the account and business is real. The account shouldn’t revert back to this status as it was already verified, though I cant be sure.
So the net learn of this? Though many marketers are hesitant to utilize Google+ as a marketing channel, it is still important to keep your business information up-to-date and engage on the channel.
For other tips and tricks about Google+, check out our articles archive.
Feature image screenshot taken June 2015
