## **📌 What This Article Covers**

When an account or location is deactivated, automated features may continue pushing content to your Google Business Profile (GBP). This article walks you through three steps to fully stop that activity: disable scheduled GBP posts, turn off Data Lock, and disconnect Auto-Sync. Completing all three steps ensures Search Atlas no longer publishes posts or sends updates to your locations.

## **⏸️ Step 1: Disable Scheduled GBP Posts**

1. In the left sidebar, click **Local**, then select **GBP Projects**.
2. Find the project that contains your locations and click **View project**.
3. Open the **Posts** section and go to **Post Automation** or **Scheduled Posts**.
4. Toggle post automation **off** for the project, or turn it off for each individual location.
5. Review the list of scheduled posts and delete or pause anything you no longer want published.

**Important:** When you disable post automation, posts that were created by automation move to **Pending Approval** and will not publish. However, posts you scheduled manually remain on the schedule, so you must delete or pause them yourself to prevent them from going live.

## **🔓 Step 2: Turn Off Data Lock**

Data Lock keeps selected GBP fields matched to the values stored in Search Atlas. Turning it off releases those fields so Search Atlas stops enforcing them on your locations.

1. Inside your GBP project, open the location you want to update.
2. Go to the **Data Lock** settings for that location.
3. Toggle Data Lock **off** for each locked field, or turn it off for the entire location.
4. Save your changes.

Repeat these steps for every location in the project where you want Data Lock removed.

## **🔌 Step 3: Disconnect Auto-Sync**

Auto-Sync pushes updates such as business hours, categories, and services from Search Atlas to your Google Business Profile. Disconnecting it stops all future pushes to Google.

1. In the left sidebar, go to **Local** and select **GBP Projects**.
2. Open the project, then go to the **Auto-Sync** settings.
3. Toggle Auto-Sync **off**, or select **Disconnect** to remove the connection for the location or account.
4. Confirm the disconnection when prompted.

If you are deactivating the account entirely and no longer need any Search Atlas features, you can also disconnect the connected GBP account from the project connection settings.

## **✅ Step 4: Confirm Everything Is Stopped**

After completing the steps above, verify the following:

- Post automation shows as **off** and no scheduled posts remain active.
- Data Lock is disabled on all locations in the project.
- Auto-Sync shows as disconnected and no sync jobs are queued.
- No new posts or profile updates appear on your Google Business Profile.

## **💡 Notes for Deactivated Accounts**

- When an account is deactivated, its GBP projects are deactivated automatically, but features you configured beforehand, such as scheduled posts, may still attempt to run. Completing the steps above guarantees nothing publishes.
- Deleting a location inside Search Atlas does not remove posts already published to Google. Remove those directly in Google Business Profile if needed.
- Changes may take a few minutes to apply across all locations in the project.

## **🤝 Still Need Help?**

If you need further assistance, open the chat widget in the bottom-right corner of the platform and type **human teammate** to be connected with a member of our team.