Does Google call your satellite offices and ask what's down the street?
-
Is this a real thing? Do they actually do this? Should I be concerned and train my receptionists to know their surroundings?
-
Never experienced and heard this before. In first sounds like a scam, then I have gone through many online communities to ask this. I found that yeah Google does calling for verification of your local addresses.
-
As a marketing agency, everyday we are bombarded by "Google listing verification checks", which are a telemarketers way for lead generation. They don't even realize they are calling an online marketing agency until they ask more questions. I wouldn't call it a SCAM, just poor solicitation.
-
We are a marketing agency in a fairly "corporate park" type area and have not ever had this happen to us. From some of the above responses I guess it is legitimate though? We are in the U.S. and will keep an ear out for this if it ever happens to us.
-
whow, in spain there are a lot of problems with all a new commerces in the same place
-
-
Hey Slumberjac!
Whew ... that was an alarming experience you helped the client through. Well done! Thanks for sharing your story.
-
Hi Donald!
Thanks for sharing these anecdotes with us all. Good ones!
-
Yes,
Google have been trying to stop people gaming their "local search" feature.
People are listing their business as "somewhere customers can visit" with opening hours etc, when in fact it is a home address or they are not at that address at all.
I had a client that didn't give Google the information they wanted when they called and they deleted their Google + listing that had 100+ genuine reviews! I had to ring Google and we had to take pictures of outside and inside the office to prove they were at that address.
It is now listed again! PHEW
Google are being quite aggressive with their approach so I would make sure your listing is accurate and staff are ready to answer any questions about your location and business hours.
-
Miriam,
I had trouble getting a client verified. I got google on the phone, they did ask me specific questions about what was across and down the street. After answering, they verified my clients business right on the phone. I asked if they were using google street view to verify my answers, the google representative said he could not answer that question. The final verification was they called my client to make sure the number was legit.
With that said, I never had them call me directly for verification purposes. Any call I get claiming to be google representatives has always been spam.
Thanks,
Don
-
That's a good guess, EGOL. Google definitely does call, and there have been instances in the past where failure to answer the phone with the exact name on the listing have resulted in being "caught" for spam, and many other scenarios I've seen. I like your intuition here about why Google might be asking what is down the street. I think they should also add, "And how's the weather outside your building today, hmm?"
-
Sounds rather aggressive.
Yes. It is also aggressive to fake a location. Might be criminal in some situations.
Perhaps Google does this in response to competitor reports, and, in which they can't confirm the presence of an office through public information.
-
it was 2015 and they were questioning the DC office only
-
Hey Marketing CH and Kevin,
Interesting! First I have heard of Google asking what is across the street/down the block from a business. Sounds rather aggressive. Might be worth posting in the Google My Business forum to see if you can get verification from Google that they are, indeed, asking for this specific type of info.
-
Hi Kevin, thanks for your response! How long ago did this happen? Did they ask for info about all of your physical locations? Or just your main office? Thanks in advance!
-
Yes, Google has called our main line asking for information across the street, down the block, etc. We had to prove we occupied our address, which is our sales office in DC. We currently have 6 addresses, with 4 physical locations,1 sales office and another obtained in the acquisition of another business.
-
What? This is the first time ever I've heard this, sounds like a total scam to me.
Got a burning SEO question?
Subscribe to Moz Pro to gain full access to Q&A, answer questions, and ask your own.
Browse Questions
Explore more categories
-
Moz Tools
Chat with the community about the Moz tools.
-
SEO Tactics
Discuss the SEO process with fellow marketers
-
Community
Discuss industry events, jobs, and news!
-
Digital Marketing
Chat about tactics outside of SEO
-
Research & Trends
Dive into research and trends in the search industry.
-
Support
Connect on product support and feature requests.
Related Questions
-
Google My Business - Service Area - Use Zip Codes or City Names?
Google allows you to choose up to 20 locations as service areas, and you can choose based on cities, counties, or zip codes. I'm trying to determine if zip codes, cities, or counties are better to select for our GMB profiles. We are located in the US. I am thinking it's best to use all 20 areas allowed on a profile as long as they are relevant, generally giving Google all the info they will let you provide is best. I also am leaning toward using zip codes because it also includes the city when you choose by zip code. For example: Entered the zip code 21009 and the service area selection provided was: Abingdon, MD 21009, USA Entering the city/state returns a selection of Abingdon, MD, USA I also think it may have to do with how people search and find your business as well? Does anyone have experience with this? Best practices? My google searching has not turned up any reliable info.
Local Listings | | WadeBayMgmt0 -
My Company Doesn't Appear in the Search Results on the Right When I Search for It
Hello, I just found that one of my companies (iFix Appliances) doesn't show on the right in search results when I search for it. I found it accidentally, I just wanted to check if it shows Request a Quote button as recently I enabled messaging on GMB. Yet it's not there at all. Could you please help me figure out what happened and why it's not there? Is something wrong with its GMB listing? I have two locations so I created 2 GMB listings for one company. Is this something that might have caused the issue?
Local Listings | | VELV1 -
Local Recreational Marijuana Dispensaries Disappearing from Google Maps when Plurals used.
This is the second time I have posted this question and never got a satisfactory result. I have an SEO client in Tacoma Wa and when you type (Dispensaries Near Tacoma they are in the Top 3 snack pack and the Google maps shows 20 other similar businesses. However, when you search (Dispensary Near Tacoma) only 3 or 5 recreational marijuana shops show up and my client disappears. Someone earlier suggested it could be because of the categories selection, but that can't affect ALL the other shops and like I said it happens in other cities. for example Dispensary Near Olympia vs Dispensaries Near Olympia. I have the full write up and pictures and diagrams on my blog. Please HELP! This could affect your future clients also. https://isenselogic.com/local-business-disappearing-on-google-maps-when-plurals-used/
Local Listings | | isenselogic0 -
Google my business : Multiple businesses operating from the same location.
After multiple phone calls with Google My Business help, I'm still completely stumped! I need to set up Google my business pages for 5 business', however, each of these companies work in the same office - so the location used on Google my business would be the same. I want to know if this is possible? Surely there's ways to do it, especially since the increase of hot-desking and shared offices! Thanks
Local Listings | | sophiecrosby970 -
My Evernote Notes showing up on Google Search page ?
I may just be living under a rock here in Reno, but tonight while doing a search (on desktop) for a phone number of a restaurant in Tahoe, Google served me a bunch of my Evernote notes along with my SERPS After the initial "WTFriday" moment, I realized that there was an "Evernote" bar above a series of images of what Google must think are related notes --- for example in a few weeks I am planning to take friends to Bliss & Rubicon - and I had saved the map in Evernote. Next to the map image were two notes related to daughters upcoming swim meet in South Tahoe. I did a similar search and this time a listing for hours at a local pool (near Tahoe) and two other documents came up. Since I live in Reno I thought it was odd to get all those Tahoe activities - but the fact that my Evernote on "Tahoe" things was there caught me off guard. The results were locate on the right hand where local business maps usually are -- the map and business info about the restaurant I was looking for appeared below that. ... while the left hand column features traditionals SERPs. . I am just trying to find out if I am late to the party on this ... or if serving data saved in my Evernote files is new... If anyone else has seen this, let me know. I could just be late to this. ...
Local Listings | | AJFanter0 -
Getting listing in Google map results
Hi all A website i'm current working on isn't showing up in the google map list results on normal search page, anybody know of any reasons this may be? I've never had any issues previously i just registered on google places but since changes to google business it doesn't seem to be automatic any more. Currently i have two different other websites showing in these listings for the search term however my client is questioning why they are not showing up here also as they have the same business type related to the search term.
Local Listings | | mari-rose0 -
How do I get a photos to display next to my Google Maps results in the SERP?
Why do photos show up next to the map in the Google Maps display on the SERP, while sometimes it doesn't. Am I missing something as far as a setting or place to upload the image or is it something that Google auto-populates?
Local Listings | | Gauge1230 -
Unable to verify my google local listing page by phone verification.
Hi, I have created the Google local listing page for my business site. I want to verify it using the phone verification but there is only a option - "verify by postcard". Is there no option to verify it using a phone number? Help needed.
Local Listings | | SangeetaC0