{"id":107302,"date":"2019-03-26T20:00:00","date_gmt":"2019-03-27T01:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.dacgroup.com\/4-ways-to-fight-spam-on-google-my-business-2\/"},"modified":"2024-12-20T09:22:49","modified_gmt":"2024-12-20T14:22:49","slug":"4-ways-to-fight-spam-on-google-my-business-2","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.dacgroup.com\/en-gb\/insights\/blog\/local-search\/4-ways-to-fight-spam-on-google-my-business-2\/","title":{"rendered":"4 Ways to Fight Spam on Google My Business"},"content":{"rendered":"

If you’re working hard to get your business locations listed on the Google Local 3-Pack<\/a>, you know how heartbreaking it is to be outranked by a spam listing. Fortunately, there are ways to fight back against fake listings, fake reviews, and other spam symptoms that keep your Google My Business pages<\/a> from reaching their potential. But before we explore the most effective remedies, we first have to ask ourselves…<\/p>\n

What is local listings spam?<\/h2>\n

In our experience, there are three types of spam most common on Google My Business. Once you learn how to identify the tell-tale signs\u2014and understand how each type can affect your business\u2014the fightback can begin.<\/p>\n

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  1. \n

    Fake listings<\/h3>\n

    These are listings for businesses that either don’t exist at all or do<\/em> exist but have no physical location or service area. They may be fake places of businesses using a mailbox or virtual office to qualify for GMB listings. Although they’re supposed to be staffed during the hours of operation listed on their profiles, they are often empty.<\/p>\n

    \"Google<\/p>\n

    We also see people using multiple home addresses in order to create multiple false listings. Most commonly this is done by lead-generating companies that sell their leads to real businesses.<\/li>\n

  2. \n

    Keyword stuffing<\/h3>\n

    Keyword stuffing is the practice of adding several descriptive keywords into a business name and\/or description which are not part of the real-world business. For example, a business named “Crystal Law Firm” may spin its GMB name into “Crystal Divorce & Family Law Attorneys in Orange County”. This has been a surprisingly effective local SEO<\/a> tactic, but Google is taking steps to combat keyword stuffing\u2014thanks, in part, to other local businesses reporting it.<\/li>\n

  3. \n

    Phoney or biased reviews<\/h3>\n

    This is one of the most common types of spam in listings and also one of the hardest to resolve. Not only can fake positive reviews be purchased by shady businesses, but upstanding businesses may suffer from fake negative reviews through no fault of their own.<\/p>\n

    In total, there are four types of positive reviews that go against Google’s Terms of Service: gated reviews (i.e. “cherry picked”, where real customers are selectively solicited to leave glowing reviews); non-customer reviews, such as those made by employees or other peers; reviews obtained from other businesses by offering to leave them a positive review in return; and any review that has been incentivized.<\/p>\n

    \"A<\/p>\n

    On the other side of the coin, there are also different kinds of negative<\/em> reviews that fall foul of Google’s terms, including: reviews for the wrong (i.e. misidentified) business; biased reviews, such as those left by someone who promotes a competing business; reviews that are motivated by a controversial news story; and reviews on multiple locations of the same business regarding an experience at a single location.<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n

    So how do you fight back against GMB spam?<\/h2>\n

    If you think you have found a spam listing or fraudulent reviews, your first act should always be to alert your dedicated DAC account rep<\/strong>! As Google partners, we’re able to take quick, decisive action to remedy any kind of local search issue.<\/p>\n

    But if you’re not a DAC client, don’t worry: here are four simple ways you can fight back against local listings spam yourself.<\/p>\n

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