How to Get Help on the Google Business Profile Help Community (Forum)

The Google Business Profile Forum is peer-supported and managed primarily by a group of Product Experts that have the ability to escalate issues and cases to Google.  You can see a list of the current Product Experts here.  It’s best to post on the forum if you want feedback on a particular issue you are having with Google support, see something odd that you feel might be a bug, or need clarification on a particular policy.

The forum’s software has recently been flagging a ton of threads so people that are seeking help there don’t get their questions answered because the threads never post live. Unfortunately, a lot of the information we need to assist users on the forum also causes the threads to look spammy, and thus get flagged.  Luckily, Andy Kuiper found a solution for us.  To avoid having your post get flagged, please do the following:

1. Make the post on the forum as simple as possible. Do not include any of your business information on the post (phone number, address, or email).
2. Create a Google Doc with all the information we need on the forum to help.  It should include:
   1. The business name
   2. The business address
   3. The business website
   4. The link to the listing is inside the Google Business Profile dashboard. When you go to google.com/business and click on your listing, copy and paste the URL that’s in your browser.
   5. The case ID for your communication with Google Support (if you have one) along with all the details of what Google is telling you, or if they’ve simply not got back to you.  The case ID is usually a long multi-digit number that is in the subject line of the email you get from Google support.
3. Make sure the Google Doc is publicly viewable by anyone and include the link to that document on the forum post.

Joy Hawkins

Joy is the owner of the Local Search Forum, LocalU, and Sterling Sky, a Local SEO agency in Canada & the USA. She has been working in the industry since 2006, writes for publications such as Search Engine Land, and enjoys speaking regularly at marketing conferences such as MozCon, LocalU, Pubcon, SearchLove, and State of Search. You can find her on Twitter or volunteering as a Product Expert on the Google My Business Forum.