By Christel Bell
Publication Date: 2026-01-31 00:52:00
A Surprise small business owner says his company was shut out of Google’s platform for over a month, and he couldn’t get a clear explanation why.
Preston Hiller, owner of Gecko Garage Doors, discovered his business account was suspended when he logged into his accounts and saw they were restricted.
No one could find his business on Google Maps, and all of his company’s 5-star reviews disappeared.
“We’ve been in business over 30 years,” Hiller said.
The garage door company relies on Google for 30 percent of its leads and has earned over 2,000 Google 5-star rating reviews.
“Google is a critical tool for any business, just as far as people being able to find you,” Hiller said. “I don’t know if there’s a single service business out there that can survive without Google. Definitely not anybody who’s having any reasonable amount of success.”
“Our reviews are real customers with real experiences, sharing,” he said. “You know that people are looking at your reviews, reading your reviews, so it…