Competitor has REGISTERED spammy business name (in addition to "normal" business name).

[Vicky Trainor]

Hi all,
One of my client's competitors has actually registered his business as both (not the real business name) "ABC Locksmith" AND "ABC Locksmith - Local Locksmith - Locks Specialist".
I've still reported it (via suggest an edit) but just wondering if anyone else has experienced this?
It's a start-up business so there is no website yet, but the Facebook page sure doesn't have the longer business name!
Can anyone advise....if it's even worth the effort to pursue a change of GBP business name?
Thanks in advance

 

[JoyHawkins]

We actually have a video coming out about this on our YouTube channel tomorrow. If the business has legally registered the name and use it somewhere with their business, it's probably fine and Google won't do anything about it.

It's actually a viable way to get a ranking boost without taking much risk.

 

[LivinLaVidaLocal]

Hello @Vicky Trainor

according to my experience you can totally flag everything that does not belong to the name and the chance to have it approved is quite high.
Sometimes, even if "Locksmith" is part of the registered name you can have it removed by suggesting only "ABC" as a name.

Small tip: Don't limit yourself just to one suggestion. If the suggestion doesn't get approved in a couple of days you can resubmit it (ideally with another account). Sometimes I had my suggestions approved after 3 or 4 times I submitted them, so never lose hope!

Small tip nr.2: Always come back to check the flagged listings every once in a while to make sure that they don't change it back.

Hope it's helpful!

 

[JoyHawkins]

Sometimes, even if "Locksmith" is part of the registered name you can have it removed by suggesting only "ABC" as a name.

I really advise against doing this. If they have the name registered, they aren't doing anything wrong and the company you are editing can actually pursue legal options against you (yes, I have witnessed this happening multiple times).

 

[LivinLaVidaLocal]

Hi @JoyHawkins
thank you very much for the heads up! I wasn't aware of that.
Do you have more more details on these cases and which kind of legal options can be pursued?
I would like to learn more about that in order to avoid these mistakes in the future.
Thanks in advance!

 

[JoyHawkins]

No, to protect the privacy of the parties involved that shared it with me, I can't talk about much publicly.