Recent content by Stefan Somborac

@retrovertigo - It appears this process is in flux. Google recently told me that it was intentional for merge requests to send users to the verification status tool. They have since changed that; merge requests should be handled by the general form: https://support.google.com/business/gethelp -...

@Stormverb - I don't have all the answers, but made some observations that might be helpful. 1.) I spoofed my location to the spa address and searched for "botox" and "microneedling". On Maps, Coastal Health was first for both. No surprise; you'd expect them to be first when searching for a...

@retrovertigo - You're starting with the "Get Help" form. https://support.google.com/business/gethelp. It is a catchall for problems that don't have a "specialized" contact form. There are three such specialized forms: Reviews: https://support.google.com/business/workflow/9945796 Suspensions...

Local Falcon as a Spam Fighting Tool Joy wrote a comprehensive post on how to report map span. It focuses on gathering proof and taking action. For the very first step—finding potential spam—a geogrid tool is great. Simply click a pin to see which profiles are ranking at that location. See a...

Use A Geogrid to Locate Where an SAB Ranks We know the service area doesn’t impact where a profile ranks, yet when you search for something like “plumber near me” the search results are likely to include some SABs that service your area. Google has some location awareness for SABs. If this...

Use LocalFalcon To Check For The Local Filter When the local filter is in play, instead of showing the typical ranking pattern, you can expect to see one of two patterns: 1.) The profile doesn’t rank in huge sections of the grid, which indicates that the profile has largely been filtered out...

I recently saw a comment from a well-respected local SEO saying that they're not a fan of geogrid rank checkers. I was really surprised by the comment because I find geogrid scans really helpful for a bunch of different things. In fact, when it comes to troubleshooting GBP ranking problems...

Never. :(

@warrenpd - I went down this rabbit hole about 6 months ago. I was working with a self-storage company and a few of their competitors had the "Book Now" button pointing to their own websites instead of a 3rd party platform. I contacted support about it a few times but got no concrete feedback...

Interesting! Thanks for sharing that discovery.

@JS Girard - For a keyword without much competition, I've seen a profile rank over a long distance. 200km seems a bit far, but I think it's worth exploring. Compare low vs. high competition keywords. Use a grid tool like LocalFalcon and set up a grid that covers the whole area. Not only will...

@interiorguy - Google's support document, Fix suspended or disabled profiles, is surprisingly helpful. It includes details on what kinds of documents Google wants and how to submit an additional review to a denied request.

@joshejdjdjdjdndn - Yes, waiting up to 2 weeks is sometimes all it takes. Every day or two, search for your Business Profile by name. (Or name + city, as described in Find your business on Google.)

If a business is located outside of city limits, the Business Profile won’t rank well for queries containing the city name. (Examples here: https://www.sterlingsky.ca/physical-vs-mailing-address/) Personally, I like to visualize this with a map that shows both the location of the business and...

I didn't know Firefox could do that! Thanks for sharing. Firefox is underrated! For Safari users, you can do it in two steps: File, Export as PDF Open the PDF in Preview and Export to JPEG (or other image format)