How do you protect your GMB site from competitors or spammers edits?

[bestpvhomes]

I recently had a horrible experience with just this subject topic and thank G-d Ben Fisher was there to help me.

It's not clear to me that Google has instituted any protections wherein should a malicious or even helpful edit made by someone other than the owner or manager of a GMB page, an email is immediately sent to the owner or manager alerting them to the edit.

Furthermore, it is still my belief (am I wrong) that Google immediately publishes such an "edit" as fact before approved or not by the owner or manager

 

[MizMolly]

So many businesses knowingly or unknowingly spam their GMB listings. I edit spam most days in Google Maps. It may be annoying - but maybe your listing is spammy?

 

[bestpvhomes]

So many businesses knowingly or unknowingly spam their GMB listings. I edit spam most days in Google Maps. It may be annoying - but maybe your listing is spammy?

Well I've had it up for years and years. It's an established business since 1980. And Ben Fisher, one of a handful of google product experts listed on their support site, helped me create it. So no, it's not spammy.

I appreciate your time in answering however, respectfully, in my opinio, you've ignored the problem i posed.

I understand why Google allows the public to make edits; my problem is that Google is not notifying owners and/or managers of proposed edits that the public makes and that allows for a situation where MALICIOUS COMPETITORS can make edits redirecting traffic to THEIR site.

Would you mind taking a moment to address this issue? I understand you don't have the power to make it so, but I would like your opinion on why Google, seemingly, isn't respecting GMB owners with this courtesy

 

[MizMolly]

Apologies, I am not an advisor, not am I familiar with Ben Fisher. I am sure that a more knowledgeable member than me could provide input.

 

[Bryan Bloom]

@bestpvhomes This can be very frustrating believe me. It happened to one of our clients, someone - clearly maliciously, changed their physical address and Google immediately accepted it. They completely dropped out of the map pack. This was devastating.

We had to jump back in and change it back AND reverify! That brought it back. Insane.

My understanding, but @JoyHawkins or @BenFisher would know better is that ANYONE can edit a listing - suggest an edit. If you want to edit any listing even a Walmart location, you can...

Then it is Walmart's issue

s issue.

 

[djbaxter]

But do you not see "suggested edits" and a request to approve those edits in your GMB?

 

[Cordell Crowley]

But do you not see "suggested edits" and a request to approve those edits in your GMB?

Unfortunately, no. If Google's automated system approves a suggested edit from a user then it's approved and takes effect on the live listing. All you can do within GMB is click a confirmation button that the edit has been made (basically an "I understand that Google made this change already") and then make changes to your listing to undo the edit.

 

[BenFisher]

Under most circumstances, this can be intercepted. There are exceptions to the rule (ie a very powerful account or other information around the web that confirms the change), I see this happen to multilocation businesses for instance. But, most of the time the edit can simply be discarded. I actually have a service called My Business Assurance where we actively block these edits and more. (Hrrm I think we advertise that here )

 

[brettmandoes]

If you use a paid tool to sync up to GMB via API and manage within that interface, you can automatically override edits without any effort. I recommend this for all businesses but especially restaurants due to the quantity of edits they get. Especially ones that serve alcohol.

 

[djbaxter]

Thanks, @BenFisher

That's what I thought. I have seen such notices in GMB and discarded the changes.

 

[Tony Wang]

If you use a paid tool to sync up to GMB via API and manage within that interface, you can automatically override edits without any effort. I recommend this for all businesses but especially restaurants due to the quantity of edits they get. Especially ones that serve alcohol.

Any particular tool you recommend?

 

[Bryan Bloom]

I was surprised that Google accepted an edit without review for our client. It was a change of address from a business to a house.

So I am also interested in what tool you can use with API sync. Thanks!

 

[BenFisher]

So, the API is actually not very good to rely upon. Sometimes it works, sometimes it does not. We use a mixture of the API to monitor for updates and then a human to review changes.

You would be surprised how many times the API says there is an address change when there is not.

 

[freerunr]

You would be surprised how many times the API says there is an address change when there is not.

@BenFisher, do you ever see the inverse happen?

If you use a paid tool to sync up to GMB via API and manage within that interface, you can automatically override edits without any effort.

@brettmandoes, could you expand on how "without any effort" plays out practically? As in, when the API is working (building off of Ben's comment), does this mean literally zero effort?

 

[BenFisher]

The inverse can happen, we pull the whole array and check it against what is stored in our database to cover for that eventuality (which has happened)

I will never rely on the API alone, it is just too unpredictable for GMB.

 

[j_holtslander]

I have seen MANY business that seem immune to edits. Regardless of the time of day or night that the legit edits are submitted they are "Not applied" within seconds.
I feel like the GMB API is in use via a tool that is monitoring for changes and instantly declining or reverting them.

A couple examples:

• Try stripping the URL from this business' title.
• Try stripping the keyword stuffing from this business' or this business' or this business' title.

 

[JoyHawkins]

We used a different tool that relied on the API and was supposed to be able to lock your information. It did not work. I 100% agree with what Ben said about not relying on the API. I think that's why his service actually involves a human so it's more accurate

 

[brettmandoes]

We never had any issues with ours but that might be dumb luck. We did have a person reviewing as well though so she might have been fixing issues without sending it up the chain to let us know of problems. I'm supposed to have lunch with her soon so I'll make it a point to ask about her experience. Thanks for providing your perspective @BenFisher and @JoyHawkins !

 

[BenFisher]

Yea, that is probably true, most agencies will reject the changes (if they stay on top of it) But, it can be time-consuming and some edits can slip through. The API can alert about those types of updates.

I think what most people enjoy about our service is that they have peace of mind knowing that a Product Expert is babysitting the listing, also that we prepare the listing just in case of suspension. In all the reinstatements I have done (we are talking north of 200) I think I only ran into one company that was prepared for a suspension. Oh, we also send a monthly backup of the reviews ina CSV via email too!

 

[brettmandoes]

Yeah, can confirm, they were just rejecting the changes. She felt that it did help though because we went from no API support to a system that had API support. Client was restaurant w/attached bar and managing a few dozen of their locations.