Can a Business Protect Themself From a Competitor/Negative SEO Attack on Their Google Business Profile?

[areadirector]

I believe there is a possibility that our Google Business Profile may have had a negative SEO attack or competitor attack. It's only an assumption but nothing had changed on our GBP for some time then all of a sudden it was suspended. We had received an email just the day before saying something to the nature of; "I have 17 years experience in the hardwood floor restoration business and you guys are rookies compared to me so why should your business show up on Google before mine?". It may have been coincidental of course, but the next day our GBP was suspended. There were 2 other things that I can think of, one is that our helper was posting GBP posts (regular basis) and was putting a link in the description each time, but we're unable to delete posts because they aren't available in the suspended state. Second thing is that we started out in a shop at a particular address mid-town, but have since moved. We initially validated the GBP at one location (but as a non-face-to-face business location) but have moved and I wonder if there is a conflict somewhere on location albeit neither one is a public front-facing address? Nevertheless, we've gone through the repeal process and attached our Articles of Incorporation in hopes to resolve this matter in an expedited manner. Granted our GBP is less than a year old, but this suspension has caused a massive impact on our ability to conduct business as the phone hasn't rung once since. I've contacted the Google Business Profile support team and they are in the process of reviewing our case but I was wondering if it was a competitor attack such as using a google local guide account, or several for that matter, reporting our business as "this business is a duplicate, harmful, or misleading" under "suggest an edit", is there anything we can do going forward to fortify our GBP?
Thanks

 

[Colan Nielsen]

I'm sorry to hear that. Sounds frustrating. There isn't much you can do do proactively protect your listing. Most solutions are reactive. I have seen a case where Google blocked a user from making edits to a listing but it only happened because the user used the same account do make dozens of ongoing edits to a page. Most times they will use different accounts which makes it tough for Google to address.

@BenFisher offers a listing protection service that may be worth checking out.

 

[BenFisher]

Thanks for pulling me in Colan. Area, PM me and we can take this offline.