There are a number of historical methods that can damage your Google listing. These can be implemented by your competitors, or sometimes by hackers who want to hijack your customer base for their own profit. Here’s a short list, which I’ll be updating over time (update coming soon).
Summary and contents of the page
Preamble
I don’t recommend using these techniques to harm your competitors or third parties:
- If you do it to a third party, they may do it back to you.
- Avoid spending time and money on optimizing your listing and collecting intelligent reviews >>> see the method
Method 1: Post negative reviews
The simplest way is to pose as customers and post negative reviews. Usually under accounts with a pseudonym and a history of just 1 review.
Solution:
- Take advantage of this attack to show your customer orientation in response
- ask for your real name and date of birth
- if you do not receive a reply within 30 days, take the necessary steps to remove the false notice.
- Without success contact me…;-)
Method 2: Post hundreds of positive reviews
On the other hand, if you buy a review, it can be seen, and Google can block your listing for abnormal behavior. Some shopkeepers have even found themselves plastered on the front page of the local newspaper on suspicion of buying reviews.
Solution:
- Own your listing: this may come as a surprise, but if you don’t own your listing, you won’t receive notification…
- Google may take 15 to 30 days to clean up suspicious reviews
- When “abnormal” reviews are detected, notify google support to leave a trace by ticket.
- Once you’re in the support loop, send an e-mail listing the notices you consider abnormal and ask for them to be deleted.
- Without success contact me…;-)
Method 3: Modifying information in a file
1st loophole that allows this: 56% of local businesses have yet to claim the use of their local listing on Google My
Business and Bing Places. (SEO Expert Brad)
The 2nd flaw that makes this possible is a lack of governance and monitoring of listings by merchants. Google My Business is also collaborative, and few users have understood this.
A few years ago, when a modification was made to an owner’s file, the owner received a notification. No longer do we receive notifications, only the person who made the request is notified whether or not the modification has been validated.
Some unscrupulous players would change the phone number, add a nice domain name to the brand name, but control it so that they could change it in the future, or link to a central reservation system to make you lose margin.
Solution:
- Optimize the management of your file: governance > the database 2 administrators
- Check the information in your listing on a weekly basis by displaying it on Google and in the Google back office.
- Without success contact me…;-)
Method 4: A third party can become the owner of your file
As a reminder if you haven’t read the previous item: 56% of local businesses have yet to claim the use of their local listing on Google My
Business and Bing Places. (SEO Expert Brad). So it is feasible following certain “Blackhat” methods and backdoor listing validations for a third party to take over the administration of your listing. Generally speaking, the flaw is based on validation by telephone, unless third parties have access to your mail (and the famous google code). This is the case with night bars, for example, where the letter carrier drops off the mail during the day and someone malicious can drop by to check whether the google letter has arrived.
Solution:
- Be the owner of your file
- Optimize the management of your file: governance > the database 2 administrators
- Have completed all fields
- multiple numbers (landline and mobile)
- Check your listing information on a weekly basis by displaying it on Google and in the google back-office
- Without success contact me…;-)
Method 5: Create duplicates or multiple cards in close proximity
Via Google map, it’s possible to create Pin and establishments (which are not in the local pack 3 ), so you can imagine establishments that are close or confusing, with bad reviews generated. Some even manage to create real duplicates, which is why you’ll see the words “duplicate establishment” in your google my business interface.
Solution:
- Be the owner of your file
- Optimize the management of your file: governance > the database 2 administrators
- Have completed all fields
- multiple numbers (landline and mobile)
- Check your listing information on a weekly basis by displaying it on Google and in the google back-office
- Without success contact me…;-)
Method 6: Put up real or fake photos showing your establishment’s shortcomings
Google my Business is collaborative, so customers (or fake customers) can leave photos of their visit, with or without a review. In my opinion, this is a real flaw in Google. For example, all I have to do is take a photo of a dead rat and associate it with a visit to a restaurant, and the photo rises to the top of the list… and it’s very difficult and complicated to prove to Google that it’s a fake.
Solution:
- Be the owner of your file
- Optimize the management of your file: governance > the database 2 administrators
- Have completed all fields
- monitor your photos
- scenarios for collecting reviews AND photos
- Update photos regularly (season, sales, new products…)
- Check your listing information on a weekly basis by displaying it on Google and in the google back-office
- Without success contact me…;-)
Method 7: Blur a storefront on Google Map
According to this article, building facades can be blurred for a number of reasons related to image or confidentiality. I imagine that the intellectual property of an architect’s work could also be a good reason. So it’s conceivable that, to avoid finding you, a malicious third party could blur your storefront in Google map and thus harm its visibility and traffic.
Solution:
- Recent method I have to test…;-)
This is the first in a series of small loopholes that you should be aware of to avoid or anticipate them. Contact me if you’ve had other cases that I’d like to analyze.
