Linda Buquet
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Most of the pros here know that exact match or partial match names that include city and keyword RULE in the Google - very often unfairly. If a business or listing has nothing going for it but a KW stuffed name, it should not rank high.
If a listing is outranking you or your client, here is one black hat trick to check for.
tl:dr Don't try this at home!
For those that don't know much about Map Maker, you can add alternate names. BUT that's only for similar versions of your name, that you are known by.
For example Alpine Family Dentistry might have a lot of patients just call them Alpine Dental for short. OR maybe previously they WERE Alpine Dental. That would be an appropriate use of the alternate name field.
BACK STORY: This is the Chiropractor I posted about yesterday with some actual claimed dupe fake keyword stuffed listings. In this post: <a href="http://www.localsearchforum.com/google-duplicates-merges/37798-rip-map-maker-phone-search-local-dupe-research-just-got-lot-harder.html">RIP Map Maker Phone Search - Local Dupe Research Just Got A Lot Harder</a>. As I was doing research for that story, I discovered this little trick.
Well in yesterday's post I warned that dupes almost always kill ranking. Well in this case this fake name listing with 33 additional alternate fake names, OUTRANKS the real name and the other dupes. AND he not only outranks competitors for some keywords but SCORES a one-box and locks all the other honest chiropractor listings out of map search.
NOTE: "Austin Sciatica Relief" is part of one of the fake names, but I didn't think that would get many searches. So I did a search using the word Sciatica, but more the way a patient might search: "Austin Chiropractor for Sciatica" instead of exact match for "Austin Sciatica Relief". I also thought exact match would not be too competitive and the query I used would be more so. Still scored a one-box.
Granted those a long tails BUT they should not rank at all just because a fake keyword stuffed name was added. However, that shows you how much weight Google puts on keywords in the name.
That listing also ranks for some more mainstream terms, like at # 5 or 6.
And ranks #1 in the 3 pack for Back Pain Chiropractor Austin Tx
BUT THAT'S A KEYWORD STUFFED DUPLICATE LISTING - SHOULD NOT RANK AT ALL!
FOR CONSULTANTS: I shared this primarily to let you know this is one more thing to look out for when doing competitive research. Or even to check on a potential new client, to see if they have any past spammy stuff going on.
And it's something I'll now be checking more closely in all the "Why Does this Guy Rank So High?" posts we get in our Ranking Puzzles forum.
DISCLAIMER: I'm not really worried about showing this trick to unscrupulous marketers, because I really don't think you could get away with these edits today.
HOWEVER, if you check history in MM for this listing you'll see Google removed all those names AND a bunch of KW stuffed categories on Sept 29th 2015. Then GOOGLE added them all back in on Oct 1 2015. . So my guess is that was a bot, and those names are seeded via other sources or something. But I'm out of carpal bandwidth and can't chase this down any farther.
H/T to this lovely Chiropractor who now has given me fodder for 3 posts about spammy listings and what NOT to do on GMB. And thanks to Google for not taking these listings down the times I've reported this guy, so I still have something to talk about. (Let's see if his fake dupes stay up after all this.)
If a listing is outranking you or your client, here is one black hat trick to check for.
tl:dr Don't try this at home!
MAP MAKER NAME SPAM
Not only does he rank for some of these longer tail searches (see below)
HE SCORES A MAPS ONE-BOX which knocks out all the honest chiropractors
Not only does he rank for some of these longer tail searches (see below)
HE SCORES A MAPS ONE-BOX which knocks out all the honest chiropractors
For those that don't know much about Map Maker, you can add alternate names. BUT that's only for similar versions of your name, that you are known by.
For example Alpine Family Dentistry might have a lot of patients just call them Alpine Dental for short. OR maybe previously they WERE Alpine Dental. That would be an appropriate use of the alternate name field.
BACK STORY: This is the Chiropractor I posted about yesterday with some actual claimed dupe fake keyword stuffed listings. In this post: <a href="http://www.localsearchforum.com/google-duplicates-merges/37798-rip-map-maker-phone-search-local-dupe-research-just-got-lot-harder.html">RIP Map Maker Phone Search - Local Dupe Research Just Got A Lot Harder</a>. As I was doing research for that story, I discovered this little trick.
BUT DO ANY OF THOSE KEYWORDS RANK???
Well in yesterday's post I warned that dupes almost always kill ranking. Well in this case this fake name listing with 33 additional alternate fake names, OUTRANKS the real name and the other dupes. AND he not only outranks competitors for some keywords but SCORES a one-box and locks all the other honest chiropractor listings out of map search.
Fibromyalgia Treatment Austin Texas
Scored a maps One-box
Austin Chiropractor for Sciatica
Scored a maps One-box
Scored a maps One-box
Austin Chiropractor for Sciatica
Scored a maps One-box
NOTE: "Austin Sciatica Relief" is part of one of the fake names, but I didn't think that would get many searches. So I did a search using the word Sciatica, but more the way a patient might search: "Austin Chiropractor for Sciatica" instead of exact match for "Austin Sciatica Relief". I also thought exact match would not be too competitive and the query I used would be more so. Still scored a one-box.
Granted those a long tails BUT they should not rank at all just because a fake keyword stuffed name was added. However, that shows you how much weight Google puts on keywords in the name.
That listing also ranks for some more mainstream terms, like at # 5 or 6.
And ranks #1 in the 3 pack for Back Pain Chiropractor Austin Tx
BUT THAT'S A KEYWORD STUFFED DUPLICATE LISTING - SHOULD NOT RANK AT ALL!
FOR CONSULTANTS: I shared this primarily to let you know this is one more thing to look out for when doing competitive research. Or even to check on a potential new client, to see if they have any past spammy stuff going on.
And it's something I'll now be checking more closely in all the "Why Does this Guy Rank So High?" posts we get in our Ranking Puzzles forum.
DISCLAIMER: I'm not really worried about showing this trick to unscrupulous marketers, because I really don't think you could get away with these edits today.
HOWEVER, if you check history in MM for this listing you'll see Google removed all those names AND a bunch of KW stuffed categories on Sept 29th 2015. Then GOOGLE added them all back in on Oct 1 2015. . So my guess is that was a bot, and those names are seeded via other sources or something. But I'm out of carpal bandwidth and can't chase this down any farther.
H/T to this lovely Chiropractor who now has given me fodder for 3 posts about spammy listings and what NOT to do on GMB. And thanks to Google for not taking these listings down the times I've reported this guy, so I still have something to talk about.
(Let's see if his fake dupes stay up after all this.)
