Open hours Spam

[boydlake]

I have a client with a couple of new competitors that abuse the open hours ranking factor by declaring that they are open 24 hours/day.

These are lawn care service oriented businesses. They are not actually open for business all night and use an automated phone system to take information from customers at night- like everyone else.

What’s the best way to report this Spam?

I have used the phone number option in the available form but I am worried this isn’t close enough or on the nose enough for Google to take action. Also… how long is it taking for Google to process these requests these days?

 

[ElizabethRule]

By "available form" do you mean the redressal form? That is currently the best way to report spam on Google maps. I would report the competitors a few times and if Google does not take action I would likely stop as I am not sure if Google will ever take action on this type of violation. It's really hard for Google to confirm the open hours of every business on maps.

Best bet is to explain in the detail box exactly what happens when you call the business's phone number at a specific time, and best case Google will also call at that time to try and confirm they are open. Though honestly not sure they will take action if there is an automated phone system that answers...

You can also try suggesting and edit on maps to "fix" their hours - though be careful not to do this in an account that is associated with your own or a client's GBPs, as if your account gets flagged for a ton of map edits you could risk getting the GBPs suspended.

 

[boydlake]

By "available form" do you mean the redressal form? That is currently the best way to report spam on Google maps. I would report the competitors a few times and if Google does not take action I would likely stop as I am not sure if Google will ever take action on this type of violation. It's really hard for Google to confirm the open hours of every business on maps.

Best bet is to explain in the detail box exactly what happens when you call the business's phone number at a specific time, and best case Google will also call at that time to try and confirm they are open. Though honestly not sure they will take action if there is an automated phone system that answers...

You can also try suggesting and edit on maps to "fix" their hours - though be careful not to do this in an account that is associated with your own or a client's GBPs, as if your account gets flagged for a ton of map edits you could risk getting the GBPs suspended.

Yes, that's the form. From what I can tell, and as you say, it's not very likely Google can or will do anything about it. Thanks for the assist!

 

[boydlake]

Just following up... Google accepted my edits and now the business in question shows normal hours on their GBP. Huge difference.