GMB Spam Attack

[JBencsko]

I have a client in the Garage Door industry (which is notorious for having a ton of spam) that looks like they are the victim of a GMB spam attack. We have come across 30+ spammy GMB listings that are using our website in them. The phone numbers all ring a garage door business which is answering the calls as the name "Garage Door Repair Service" but they will not answer anymore information on who exactly they are. As to why a competitor would do this I am not sure. Either they are trying to use it as some type of negative seo tactic on us (to make it look like we are spamming Google), or they are trying to use the power of our website to get these listings to rank and receive the phone calls they generate.

Has anyone experienced any similar type of attack ever? What would you guys suggest I do in terms of reporting these? I can use the GMB spam form (Business Redressal Complaint Form - Google My Business Help), but have not had much success using it recently. If I do report, would I need to list every single spammy listing there is? I found 30+ so far, but fear there might be hundreds of these which could take ALOT of man hours to find them all (they are all going by different business names so I have had to manually find each listing at this point). Any suggestions or help would be greatly appreciated. I would be happy to share the listings I found so far as well. Thanks!

 

[Conor Treacy]

Had a similar incident last month myself in the Garage Door Industry - Report Business "Doesn't Exist" - does it work? - Local Search Forum

Ended up using the Redressal form submitting 1 for each and it accepted most of them.

I also had our client snap a few pictures of other locations near them that the spammers said they were (one was an address of a bridge) and when we submitted the extra info, google removed them with no issue.

Sometimes you have to jump through the extra hoop if the first submit doesn't go through and removed.

 

[keyserholiday]

Please use the Business redressal form. I recommend creating an excel spreadsheet so you can bulk upload them more easily. If you have more than 100, break it up into smaller batches to keep it under 100. You will need to check up on the listings you reported in 2 to 3 weeks and create a new form for the locations that were missed. Or if you want faster results, contact your local media outlets and get them to run the story. That tends to get Google to take action much quicker.

 

[JBencsko]

Thanks for the tips. I will try the spam form.

 

[keyserholiday]

Here is the link to my spam-fighting sheet for reporting and tracking redressals

 

[JBencsko]

Thanks @keyserholiday !

 

[Yan Gilbert]

Odd that they used a site they don't control though. Maybe they wanted to use the website power to help rank initially and then switch it up later.

 

[JBencsko]

I know, very odd. I was shocked when I stumbled upon the first one using our website in it. It is crazy what spammers will do.

 

[keyserholiday]

@Yan Gilbert I think the increase in zero click search makes it more convenient to use somebody else's name and website. I once caught a spammer using Brightlocal's name and URL to get clients. I have seen spammers user, Angie's List and Home advisor's links as A: a ranking factor and B. to dupe consumers. It all churn and burn listings.