In In The Field 025, I wrote about two Google Business Profile video verifications that failed. One was fair. The other was a forty year old business that showed Google everything it asked for and still failed for one reason: no view of the surrounding area.
I assumed that was a problem with one location.
It was not.
The Same Reason, Every Time
Since then I have shot verification videos for more businesses. Two of them sit on busy streets with other businesses all around them. I got five or six neighboring businesses in the frame in each video.
Both failed. Same reason. No view of the surrounding area.
A service business, run out of the owner's home, failed the same way. His name is on both sides of his truck, and I unlocked it on camera with his key. The surrounding area flag came back again.
That makes four videos, four very different locations, one shared reason. A college campus, a trailer park, and two busy commercial streets all got the same answer. At that point the reason stops describing the footage and starts looking like the label that goes on every rejection.
The Live Call
For one business, I got a live video call with a Google reviewer instead. Nobody explained anything. They just told me what they wanted to see.
They wanted a shot from across the street. They wanted the building with the sign on it. And they wanted to see the bathroom.
It passed on the spot. They told me it was verified and that it would take up to 48 hours to show up. Fast, but nothing about it told me why the videos kept failing.
No Help On Sunday
For the service business, I planned to do the same thing: skip the video and get a live call. I tried on a Sunday.
Live help is not available on Sundays. The only option left was to submit another video.
Same Footage, Different Order
Every video I had shot followed the same pattern. Start at the farthest point, show the street sign, and walk toward the business, ending with the signs and the proof of access.
This time I reversed it. I started at the truck. I unlocked it with the key and showed that I could get in. Then I walked around and showed everything surrounding it, including the street sign.
It verified.
What That Proves, And What It Does Not
One success does not prove the order was the reason. A different reviewer, a different day, or plain luck could explain it too.
But this was the same business, the same truck, and the same surroundings that failed the week before. The only thing I changed was the order. That is the first time a location failed one way and passed another, and it is the closest thing to an answer Google has given me, even if Google never meant to give it.
What I Am Doing Now
Until something proves otherwise, this is how I shoot every verification video:
- Start with proof of access. Unlock the door or the vehicle on camera.
- Show the business name on something permanent: the sign, the truck, the building.
- Then pan out. Street signs, the road, neighboring businesses if there are any, anything that places the business where it says it is.
- Keep it in one continuous take.
If a live call is available, take it, on a weekday. Be ready to show the view from across the street, the sign, and a space the public cannot get into, even if that space is the bathroom.
The Foundation Connection
A verified Google Business Profile is the base of a business's Local Authority, and right now the only way to get one sometimes runs through a review process that gives the same answer no matter what you show it.
Nobody at Google told me to reverse the video. I found that out by trying something different after four failures. If you are stuck in the same loop, try the order. Start with the key.
