Phil

How Likely Is Google Maps to Approve That Anti-Spam Edit?

August 13, 2018 by Phil 19 Comments

Fighting competitors’ spam in Google Maps is an unpredictable, mushy part of local SEO, and it requires the patience of a monk. Competitors ethical and unethical come and go, their rankings bob up and down, and Google flip-flops on policies, enforcement, and safeguards. The least-predictable part of all is: what happens to the anti-spam “edits” you submit to Google in your attempt to clean up the map?

That depends. An edit is not an edit. You can make many kinds of anti-spam edits on Google Maps. Whether Google rejects or accepts yours depends on the specific type of edit you make, on the particulars of the business in question, and on your history of submitting edits that Google ends up accepting.

Most Google Maps edits (or other requests) you can make are more likely to be approved if the business’s Google My Business page is unclaimed, if you’re a mid-to-high-level “Local Guide,” or if the page you’re trying to edit has a checkered past. It also helps if your edits are based on the truth and you make them in good faith, rather than in an effort to hurt competitors who play fair and square.

Still, in fighting Mapspam there’s always a “I wonder what this button does?” component, which you probably want to avoid as much as you can.

You’re more likely to get some of the results you want if you know where your patience is most likely and least likely to pay off. I’ve observed a few things, based on many hours of making anti-spam edits on behalf of clients and businesses I’ve encountered in the wild. My observations are based strictly on my experience. Here’s a breakdown of the different kinds of Google Maps anti-spam edits, and the general likelihood that each will stick:

Edits Google is most likely to approve

Remove a stuffed-in keyword from the “business name” field.

If a keyword or search term is not part of a business’s real name, and that’s obvious to you, there’s a good chance Google will agree.

Remove a stuffed-in city/place name from the “business name” field.
As with extraneous keywords / search terms in the name, you can probably get Google to remove the city name or other place name if it’s clearly tacked-on.

Remove a pile of keywords and/or place names from the “business name.”
Sometimes it’s obvious which part of the business name is “real.” Often the spammy competitor will put the real business name first, and stick a bunch of keywords and maybe city names after it – perhaps separated by a dash or similar character.

If all the extraneous words are lumped together and you edit them out, Google is more likely to approve your edit. If the real name is mixed into the keywords, your chances are still good, but Google is less likely to approve your edit right away, and slightly less likely to approve it at all. That’s been my experience, at least. My guess is Google has a harder time separating the wheat from the chaff.

Toss-ups: edits Google might approve, but might not

Remove a listing so spammy it could serve only as a lead-gen method for a “real” business.
If its name is an exact-match search term, and it’s got an exact-match domain name, and especially if the address is elusive or hard to find or you can’t pull up its business license, there’s a good chance it’s a lead-gen listing for a “real” business. You may not know which competitor that is unless you call (and pretend to be a customer). Just the same, Google may approve your request to remove the listing.

Change the site URL or landing page URL field.
Not an edit you’d need to make often. Probably the most likely scenario is your competitor puts his/her Facebook page URL or other third-party URL in the “website” field. (That’s an old way to game the Maps rankings, and it’s against Google’s “quality guidelines.”)

Flag down a negative review of your business from a non-customer.
Only expect Google to do something if the text of the review makes it clear the reviewer is a competitor (rare), or if it’s very un-PC, or if the reviewer has a fishy pattern of reviewing other businesses in your industry. Getting other people to flag down the review seems to help get Google’s attention.

Mark a business as “Permanently closed”
This one’s murky. I don’t know how* Google would corroborate or reject a claim that a business has closed. I’d be tempted to say it depends on how many other people flag a business as “permanently closed,” if not for the fact that Google often approves that kind of edit instantly after I make it.

(*Unless the business is, say, Toys R Us. RIP.)

Flag down irrelevant or inappropriate photos.
This is a rare time you can give Google specific details as to why you want the photo(s) removed. Perhaps that’s why, on the relatively few occasions I’ve reported photos, Google’s pretty good about removing them.

Edit the “business name” field significantly, or change it completely.
Even if the name is complete BS, Google seems to consider complete name-changes major surgery, and usually won’t approve your edit right away. Whether Google ends up approving it at all (days or weeks later) is a coin-toss.

Edits Google is least likely to approve:

Remove stuffed-in keywords or city/place names from the “business name” field when online branding is consistent.
If it doesn’t appear to be a pure lead-gen listing for a “real” business (see earlier point), getting the name fixed is a tough putt. In my experience, it works out that way even if the name used on Google My Business differs somewhat from the name on the business’s license. Probably the best time to escalate your request at the forum.

Remove a fake/questionable ratings-only review of your business.
Unless the reviewer has a pattern of crooked behavior, Google probably will leave the rating up.

Remove a fake/questionable ratings-only review of competitor’s business
This one’s the inverse of the situation I just described: that 5-star rating of your competitor’s business probably will stand, unless the same reviewer left negative ratings of other businesses in the same line of work (like yours). You can see the other businesses someone reviewed or rated by clicking on his or her username in the review.

Remove a listing at an ineligible address (e.g. employee’s home, UPS store, virtual office, etc.)
Google has all kinds of rules on the addresses you should and should not use, but does little to enforce those rules. Unless you can upload a photo that makes it plain as day to the uninterested stiff at Google that your competitor is not at his/her stated address, that listing will probably stick.

Edits I can’t yet comment on (yet)

Move map pin.
I can’t remember the last time I needed to move a map pin, so I can’t say how likely Google is to accept that kind of edit.

Change categories.
Because most business owners get the categories basically correct, because you can only choose from a list (and not specify custom categories anymore), and because Google often “fixes” the categories automatically, very rarely do I ever suggest a different category. Don’t remember what happened the last time I did, so I’d appreciate any fresh intel on this one.

Why Clunky Sites (Often) Punch Above Their Weight in the Local Search Results

July 31, 2018 by Phil 18 Comments

By “clunky” I mean a website of which you can say some or all of the following:

Doesn’t look smooth.
Not mobile-responsive.
Built on an old or less-common CMS, or is hand-coded.
Doesn’t have an SSL certificate.
Has some cruft, like pages with overlapping content, messy URLs, wordy title tags, etc.

At least in my experience, those sites often rank well. Surprisingly well, and more often than you’d think. When sniffing out a client’s local market and figuring out who’s up to what, naturally I’ll take a quick look at who’s #1 (and 2 and 3). Half the time that business’s site is beautiful and seems to check all the boxes, perhaps because of a recent redesign. But the other 50% of the sites are clunky.

How could that be? Aren’t the Maps and organic rankings so competitive these days that even slight edges matter? Why might a clunky site rank well in the local results? A few possible explanations:

1. In-depth content hasn’t been scrubbed out (“Hey, nobody reads anymore!”) in favor of an “elegant” and more-visual design.

2. The site may have fewer slow-loading graphics, whiz-bang special effects, bloated WordPress plugins (h/t Darren Shaw), and other things that make “slick” sites load slowly. Better to be the Badwater snail than the finicky tropical fish.

3. The SEO person hasn’t wiped out or butchered the title tags.

4. The SEO person hasn’t 301-redirected any or many pages, perhaps losing inbound links in the process.

5. Google has had more time to digest the content on the site, and to evaluate how searchers behave on it. It’s not changing every day, and is more of a known quantity.

6. Most other businesses have sites that are clunky, too, and most of the few who have slick-n’-modern sites probably think that’s all they need to rank well.

7. The business owner doesn’t spend all his or her time on the site, and puts a little effort into other things that matter – like earning links, rustling up reviews, and working up enough recognition that people search for the business by name.

I’m not saying you should try to make your site clunky, or that you should never put work into it or reinvent it. There’s a time to take it to the barber and the tailor, and there’s a time to take it behind the barn.

All I’m saying is that to rank well in Maps and in the localized organic results (1) your site doesn’t need to be perfect, (2) a redesign may not make it better, (3) the off-site work matters at least as much, and (4) tweaking your site shouldn’t be your nervous twitch when you want to improve your rankings. Don’t be afraid of a little crust.

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How well does your clunky site – or redesigned site – do in the local results?

Any first-hand experience that aligns or conflicts with what I’ve described?

Any war stories?

Leave a comment!

Generic, Local-SEO-Friendly Business Names: the Pros and Cons of Using One

July 12, 2018 by Phil 9 Comments

You’re considering a change of one size or another to the name your business, in the name of better local rankings. The basic plan is to get a “keyword” and city or other place name into your name.

To make that change you might feel the need to keyword-stuff your Google My Business name, to use a fake name on your Google My Business page, to register a “doing business as” (DBA), to rename your business entirely, or to name your new business with local SEO in mind from the get-go.

The first two options aren’t wise, and the others may be wise. Depends on your situation and on how you’ve weighed the pros and cons. Here are the pros and cons you’ll want to weigh before you mess with your name:

Pros of a generic, “local-SEO-friendly” name:

You may rank for that search term (and maybe similar terms) more easily and quickly. The name of your Google My Business page affects your Maps rankings more than it should – partly because Google often isn’t good at telling brand-name searches from broader searches. Your name also matters to your organic and non-Google rankings, to a lesser extent.
More-relevant anchor text in links. Any time the text of a link to your site is the name of your business, the link will contain a “keyword” and maybe your city naturally. You won’t need to resort to shenanigans.
Some customers’ reviews will contain that search-engine-friendly name. The content of reviews can help your visibility, in my experience.
For some search terms you might be the only business that appears on the local map (in a “local one-box” result, as it’s called).
Maybe you just can’t think of a good name.

Cons of a generic, “local-SEO-friendly” name:

It’s easy for your competitors to do the same. Most will not bother or simply will keyword-stuff their names but it may take only a couple of like-minded competitors to end your fiesta. Easy come, easy go.
You may get competitors’ bad reviews. Their angry customers may confuse you with your competitors.
Competitors may get your good reviews. Your customers can get their wires crossed, too.
In general, more people may think you and your competitors belong to the same organization (maybe you’re part of a chain). That can lead to confusing phone calls, annoying emails, mixed-up coupons, bad press, and more.
You may be mistaken easily for spam. Competitors and do-gooders may submit Google Maps edits to your name. Don’t assume Google will make the right call on whether to apply those edits.
You may be pigeonholed. Maybe you want to rank for other search terms and in other cities. Then you’ll be at a crossroads as to how to do that.
Citation audits may be tougher. You (or a third party you work with) may find listings that aren’t yours, and miss listings that do belong to your business.
Google may have a harder time identifying searches specifically meant for your business – AKA brand-name searches. Because of your generic, broad name, Google likely will hedge its search results with businesses other than yours, just in case the person wasn’t searching for your business. When in doubt Google includes junk.
You probably can’t trademark your name.
You miss out on the benefits of having a sticky, memorable name.

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How has the name of your business helped (or hurt) you?

To what extent did you think about the search-engine-friendliness before picking it?

If you had to do it all over again, what would you do differently?

Leave a comment!

Can’t Fix a Spammy Google Maps Name? Try a Partial Edit

June 30, 2018 by Phil 20 Comments

Let’s say you have a local competitor with a Google My Business page with a spammy name like “Your Best HVAC Company Cleveland.” You know the real name of their business is “Harry’s Heating,” and you’ve submitted the real name as an edit in Google Maps, but Google didn’t approve your edit. Google is too thick to recognize the fake name is fake – and against Google’s own policies – so the spam stands, and your spammy-named competitor ranks artificially well.

What now?

Try editing out only the name of the city. It’s a baby step. Google is much more likely to approve your edit – and instantly – in my experience. So, for a spammy listing like “Your Best HVAC Company Cleveland” you’d submit “Your Best HVAC Company” as the correct name of your competitor’s page.

Even if your first edit to the name has been “pending” for a few minutes or a few days (likely to be rejected by Google in the end), your newer, less-ambitious edit will be approved almost instantly if it’s approved at all. It’s not stuck in a queue behind your earlier edit(s).

Why is a partial edit more likely to stick? I’m sure there’s an algorithmic explanation (most edits are approved and rejected by algorithm), but I’d guess it’s simply because you’re asking Google to make a smaller decision. You’re not asking Google to change the whole name of a business.

Wouldn’t it be better if Google fixed your spammy competitor’s name completely, so the business’s real name showed up on Google Maps, rather than the Keyword Spam Lite version? Of course. But there are many benefits to trying a partial edit:

1. Google may actually approve the partial edit. Clearly Google had a problem with your broader edit.

2. You’ll lessen your competitor’s exact-match-keyphrase mojo. A page with a spammy Google My Business name ranks well often not simply because it’s got “keywords” in it, but rather because Google’s terrible at telling when people are searching for a specific brand or company. Even when you type in a broad search term (e.g. “electricians in San Antonio”), Google thinks there’s a chance you’re searching for the spammy business that has a Google My Business page of that name. Google would prefer to show you 3 businesses on the local map (including the spammer), knowing that 1-2 of those businesses won’t be what you want, rather than risk not showing you the specific company it thinks you might want to see.

3. Your competitor will have an ugly-sounding name show up in the search results. It may be more ugly or less ugly than the original version of the name (the one that included the city). But if it doesn’t rank as well (see point #2), even fewer people are likely to click, which in turn may put another damper on your spammy competitor’s rankings over time.

4. You’ll put another notch on your anti-spam belt. Your future edits will have a slightly better chance of being approved by Google.

5. Even if your competitors change their names back to include the city, you’ll become a pain in their necks. If they don’t just give up, by repeatedly adding the city back into their Google My Business name they’ll establish a longer history of spamming. That’ll be relevant information if you ever escalate the problem at the GMB forum.

6. Over time you might clean up your whole local market – at least a little bit. New would-be spammers will stick out even more, and some of the more-casual spammers may be deterred if they don’t see every other business use a spammy name. With luck, you can transform the local Superfund site into a mere town dump.

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What’s a stubborn Google My Business “name-spam” case you’re dealing with?

Any war stories?

Any tips?

Leave a comment

How Long Does It Take for a User-Submitted Yelp Page to Rank on Page 1 for a Branded Search?

June 19, 2018 by Phil Leave a Comment

One week or less, from what I’ve seen.

A 7-Eleven opened nearby last year, but Yelp didn’t have a page for that location. The locally-owned convenience store that used to be at that location had and still has a Yelp page. (Nobody’s reported it as closed, and Yelp hasn’t de-duped.) But the 7-Eleven didn’t have one for 9-10 months after opening.

I guess their SEO person is grazing in tidier pastures.

Anyway, I took it upon myself to submit a Yelp page for 7-Eleven, as I do from time to time. I’m not big on convenience stores, and I’m even less big on pro bono enterprise local SEO, but my grand act was borne of curiosity: I had occasion to look up the hours. Recently, a drunk guy crossed the street to ask if I knew how late the 7-Eleven was open. I told Otis 11pm sounded right, but that I didn’t know for sure. I looked it up when I got back from my stroll. Turns out Google My Business didn’t have the hours, so I checked Yelp, which also didn’t have the hours.

On June 11th I created a Yelp page for 7-Eleven (minus the hours). When I checked it on June 18th, a week later, it ranked #4 for a brand-name search. (It probably ranked on page 1 even sooner than that. Wish I’d checked.)

So what? Well, I suggest you patrol Yelp occasionally for “unofficial,” unclaimed, in many cases user-submitted (or competitor-planted) pages for your business. You may or may not want that page, and it may or may not make your business look good, and it probably will be mighty visible when people search for you by name.

Keep an eye on competitors’ Yelp pages, too. Those may rank well, even for competitive search terms, but you can probably get them removed or fixed without too much heartache.