ReferenceBusiness Profile suspension
Ineligible: online-only business
Google lists brands, organizations, artists and other online-only businesses among those not eligible for a Business Profile. A business that sells only online, with no place where customers are met in person, falls under this rule. Check whether the business has a place that qualifies. If it does not, the website and the ad accounts are the right channels, not the profile.
At a glance
- Where it shows
- In the profile's suspension decision, under the eligibility rules.
- What stops
- The profile's eligibility is in question, so it can be suspended.
- How serious
- Serious. The type is named as not eligible, so the change has to be to the business's setup, not only to the profile text.
What it means
Google's eligibility guidelines list brands, organizations, artists, and other online-only businesses among those not eligible for a Business Profile. A business that works only online does not meet customers at a place the profile can show.
Online-only does not mean small or invalid. It means the profile is the wrong channel, because a Business Profile is built around a place and the in-person contact that happens there.
What actually triggers it
A store that ships everything and has no counter
The online shop is the whole business. A warehouse or fulfillment address is not a place where customers are met, so the profile fails the test.
A brand or product line listed on its own
A product brand listed separately from the business that makes or sells it. The brand name alone does not give it a place where customers are met.
A creator or artist who sells through a website
A performer or creator whose income comes from online sales or subscriptions, with no place where customers are met in person, falls in the same group.
Fix it in this order
- Check whether the business has a place where customers are met in person during stated hours. If it does, the question is the in-person test, so use that page.
- If there is no such place, the business is not eligible. A warehouse address does not meet the test, and a brand name does not either.
- Do not add a mailing or warehouse address, or hours nobody keeps, to make the business look local. That trades this reason for an address or hours problem.
- Keep the website and the ad accounts as the business's channels online. The profile cannot stand in for them.
Google's eligibility guidelines say failure to adhere to them may result in a suspension for the Business Profile and/or the Google Account, so an ineligible profile is not a safe place to keep the business's details.
When to appeal
An appeal can succeed when the business has a qualifying place and the profile did not show it. Send evidence of that place.
An appeal that argues the business is online and therefore qualifies will not work, because the rule names online-only businesses.
Often confused with
Ineligible: no in-person contact during stated hours
An online-only business has no place to meet customers. A business with a place can still fail the hours test if nobody is there during the listed hours.
A lead business sells contacts to others. An online-only business sells its own product or service online. Both are ineligible, and the fixes differ.