Understanding Google My Business & Local Search
Google Now Calling to Confirm Google Places Community Edits & Verification Issues
Over the past few months a number of clients and readers have emailed me and asked if Google ever called to check on listings. Apparently callers (often from India) would ask the business for information like street address. The callers when queried would claim to be from Google but would refuse to provide call back information to the businesses. The calls struck an odd note with the businesses and when asked I advised them that historically Google had never made such calls and that the calls were likely from scammers.
In May, in an effort to be clean up business listing quality, Google announced that community edits would require verification before they would be integrated into the listing results. Apparently these “consumer calls” looking for location information are in fact from Google and part of this program. Google has confirmed that as part of that additional level of verification, they have been calling businesses to find out business name and address. Google noted the following to me:
In some cases, to verify business information, we’ll make phone calls to find out the business name and address. However, we will never make an unsolicited call asking you to provide specific account information, passwords or other sensitive information over the phone.
If asked, the person will identify themselves as calling with Google Maps.
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Comments
63 Comments
Thanks for this article! I just answered the Google call, waited for the ‘human’ and was pleasantly surprised when I could understand the woman on the other end! She verified my phone number and name of company. I asked if she had the address, because when I Googled my company I was shocked that it didn’t ‘locate’ us, even though it seemed to know the address. She seemed surprised when I asked and verified that she did have my correct address. —- Then she asked if I was the owner. I said no. She asked when the owner would be available to speak with and I said never. I was sort-of joking, because we screen for sales that won’t interest ‘them’, however I was left stranded on the line. She said “Never?” and hung up on me! How incredibly rude! Perhaps I was rude by saying never first, but I can say that none of us will pick up and answer another google call.
Ive been getting calls from “google maps” at all hours even midnight. ive asked them to stop calling abf after over a month of them calling asked to speak to a manager he told me that his manager was out of the country for buisness and i didnt need to talk to his manager he told me that if never find out who he was or where he was. my caller id said broklyn. I need these calls to stop and cant get a phone number to talk to a real person.
I get 3-4 calls minimum a day starting as early as 8.30 am , free business listing etc HOW TO GET RID OF IT.
Aleem
Often if you wait on the line you are given an option push 9 to get off the scammer’s list. If not wait for the person and insist that you be taken off the list.
You should also put your number on the National Do Not Call list: https://www.donotcall.gov/ and then you will have a basis to file a formal complaint.
“The National Do Not Call Registry is only for personal phone numbers. Business-to-business calls and faxes are not covered by the National Do Not Call Registry.”
@Linda
Thanks for the clarification. If he is lucky it is the same number. If not, he can only request of the sheister to take him off the list then.
They call and when asked where they are calling from they hung up.
#631-318-7098
first it was a robo caller.
I asked them to identify themselves. That’s when the call was interrupted.
scammer.
@Belinda
That was NOT Google.
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