Google will add to existing penalties or restrictions on your Google Business Profiles if you continue to violate the same policy over and over again. The initial restriction might be 30 days but then if you are caught doing the same thing, Google can make that restriction twice as long.
Ben Fisher posted an example of this on LinkedIn where he showed an email of a Business Profile restriction notice but that was in addition to previous violations. The email said:
Reviews and ratings on your Business Profile will be restrictedWe recently found additional incentivised reviews associated with your profile. These are in addition to the reviews we previously identified to you and constitute a new violation. This violates our fake engagement policy and isn't allowed.
Customers won't be able to post new ratings and reviews or see past ratings and reviews for 2 months. They'll also see a warning saying that suspicious reviews were removed.
If you think we've made a mistake, you can appeal this decision below.
Here is a screenshot of that email:
Ben wrote, "Review restrictions on your Google Business Profile are Google's way of protecting the ecosystem from spammy content. Previously, a 1-month restriction was put in place if found to be in violation. I wonder how many more months they will add for this penalty?"
Forum discussion at LinkedIn.
