Google My Business - use with caution

[Michael Beaumont]

Google My Business is a helpful way of showing local businesses near or around you with reference to a 5 star rating system from customers. It has helped many businesses with their premises or service presence.

It should not be considered as a serious business tool however, as Google can sweep away the listing at their whim with no explanation. If you have invested years of collecting reviews from customers to find them no longer viewable it can be a long time before you get the listing back on track.

I have helped several businesses now who have had their Google My Business listings removed and with the help of the Google My Business Community experts get the listings back on track again. It has cost the companies several thousands of pounds in lost revenue by the time the listings are available again.

It is probably better to invest in a quickly contactable review system like Trustpilot or Feefo who's sole business is to deal with reviews. It seems like because Google offer it as a free service they can offer little or no support and for a business service that simply will not do.

 

[intheTRADE]

What are the reasons for Google removing the listings though? Breaching terms?

In all the years of managing GMB listings for both myself and clients I have never known Google to just remove a listing

 

[fisicx]

Google doesn’t arbitrarily remove a listing. It only happens if you breach the T&C.

 

[Mr D]

Google My Business is a helpful way of showing local businesses near or around you with reference to a 5 star rating system from customers. It has helped many businesses with their premises or service presence.

It should not be considered as a serious business tool however, as Google can sweep away the listing at their whim with no explanation. If you have invested years of collecting reviews from customers to find them no longer viewable it can be a long time before you get the listing back on track.

I have helped several businesses now who have had their Google My Business listings removed and with the help of the Google My Business Community experts get the listings back on track again. It has cost the companies several thousands of pounds in lost revenue by the time the listings are available again.

It is probably better to invest in a quickly contactable review system like Trustpilot or Feefo who's sole business is to deal with reviews. It seems like because Google offer it as a free service they can offer little or no support and for a business service that simply will not do.

Do not trust Trustpilot. They have been known to manipulate the reviews such that negative ones get wiped.
Or even refused in the first place.

Never known GMB to sweep away stuff for no reason. Can recall a couple removed for a reason.

 

[Darren_Ssc]

It is probably better to invest in a quickly contactable review system like Trustpilot or Feefo who's sole business is to deal with reviews. It seems like because Google offer it as a free service they can offer little or no support and for a business service that simply will not do.

Google reviews system has its faults but it isn't corrupt in the way your listed alternatives are.

I agree with your point about not wholly being reliant upon a third-party. But, again, the alternatives are no more reliable or likely to be around in a couple of years time either. One could argue that at least Google reviews are guaranteed to be on the first page and not likely to be usurped by some Johnny-Come-Lately that isn't currently on the radar?

 

[WebshopMechanic]

Like the others have said, you follow the Ts & Cs then you have no problem. You abuse it and they will take you down. It's no different to trading on Amazon.

GMB is a great tool if used in the right way. You need to be active with images, collect reviews and keep adding new offers or updates. If you get into the 3-pack and you have the most stars, you can dominate.

Trustpilot is going the same way as Check-a-trade in my opinion. Losing its credibility.

 

[fisicx]

Trustpilot is going the same way as Check-a-trade in my opinion. Losing its credibility.

I think it's lost it already. Only the thick and stupid take any notice of these review sites.

You can buy verified Trustpilot and Google reviews.

 

[John Charles]

Yup, GMB just had some errors a few days ago and people are losing their maps.

 

[Michael Beaumont]

I have noticed from the 200 businesses I support, seven now have some problems with their GMB listing. It seems in the majority of cases that suppliers are taking over the listing location so when a business name in searched in google the info comes up about the business with images shown in the images tab but the supplier of the products for that business are showing up when the maps tab is clicked. Google announced the other day "improvements" to it maps API to give richer content.

 

[fisicx]

In other words, GMB is working exactly as it should.

 

[Michael Beaumont]

After further investigation is seems that some similar domain names and keywords are being associated wrongly with resellers products and suppliers. Someone in GMB is tampering with business listings after wrongly investigating duplicate businesses. Be warned!

 

[fisicx]

Someone in GMB is tampering with business listings after wrongly investigating duplicate businesses.

Somebody isn't doing anything. An algo is doing something.

 

[Darren_Ssc]

After further investigation is seems that some similar domain names and keywords are being associated wrongly with resellers products and suppliers. Someone in GMB is tampering with business listings after wrongly investigating duplicate businesses. Be warned!

Do you know how many people work in GMB listings globally? Take a wild guess and I bet you're miles out.

 

[estwig]

Thread smells of bully, using the emotion of fear to try and drum up some business.

Never mind be warned about using GMB, be warned about trying to game GMB and thinking someone will fix it for you.

 

[Darren_Ssc]

Thread smells of bully, using the emotion of fear to try and drum up some business.

Someone relying on doing listings for local businesses for a living, making various posts claiming to be some sort of guru, sneering at everyone else in the process.

 

[fisicx]

...sneering at everyone else in the process.

...and often getting it wrong.

 

[Lee Oakley]

Google My Business is a helpful way of showing local businesses near or around you with reference to a 5 star rating system from customers. It has helped many businesses with their premises or service presence.

It should not be considered as a serious business tool however, as Google can sweep away the listing at their whim with no explanation. If you have invested years of collecting reviews from customers to find them no longer viewable it can be a long time before you get the listing back on track.

I have helped several businesses now who have had their Google My Business listings removed and with the help of the Google My Business Community experts get the listings back on track again. It has cost the companies several thousands of pounds in lost revenue by the time the listings are available again.

It is probably better to invest in a quickly contactable review system like Trustpilot or Feefo who's sole business is to deal with reviews. It seems like because Google offer it as a free service they can offer little or no support and for a business service that simply will not do.

As someone who says they do SEO, to dismiss GMB is naive to say the least due to the ranking signal it offers.

Nevermind that a healthy GMB rating will also send the user direct to the advertised business' own website after reading previous customers reviews after they've done a Google search.

Whilst Trustpilot, etc have their uses as third party validation tools, they are not a substitute for GMB as people dont search for local businesses via Trustpilot. They use Google

But then I read the part were you say GMB "should not be considered as a serious business tool" and that you contradicted the argument with "It has cost the companies several thousands of pounds in lost revenue" , when said business owners GMB page has been removed.

Yeah, a free business tool that delivers thousands in revenue is obviously not to be taken seriously.

Not to mention that the GMB pages were likely removed because of fake reviews, gaming the system, multiple GMB pages or other T&C rule breaking.

 

[simon field]

Having just seen the OP’s website, I am left with the familiar odour of spam!