GMB Elaborate Spam

[Rob Oneil]

Hi all,

Newbie here. I was wondering if anyone has come across this type of spam before?

What this company is doing, and, it is working BTW, is registering a separate phone number for each listing which then diverts to the main number.

In some cases, they are registering more than one for the same suburb.

Each listing goes to its own GMB page, eg abc-termite-control-rose-bay.business.site.

They seem to have started this in the Eastern Suburbs, but now appear to be rolling it out right across Sydney.

Google appear not to be interested in reports of this, and in this particular space (pest control), they are the only business I see doing it.

Does anyone have any advice as to how to deal with this spam? Even if they only had one listing per suburb, they would have 300+ listings, and if they only got one job per month from each listing, that would be worth in excess of $80,000 pm.

Thanks.

 

[Colan Nielsen]

Hi @Rob Oneil Have you tried compiling everything into a sheet and sending over to Google via the redressal form?

GMB support is really backed-up though so keep that in mind.

 

[wexed]

There's several lead generation firms which do things like this. Here's one example that was documented a year ago...

Local Franchise Opportunity with a Chance to Enter the Google Local Spam Hall of Shame

Don't let cost prohibit you from owning a franchise. Incredible fast paced opportunity1 for expansion. Find unlimited potential in new(ish) and fast growing lead generation space. Very low initial costs. Three years of Photoshop skills, understanding of call center technologies and a straight...

blumenthals.com