How-to · Updated October 11, 2026
Fix a "no new reviews" restriction on your Business Profile
Updated October 11, 2026
30 minutes, then Google's review time
Google can block new reviews for a set period when it finds fake or incentivized reviews under its Fake Engagement policy. Stop whatever caused it. If the restriction is a mistake, appeal on its own form, Submit Your Business Profile for Review, not the appeals tool. Explain why no policy was broken, and never create a second profile.
Before you start
- The restriction email from Google. Google says it emails business owners when it plans to restrict a profile.
- Your Business Profile ID. On the profile, select More, then Business Profile settings, then Advanced settings.
- The official email address that manages the profile, which the form asks for.
- Copies of how you ask for reviews, if you have them, such as the email or text sent to customers, to attach as evidence.
Find and stop the cause
Google's policies name the review practices that count as fake engagement or rating manipulation, so match your own requests against them before appealing.
- Offering anything for a review, or for changing or removing a negative one: payment, discounts, free goods or services. Google removes the reviews that follow such an offer.
- Asking only happy customers, or discouraging negative reviews. Google bans selectively soliciting positive reviews.
- Reviews from staff, relatives, former employees or anyone with a contractual or other professional tie to the business. These can count as a conflict of interest under Google's policy.
- Pressing customers to review while still on the premises, asking staff to collect a set number of reviews, or asking for specific content, such as a staff member's name.
- Reviews posted from several accounts by one person or at one person's request, and reviews bought from anyone.
End each practice that applies, whether or not you appeal. Asking every customer for an honest review, without an incentive and without steering the rating or the words, is allowed.
Appeal a mistaken restriction on its form
Google offers this form for owners who believe the restriction is a mistake, and it is separate from the appeals tool used for suspensions.
- Open Google's Business Profile restrictions for policy violations help page and select its appeal link, which opens Submit Your Business Profile for Review.
- Enter your full name, the official email address you use to manage the profile, your Business Profile ID and the business name.
- In the explanation box, describe how you ask for reviews and why that does not break the Fake Engagement policy, which is what the form asks for. Google says it re-reviews the profile and any context you add.
- If you have them, attach copies of supporting documents, such as your review request message. Google asks you not to send sensitive business documents.
- Select Submit, then click the link in the confirmation email to avoid delays.
Send one request and wait. Google's appeals page asks owners not to submit multiple appeals for the same issue before receiving a decision. If a practice above did happen, Google's pages do not say an appeal will help; the restriction runs for its set period.
Check it worked
Google emails its decision once the review is complete. Google's appeals page says appeal decisions can take up to 5 business days, though it does not say whether that covers this form. No page says how long a restriction lasts, only that it runs for a set period.
When it ends, if the profile showed a warning about removed fake reviews, check from a Google search in a private browser window that it is gone. Ask one recent customer for an honest review and confirm it appears; Google says its policy check can delay a review by a few days.
What a restriction can include
Google's examples are no new reviews or ratings for a set period, existing reviews or ratings unpublished for a set period, and a warning telling customers that fake reviews were removed, on top of removing the reviews that broke the policy. Google says the list is not complete.
Do not make a second profile
Google's appeals page says not to create a new Business Profile for the same business, and its guidelines allow one profile for each location, in one account or several. No Google page says a second profile would lift the restriction on the original.
A suspended profile comes first
If the profile is suspended or disabled, Google says it must be reinstated before you can appeal content decisions. Fix the suspension first, then deal with reviews.