// google business profile · management and appeals
Google provides the Business Profile at no charge. The work is keeping it accurate month after month, and getting it back when Google suspends it. Management is part of the SEO plan, from A$197 a month. Suspension appeals are quoted per job, and Google decides every one.
Updated · By Josh Waller
Kovus
Website designer
Services
If Google suspends a profile
The appeals tool shows
60:00to send the evidence once the form is open
/ Two kinds of work
Management keeps a working profile accurate every month, and it is part of the SEO plan, from A$197 a month. A suspension appeal is a one-off job: the work needed to ask Google to reinstate a profile it has suspended or disabled. Each appeal is quoted per job, because each suspension starts from a different reason.
Ongoing · month to month
from A$197 a month
Part of the SEO plan, with no minimum term.
One-off · per profile
Quoted per job
No fixed price, no promised date and no promised result.
/ Management
The work that keeps a profile accurate after setup. Details are updated when the business changes, posts go up from real jobs, customers get a review link, and the profile numbers sit in a monthly report beside calls and Search Console. The business stays the verified owner, and I work on the profile as a manager.
Setting a profile up from scratch is covered step by step in the Google Business Profile guide. The rest of the plan, from Search Console to directory listings, is on the SEO plan page.
Services, prices, hours, service areas and photos updated when the business changes, so the profile matches the website.
Posts with photos from recent work, published when there is a real job or update to show.
A review link or QR code and short templates for asking customers after a job. No paid or incentivised reviews.
Name, phone and service area matched across the profile, the website and directory listings such as Bing Places.
Business Profile numbers in the monthly report, next to calls, form enquiries, Google Analytics and Search Console.
You add Josh as a manager on the profile. The business stays the verified owner, so the profile remains yours.
/ Suspension appeals
In five steps, in this order: find out what Google acted on, fix the profile against its guidelines, get the evidence ready, file the appeal, then follow up on the decision. Most of the work comes before the appeal is filed, because an appeal for a profile that still breaks a rule gives Google nothing new to look at.
Each step is what I do on the job, with the one Google rule behind it, linked to the help page it comes from. To run the appeal yourself, the suspended profile guide sets out the owner's steps in order.
Step 1 · Diagnose
A suspended profile and a restricted Google account look alike from the outside, and they are appealed in different places. I check which one it is, read the reason and the policy the appeals tool shows, and check the verification status, because an unverified profile is a different problem with a different fix.
Google's ruleGoogle says to check the verification status before you appeal, and a restricted account is appealed before any profile it manages.Appeal Business Profile restrictionsFix suspended or disabled profilesAccount restrictions
Step 2 · Fix
The name, the address or service area, the phone number, the website, the categories and any second profile for the same business are checked against the guidelines and corrected. Suburbs or services added to the name, a PO box, a home address left showing on a service-area profile and a service area drawn too wide are the usual finds.
Google's ruleGoogle says the profile should follow all of its guidelines before an appeal goes in.Fix suspended or disabled profilesGuidelines for representing your businessBusiness Profile policies
Step 3 · Evidence
The documents that show the business is real and is where the profile says it is: the business registration or ABN record, the trade licence, a tax certificate or a utility bill. The name and address on each have to match the profile, so a mismatch is sorted out before the appeal goes in.
60 minutesGoogle's evidence form has a 60-minute limit once it is open, so every document is scanned and named before I open it.
Google's ruleGoogle lists the kinds of document it accepts, and the business name and address on each should match the profile.Fix suspended or disabled profiles
Step 4 · File
The appeal goes in through Google's appeals tool, signed in to a Google account that manages the profile. If I am already a manager, I file it. If not, you submit it from your own account with the wording and the evidence I have prepared. I never ask for your password or a verification code.
Google's ruleOnly an owner or a manager can ask Google to reinstate a profile, and Google asks for one appeal per issue, with no new profile made while it is under review.Fix suspended or disabled profilesAppeal Business Profile restrictions
Step 5 · Follow up
Google emails its decision. If the profile comes back, I check it against the guidelines again so the same problem does not return. If the appeal is not approved, I tell you plainly whether there is anything new to send for an additional review.
Google's ruleGoogle sends its decision by email. For a denied appeal, Google says it may be able to do an additional review with new evidence.Appeal Business Profile restrictionsFix suspended or disabled profiles
I only work on a profile with the owner's express consent, which is what Google's third-party policies require of anyone who manages a profile for a business they do not own.
/ Who it suits
It suits a real business that serves customers in person and broke a rule it can fix, such as a name with suburbs added, a PO box or a second profile. I say no when the business cannot meet Google's eligibility rules, when the profile is not yours to appeal, or when the only acceptable answer is a guaranteed result.
It suits
I will say no to
Eligibility comes from Google's policy overview, which says a business must make in-person contact with customers during its stated hours, and from its guidelines and service area page.
/ Cost
Management is part of the SEO plan, from A$197 a month, month to month with no lock-in. A suspension appeal has no fixed price: it is quoted per job, before any work starts. Google charges nothing for the profile itself, so what you pay for is the work, and you see the price before it begins.
| Plan | Price | What the month includes | Which websites |
|---|---|---|---|
| Hosting and edits | A$97 a monthA$1,164 over a year |
| A website Kovus built and hosts. |
| Plus SEO | from A$197 a monthfrom A$2,364 over a year |
| A website Kovus built, or one built by someone else. That site stays with its current host. |
The A$97 plan keeps a Kovus-built site hosted, backed up and edited, and the A$197 plan adds the SEO work, the Business Profile included. A bigger business that needs more work each month is quoted in writing before it starts. The full comparison is on the pricing page.
Suspension appeals are quoted per job
There is no fixed price, because a name to fix and an account restriction are different amounts of work. Google's page on protecting your profile says it will never try to convince you to pay to have a profile verified or reinstated. What you pay for is the diagnosis, the fixes, the evidence and the follow-up.
Your website was built by someone else?
The A$197 plan is still available for a website Kovus did not build. The site stays with its current host, and the profile work, Search Console and the monthly report run the same way.
/ Working with an agency
What Google's third-party policies require of every agency, me included. You keep ownership, every change is shared with you, you are told the profile itself is free if a fee is charged, and you can leave quickly. Nobody can promise top placement on Google, and nobody outside Google decides an appeal.
The rules above are from Google's Business Profile third-party policies. Google asks agencies that mostly serve small businesses to share its notice on working with a third party, so here it is. It is worth reading before you hire anyone to manage your profile, me included.
/ Client profiles
Four client case studies list it in a month-to-month plan. The Fruit Basket's covers Business Profile management, tracking and content upkeep. Donza Plumbing's, CJH Concrete's and McDonald Roofing's cover Business Profile setup, reviews and content. Each case study sets out what the build put in place and what the plan covers.
Mount Pleasant, Perth · Business Profile management
An independent grocer on Cranford Avenue, trading since 2004, whose activity lived on a Facebook page and its Business Profile before the build. Its case study quotes the profile's own dashboard, which sits outside Search Console. These figures describe the profile across the first half of 2026 and in July. They are not claimed as a result of the management work.
/ Straight answers
A reinstatement, a date for one or a place in the results. Google decides every appeal and every local result, and its own help page says there is no way to request or pay for a better local ranking on Google. What I can show you is the work: what was wrong, what changed and what Google said.
A reinstatement
Google reviews every appeal and makes the call. An appeal can be prepared well and still be turned down.
A date
Google's own figure for an appeal decision is up to five working days. That is Google's timing, not mine, and the work before the appeal depends on what needs fixing.
A success rate
Every appeal turns on its own facts and Google makes each decision, so no success rate or outcome is quoted.
A spot on the map
Google decides which profiles show for a search, and how far the business is from the person searching counts.
Reviews you did not earn
No paid, incentivised or made-up reviews. Kovus cannot remove a review either: that is Google's decision.
The Business Profile stays yours throughout: the business is its verified owner and I work on it as a manager. The client owns the website, content, domain and source code. Optional ongoing services are month-to-month with no minimum term. The client may cancel at any time, effective at the end of the current paid month.
/ Sources
Every Google rule on this page comes from Google Business Profile Help. Google changes these pages, so check the current version before you act on one.
/ Related
/ The next step
If it is suspended, send the reason the appeals tool shows and anything that changed on the profile before it happened. If it is working, tell me what the business does and where it works. I will reply with what the work involves and a quote.
/ Perth based · Australia-wide by phone and video · You stay the owner