So, friends, there is important news.

I have already published a video earlier saying that the business profile reinstatement process is becoming stricter, and now I can confirm this once again — it is getting harder and harder to go through.

As before, I want to clearly fix the key statistics based on real practice:

  • The first appeal for reinstatement has about an 80% chance of success, provided that all documents and materials are prepared correctly and thoroughly.
  • A second (repeated) appeal has only about a 20% chance.
  • Further attempts are even less effective.

There is also an important update regarding the forum.
Experts are once again able to submit escalations if there are issues with reinstatement.

However, there is a critical limitation: we are no longer allowed to explain possible nuances or reasons. As a result, escalations have become almost as ineffective as repeated appeals.

This means that the entire reinstatement process is gradually turning into a “black box”:
you simply receive a final decision — reinstated or not reinstated.
No explanations. No feedback. No opportunity to argue or clarify.

And, frankly, this is very bad.

Google is effectively removing the possibility of meaningful communication. I understand the company’s position — they want to unify the process, standardize it, and eliminate any opportunity for manipulation.

But if the automated system were blocking only spam, this approach could still be considered reasonable.

The real problem is different.

Based on our practice — and this includes nearly a thousand businesses we have reinstated over the past few years —
about 80% of these companies did not seriously violate the rules, or violated them unintentionally.

In other words, 80% of legitimate businesses are now suffering because Google cannot effectively deal with the remaining 20% of spam.

Important advice regarding appeals

If:

  • your initial appeal was rejected, and
  • the repeated appeal also failed,

👉 you should submit the next appeal no earlier than 30 days later.

If you submit it sooner, you will almost certainly receive:

  • a rejection for the new appeal, and
  • very likely a rejection tied to the previous request as well.

Effectively, Google has introduced a “shadow ban” mechanism to prevent businesses from spamming appeals. From the company’s perspective, being absent from Google Maps for a month or longer is considered acceptable.

The same applies to creating a new profile

To:

  • successfully create a new profile,
  • avoid automatic merging or additional issues,

you will most likely need to wait more than 30 days as well.
This appears to be the approximate data retention period on Google’s servers.

⚠️ This is unofficial information. I am sharing this as an expert based on real-world practice, not as a Google representative.

Yes, there are technical nuances involved in creating new locations — but that is a separate topic.