Google may ask for your ID to verify your business
Government ID uploads are now part of Google Business Profile verification, and review appeals are running slow again.
Google is asking some business owners to upload a government ID to verify their Google Business Profile, the free listing that shows your business on Google Search and Maps. Joy Hawkins reported the change. Barry Schwartz also posted that verification through government ID upload is live.
Google is now asking for government ID to verify business profiles.
That is new. Until now, owners were used to other checks, such as a postcard or a video of the business. An ID upload asks for something more personal, and it is happening to at least some accounts right now.
What this means if you get asked
If Google prompts you for an ID, it is coming through the normal Google Business Profile verification flow, not an email out of the blue. That matters, because scammers love anything that asks for identity documents. Only ever upload through your own Google Business Profile dashboard after you signed in yourself. If a message arrives by email or text asking you to send an ID to keep your listing, treat it as fake until you can confirm the same request inside your account.
The sources do not say how many owners are affected, which types of businesses get asked, or why Google started doing this. Nobody has published that yet. So do not assume you will be asked, and do not go looking for the prompt.
Review appeals are slow again
Separately, Barry Schwartz says review appeals are delayed again. A review appeal is what you file when you think a review on your listing breaks Google's rules, for example a review from someone who was never a customer, and you want Google to take it down.
Google Business Profiles review appeals are delayed again
If you have an appeal sitting open, it is probably not stuck because you did something wrong. Delays like this have happened before. There is no fix on your side, so leave it alone and wait rather than filing the same appeal twice.
What to do
Sign in to your Google Business Profile and look for any verification prompt. If one is there, complete it through that dashboard only. If there is no prompt, do nothing.
Be the person who already knew
One email a day. Under three minutes. You will hear about a Google change before it shows up in your traffic.