Found the Firm I work with on a "Listicle"

[Foureyes]

Hi all,
I was looking into our backlink profile and found that another firm had back linked to us (NoFollow) that is trying to compete for space in our local market. This competing firm is 5 hours away from our location but are expanding to our area. I looked into the backlinks and found that they had mentioned our firm on a listicle style post that was was obviously making them look like the better option. The listicle also had missing or untrue information regarding our firm. My question as a 3 year old SEO is... What actions should I take? I was unable to find out who the web developer is from their site or WHOIS. I have found out that one of the attorneys at our firm knows an attorney at theirs and we want to keep a good relationship while still addressing the issue. Obviously the firm probably doesn't know that this is a bit grey-hat of their web team to do but I am curious to know how more seasoned SEO's would approach this?

 

[JoyHawkins]

If you want to keep a good relationship, your best approach would be to reach out and tell them what is incorrect and ask them to correct it.

 

[Conor Treacy]

Use their contact form to make contact, and failing that, call them and ask for a contact email address so you can chat with someone. Depending how messy things are, you'll want to make sure the conversation is via email so you have documented proof.

We've had our info listed with competitors; most of the time, it's right, sometimes it's wrong. We just contact via their contact form and let them know. Failing all of that, you can contact via the WHOIS on the domain (even though it's hidden), and then if things are really not moving forward, you can reach out to legal.

Keep it all as civil communication as possible unless you need to escalate it.