How to report a business that built 3 websites to get traffic?

[Santi1077]

Hi SEO family,

I work with a few landscapers in the Texas area. I noticed possibly the worst case of spam in the 8 years of SEO. Attached below is a competitor that has created 3 websites to gain traffic. As of now it has worked, its confirmed its the same business as it even has the same contact number in all 3 sites. What can be done?

 

[fisicx]

Not a lot. People have been doing this ever since the first search engines launched. Google might eventually catch up and penalise them but it's unlikely.

Looking at the first site there isn't actually anything wrong with the site. And if it gets leads and the customers are happy why would Google do anything.

But, it wouldn't be difficult to outrank them. Which I assume the main issue you have.

 

[Glass]

Is this bad? Or wrong? Or spam?

I know you’re only supposed to have one Google Business Profile per business, but what says only one website?

 

[Santi1077]

Not a lot. People have been doing this ever since the first search engines launched. Google might eventually catch up and penalise them but it's unlikely.

Looking at the first site there isn't actually anything wrong with the site. And if it gets leads and the customers are happy why would Google do anything.

But, it wouldn't be difficult to outrank them. Which I assume the main issue you have.

Hi there, thank you for your response! I suspected this. When I was taught SEO getting aquatinted with Google guidelines was the first step. In all honesty it’s a little of everything, just me doing competitor analysis for my client but also understanding how to combat spam in this case.

I hope that in bringing this up it doesn’t encourage others to create multiple sites just to gain more SERP real estate. I have already went ahead and submitted a Google redressal form. I’ll keep you updated on what’s happens.

 

[Santi1077]

Is this bad? Or wrong? Or spam?

I know you’re only supposed to have one Google Business Profile per business, but what says only one website?

It’s definitely against Google guidelines. There are ways to get around this but i personally don’t want to encourage this method.

 

[cwdynamic]

Hi SEO family,

I work with a few landscapers in the Texas area. I noticed possibly the worst case of spam in the 8 years of SEO. Attached below is a competitor that has created 3 websites to gain traffic. As of now it has worked, its confirmed its the same business as it even has the same contact number in all 3 sites. What can be done?

What makes you say this is against Google's guideline? Please show me where?

This is simply web 2.0 sites. It's a very common thing. This is no different than having a Facebook business page. Schema has a placeholder for these. "Same-As". you can check it in google schema validator.

There is a lot of extra work that goes into this beyond these sites, changes you make to you main site, as well as your GBP for this to work effectively.

It's been around so long, I'm not sure it's as effective today, but if they are doing this correctly, I'd be willing to bet that they don't have 3 sites, they probably have 8-20 the others just are not showing right away in search. There are lots of places to camp web 2.0 sites.

 

[Santi1077]

What makes you say this is against Google's guideline? Please show me where?

This is simply web 2.0 sites. It's a very common thing. This is no different than having a Facebook business page. Schema has a placeholder for these. "Same-As". you can check it in google schema validator.

There is a lot of extra work that goes into this beyond these sites, changes you make to you main site, as well as your GBP for this to work effectively.

It's been around so long, I'm not sure it's as effective today, but if they are doing this correctly, I'd be willing to bet that they don't have 3 sites, they probably have 8-20 the others just are not showing right away in search. There are lots of places to camp web 2.0 sites.

To ensure we’re aligned, I want to clarify that a Facebook profile is not what we’re discussing here. A Facebook page is considered a social profile, and more specifically, it functions as a citation. That distinction is important to make.

As mentioned previously, there is a way this strategy can be executed in a compliant manner. To do it correctly, each of the three websites would need to be presented as separate, legitimate entities — including distinct business names, phone numbers, and supporting details.


Will Google crack down on the example we discussed? Possibly not in the short term. However, it’s important to distinguish between what may temporarily work and what is explicitly permitted under Google’s guidelines.



https://developers.google.com/search/docs/essentials/spam-policies

 

[fisicx]

I have a friend who now just uses AI to create wordpress sites. The content isn't the best but because each one is focused on a very tight niche they rank well. Last week his latest new site got him three new clients within 24 hours. He can do this indefinitely. The domain names are cheap and he uses really low cost hosting. He never renews, he just lets them run out after a year.

 

[fisicx]

As mentioned previously, there is a way this strategy can be executed in a compliant manner. To do it correctly, each of the three websites would need to be presented as separate, legitimate entities — including distinct business names, phone numbers, and supporting details.

No they don't. There is nothing preventing you creating umpteen sites all using the same contact details. They don't even need to be a registered business.

Nothing they are doing could be classed as spam.