Understanding Google My Business & Local Search
Local Franchise Opportunity with a Chance to Enter the Google Local Spam Hall of Shame
Don’t let cost prohibit you from owning a franchise. Incredible fast paced opportunity1 for expansion. Find unlimited potential in new(ish) and fast growing lead generation space. Very low initial costs.
Three years of Photoshop skills, understanding of call center technologies and a straight face required. Photo geo-tagging and familiarity with competitive local exchange carriers a plus.
You can have an office like this in every city in your protected territory. Other Office styles are available!
See what some of our other franchises have accomplished in major US cities. Sign up soon, cities are going fast.
1- Hat tip to Tom Waddington for making me aware of this incredible opportunity.
© Copyright 2024 - MIKE BLUMENTHAL, ALL RIGHT RESERVED.
Comments
20 Comments
That’s bold.
Tip of the iceberg
I’ve seen more than just the tip of the iceberg or at least I think I have. Someone needs to put some heat on the iceberg before it sinks a ship.
Wow. That’s taking the spam to a whole other level.
There are already services offering GMB verification using this method.
Private Eye maybe, garage door company with a door like that is lolz.
I prefer the “open office” look, myself. At first glance I thought this was a belated April Fool’s post!
I don’t understand why they would do this? How would you generate profit this way? Some kind of scam?
@Andrew
Two possible models:
They frequently have a real location somewhere in the region and add “extra” locations to garner more customers for the actual location.
The other is strictly as a lead gen model where they get calls and sell them to real garage door companies.
It looks like a lead gen spammer to me too. I bet the phone numbers are through a service like Call Rails, Grasshopper or a similar service.
Hi Mike, thanks for the post, kind of hilarious really. Can’t believe this stuff actually happens. Wait a minute… yes I can.
Also the first image at the top of this post is broken for me in FF. Looks like the name of the image is garage-door-doors-spam.gif
LOL that’s rich… On one hand I kinda feel bad for people that don’t know that this is happens though…
You crack me up Mike 😉
W.O.W… that takes the spam locations to a whole new level… I’m not sure whether to be appalled or impressed… 😀
Wow, goes to show there’s a ton of money to be had for businesses in the Local pack if people are willing to stoop to this.
It also makes me wonder what moves Google could make to combat this. With spammers getting more sophisticated, I could see:
– Adding more incentives for Local Guides to physically visit and report on false locations.
– Simpler tools for legitimate businesses to report competitors who do this.
– Adding stricter penalties to the businesses/networks of GMB accounts that do this.
I have visited one of their locations, provided pictures of the real business directory versus the fake one they provided. Reported it to a Google employee on the phone and was given the following answer “How do I know your pictures are real and theirs are fake?” I went on to mention all the other locations with the same images just different business names photoshopped. The Google representative went on to tell me about the fact that the location has “real reviews from different IP addresses. ” I had already looked into each and every reviewer on the location so I gave a quick synapsis of all the reviewers review profiles and how they wrote reviews for the same businesses across the US. I even had an investigator for the city of Riverside code enforcement go out the business location to document there was no such business at the address. I cannot even tell you how thoroughly I have repeatedly reported the listing using overwhelming evidence yet it still continues to exist. Knowing the history of the company we are discussing and the fact that they have been prosecuted in San Diego county has lead me to believe the reason the listings are still intact has to do with the collection of evidence for prosecution.
That is wild – are they really doing those signs in photoshop? It looks like someone hung up the sign, took the picture and then most likely took it down. But that’s a pretty radical technique for GMB listings.
They are doing them in photoshop. How do you explain the door in multiple cities? Or the use of clip art?
Want to expand into another city where you don’t already have an office? Well I’ve got the solution for you!
The photo shopping of the business name on the wall or glass of the door is such a shady business. Not that I would ever advise this tactic to a client wanting to expand in another territory, but honestly I don’t think I work with anyone who wouldn’t find this just completely unethical.
Mike I have been banging on doors about these listings for months. Thank you for writing about this. I took pictures of the inside of their Riverside location address (Choice Garage Door Riverside Ca) over a month ago (6216 Brockton Ave Suite 210) The kicker is, there is no suite 210 in the building. I spoke with an industry expert who stated these listings were created by A1 Lead Generation (Tommy Mello). If you want to see a really bold claim of black hat tactics check out his website a1leadgeneration.com All of the numbers I have called for those locations lead up to GDS. (Neighborhood Garage Door Service) I have had city inspectors sent out to their Riverside “location” to verify they are not there, because they are not licensed to do business in the city of Riverside. I have pictures of the real inside of the building versus their fake pictures too. When I spoke with a Google representative they stated they could not tell whose pictures were in fact real. Additionally, I’ve reported the Choice Garage Door Riverside CA listing in every way possible.
Yet despite overwhelming evidence the listing has not been taken down. The only thing that has changed on the listing is a shift between the primary category garage door builder—>garage door supplier—> Garage Door Builder (again) Check out the reviewers on those listings, there is a lot of cross over from business to business on the review accounts. I’ve identified a ton of other fake entities through the reviewers. It was only after battling for two months that someone mentioned the name Tom Waddington to me. I am incredidbly grateful to know that I am not the only one battling these unscrupulous companies. If you want more pictures of the interior of the Riverside location, just reach out to me, it will be good for a side by side. P.S. I am hoping that above all else the Riverside listings and all the others just like it and are removed in an expeditious manner. Sounds silly, but thanks again Mike for writing about this. I can’t tell you how much this article means to me.
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