New Service to Help Correct Malicious Edits on Google My Business Listings

[BenFisher]

Hi Susan,
I sure can, send me a PM, or fill out my contact form at www.steadydemand.com and I will get you sorted out.

 

[brettmandoes]

Hey @BenFisher is this service something you still do? I have a client who has some sort of automation from a previous vendor editing his listing with old, outdated, and erroneous information. Google accepts the edits and there's not much I can do to block it.

 

[BenFisher]

We do, but it is a situation where they revert immediately? Or after a period of time? If immediate, you need to get tot he cause which can be an authorized app that is connected to one of the Google accounts.

 

[brettmandoes]

They revert immediately, which makes me think the previous vendor left their campaign running. We removed them as a user but I'm not sure if they're making suggested edits that are getting auto approved now.

 

[BenFisher]

Hrrm that means the Oauth is still in place. If you can have the old marketing person look at their account that might help. Also, if you can find out the vendor they used that would be handy as you could call and cancel.

 

[brettmandoes]

The old vendor has been contacted and they're saying they've turned off all automated campaigns. However, this one in particular is still going as far as I can tell. I'm wondering if the support person got lazy and responded without verifying that it was indeed turned off. I'm not sure how the OAuth could still be in place though, since we've removed them as a user. Is there some back end process that I'm unaware of that could still be approving their edits?

 

[BenFisher]

Yea, as far as I understand once the OAuth is in place you would need to disconnect services from the Google "Account" that the old vendor used. The problem could also be that even if they did shut it off, if they did it after they were removed the action would not take place on the listing. Did they mention what system they were using?

 

[brettmandoes]

No, but the vendor is Gannett. They go by Sweet IQ or Local IQ, but it's the same company, both brands owned by Gannett. So to make sure I understand correctly, you're saying that as long as the OAuth was initially put in place, that Google may still be allowing edits from that account to run through even after I've removed user access in the GMB dashboard?

 

[BenFisher]

It is possible, I have seen this happen once before. Real hard to find the source. And support will only say an owner/manager keeps making the edits. If you want to put up a thread on the community I can escalate it and see what they have to say.

 

[SmallBizGeek]

@Heidi Powell It doesn't surprise me that hibu (aka Yellow Pages) are behind this. I have had issues with them in the past, and they employ all kinds of dirty tricks to hang on to or acquire new business. A sales rep of theirs from Northern Ireland hounded me for about a year trying to sell website design services to me. He just sounded desperate. I later found out hibu had debts running into billions of dollars.

Whenever a GMB account is set up, it's best to get "managers" of the listing on board asap. They just need a Google account. "Managers" can be set as "Owners" and "managers" later deleted by the "Owners".

I would never in a million years let a third party like hibu have their tentacles in my business. They are just terrible.