What is triggering Google account suspensions?
-
Over the past 24 hours many of our clients have had their Google accounts suspended. The explanation has been:
"After reviewing your profile, we determined that it has been used to impersonate another individual or mislead other users. This violates the Google+ User Content and Conduct Policy."
We are NOT impersonating our clients, we have their permission. We are not misleading anyone, simply setting up profiles for our clients on Google+.
This has not affected all of our clients, but a significant number of them. We cannot find a common variable between the clients that have been suspended, and those who have not.
- Some have had other Google+ profiles in the past, in another account, some have not.
- Some have been previously verified via SMS, others by phone.
- Some have posts in their profile, others have only the profile info filled out.
Again, we are not trying to game Google, we are simply setting up authorship for them, with their permission.
I have not seen much in the SEO community about this today, and this is NOT related to fake reviews. We do not partake in that kind of activity.
We have written a post on the topic, and no matter how this shakes out, I think our take is solid. Authorship is changing the game, content is changing the game, trust is changing the game… and Google is getting serious about it.
We have also seen this happen to our clients, to our competitors' clients, and to other marketing firms' clients, outside of our vertical.
Does anyone know more about the topic, especially in regards to the suspensions over the past 24 hours?
-
Another point. It doesn't have to be the business owner who does the verification and uses his own IP address. It can be the receptionist or anyone else. All I need is for the business owner to tell the employee to expect my call and follow my instructions. On one occasion, the employee even called me from home because she had no web access at work.
-
I am completely with Daniel here - IP's can trigger this. I know you say you don't think this is IP related, but there are many other instances of this happening. Why Google might favour some over others is anyones guess, but this is where I would place my bets.
-
Thanks for your feedback Daniel. We've tried this before, but with our volume + limited access to the actual business owners, its very difficult. Again, I don't believe this is a IP issue. The same thing happened to competing company's clients in our vertical that are smaller than ours (including some individual consultants that wouldn't trip an IP filter), within the same 48 hour period.
-
FWIW, I try to have my clients set up their own Google+ accounts, then share the login and password with me.
This is generally done during one of my update calls or web meetings, with me talking them through the process
-
Boy the thought has crossed my mind that the number for verification might get tagged. Going to have to start creating Skype accounts or something?
-
Thanks for your response. I know they can track IPs, but this appears to be something different. It hit our clients, and our competitors clients, on the same day.
I am thinking they targeted our vertical for some reason.
Also, many but not all accounts were affected.
Smells like there's more to this story than just "IP volume tracking", since we deal with that and similar volume issues often (like using the same ph# repeatedly for verification).
-
Hi, Even though you are setting up accounts for your clients, creating too many from the same IP would trigger the suspension. This is nothing new. I remember hearing about this last year. Mash
Got a burning SEO question?
Subscribe to Moz Pro to gain full access to Q&A, answer questions, and ask your own.
Browse Questions
Explore more categories
-
Moz Tools
Chat with the community about the Moz tools.
-
SEO Tactics
Discuss the SEO process with fellow marketers
-
Community
Discuss industry events, jobs, and news!
-
Digital Marketing
Chat about tactics outside of SEO
-
Research & Trends
Dive into research and trends in the search industry.
-
Support
Connect on product support and feature requests.
Related Questions
-
Google Analytics (Not Provided) Count will Increase 100% by Oct 2014 ? - Your Advice ?
What will you Do if you cannnot find your Top Keyword in Google Analytics "not provided"
Industry News | | Esaky
Check here for more details: http://www.notprovidedcount.com/0 -
What do people think of Google discouraging guest blogging
Google is recommending that websites nofollow any links from press releases or guest blogging. Do people think this is really the new standard and sites could get penalized for guest blogging with follow links? Is anyone changing their strategy after hearing this announcement? Where does this leave people who work in difficult niches (such as gambling)?
Industry News | | theLotter1 -
Google Penguin 2.0 - How To Recover?
Hi all,
Industry News | | chanel27
Last year, we have engaged a SEO company who promised to bring us to the first page on Google. But after 4 months, we actually found out that he might be using doing non quality mass link building tactic and this caused our ranking for all 3 sites we given to him to drop in ranking overnight on 22nd May 2012 after the Google Penguin 2.0 rolled out. Is there anything we can do to recover?1 -
Google update on Jan 17 2013 ?
Hi guys, Today ( Jan 17 2013 ) I am observing a lot of changes within google serp for a variety of keyword. im feeling like if there was a google update somehow. There seems to be few thread around the web that claim such an update ( or a panda refresh ) , were you affected ? Did somebady else noticed a huge SERP fluctuation within their primary keyword ? Thanks in advance for your answer 😄 Best regards, Yan
Industry News | | ydesjardins2001 -
Searching for a keyword on html source code of a website via Google
Is such a thing possible? Can we google for a specific keyword that can be found on the source code of a website? Is there any search operator for this? Thanks in advance!
Industry News | | merkal20050 -
Does anyone have a copy of the 2011 Google Quality Raters Handbook that was recently leaked?
http://searchengineland.com/download-the-latest-google-search-quality-rating-guidelines-97391 Google has been on a conquest taking them down online but I would really like to take a look at it if you have a copy! [moderator note - please use the PM system and exchange email addresses there. We've removed emails from this thread before it gets indexed and exposed to the world]
Industry News | | altecdesign4 -
Google places rejected
google has rejected a few listing i have for certain businesses, i have read the guidlines and I am well inside them. It does say that if business name is changed you need to re-verify, but does not allow you to do so. I think google have lost their way, they should stop building operating systems and electric cars and get their web site sorted out.
Industry News | | AlanMosley0 -
Google's New Release "What do you love"
Is this gonna be a game changer for SEO http://www.wdyl.com/ Regards, Shailendra Sial
Industry News | | IM_Learner0