GMB Guidelines: phone number must be under the direct control of the business

[freerunr]

In the "Website and phone" section of the guidelines, there is a bullet point that reads this:

"The phone number must be under the direct control of the business."

As we all know, there is a purpose for everything in the guidelines (right?). So anyone know why this is there? Maybe just an anti-referral-network-listing statement?

The reason I ask is because lots of marketers use vendors for call tracking, so just wondering what "direct control" actually entails.

 

[johnlavapie_SEO]

Some of the information in the guidelines are very vague. But I think this pertains to anti-spam.

Imagine a business that only runs online. No phones. So they will submit a listing but includes a phone number they only have access during the verification and dumps it after.

Or maybe a central phone number for all your local locations.

 

[Rich Owings]

Or maybe a central phone number for all your local locations.

I don't think it's that. They also say "Use a local phone number instead of central, call center helpline number whenever possible."