By Spam is a plague on Google Maps.
There are various kinds of spam listings that haunt the platform, with the two worst offenders being keyword stuffed business names and businesses working out of temporary office locations. Zach Todd, founder of Persuaded.io (a local map rank tracking tool), has built a browser extension / add-on for Chrome and FireFox to help Local SEO practitioners sniff out spam listings on Google Maps that are located in coworking spaces, executive suites, and virtual offices (all of which are not allowed by Google My Business Guidelines).
The extension / add-on is called called “GMB Scanner”. It works by checking addresses that appear in search results on Google Maps against a database of known virtual offices, coworking spaces, and executive suites.
Install Chrome extension here: https://chrome.google.com/webstore/detail/gmb-scanner/icaeicoaedlgoampecmckcoickbfkmgb
Install FireFox add-on here: https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/gmb-scanner/
Then the extension overlays that data onto the search results to show what listings are probably spam or in violation of Google My Business’s Guidelines. These types of workspaces are considered ‘temporary’ by Google and are subject to the Address segment of the Business Description Guidelines section which states:
“If your business rents a temporary, “virtual” office at a different address from your primary business, don’t create a page for that location.”
This information can prove valuable to a local SEO helping to understand the tactics being used by competitors, how well spam listings are ranking after algorithm updates, and in reporting spam to Google. After you perform a serach using this extension you can then take a screenshot of the information and include it as part of your report when you submit a Redressal Complaint to the Google My Business team. While this information alone likely won’t be enough to have a listing scrubbed, by including it along with other information such as a screenshot from the virtual office website, you improve the chances of GMB taking action that removes the listing.
One of our favorite queries to look at for Google Maps Spam is the search term ‘Dallas SEO’ which in our home market is packed full of dallas seo agency listings; most of which are fraudulent, fake, or violate GMB’s guidelines. Recently this query got quite a big shake up with Google’s May Broad Core algorithm update which decided to rank a listing that shouldn’t exist as #3 for this term as revealed by the GMB Scanner extension.
In fact 3 out of the top 20 listings for this query are in temporary office spaces, two of them using the same service (Davinci Virtual Offices) and the other at a coworking space (WeWork). One of those three is quite a large design agency that claims to be experts in Local SEO as well.
We used the GMB Scanner extension / add-on to look at other local queries in a few markets and here are the results from page 1 of Google Maps listings:
- Dallas SEO – 3 virtual office listings
- Dallas Towing – 2 virtual office listings
- Dallas Dentist – 1 virtual office listing
- Chicago SEO – 4 virtual office listings
- Chicago DUI Lawyer – 5 virtual office listings (including 2 ads)
- Chicago Doctor – 1 virtual office listing
- Houston SEO – 1 virtual office listing
- Houston Dentist – 1 virtual office listing
- DUI Attorney Los Angeles – 5 virtual office listings (including 1 ad)
- NYC SEO – 5 virtual office listings
- NYC DWI Attorney – 3 virtual office listings
- NYC Rehab Clinic – 2 virtual office listings (including 1 ad)
- NYC Doctor – 1 virtual office listing
- NYC Dentist – 1 virtual office listing
- Fort Worth SEO – 1 virtual office listing
- Plano SEO – 4 virtual office listings
- DUI Attorney in Plano TX – 7 virtual office listings
FAQ’s About This Browser Extension
If a listing isn’t marked by this extension as virtual does that mean it’s not in violation?
Short Answer: No
Long Answer: This extension uses data from some of the largest and most well-known temporary office space companies including WeWork, Regus, and Davinci. It is very possible that smaller companies that compete against these will not get labeled until the developer adds their information to the extension.
Will this extension report the spam listings directly to Google My Business or Google Maps?
No. This extension only helps you identify the spam listings.
Does the Google My Business team use this extension to identify spam?
No, and they apparently don’t run checks against known temporary office location addresses either which allows so much spam to get listed on Google Maps in the first place. In our experience Google My Business team members use Google Street View and search for the exact address on Google before determining if a location is spam or not and suspending it for violations. This is still a very imperfect system which catches up real businesses all the time. This extension will help you identify spam which you can then add in a report to the Google My Business / Google Maps team.
Why should you submit spam in Google Maps to be reviewed by Google?
Well the biggest reason is that the Google Maps algorithm is simply broken and works in favor of spammers and scammers at the moment. As our research showed in 2018 the best way to rank highly and quickly for a keyword was to spam that keyword into your business name. In most cases these spam names are accepted without question by the GMB staff and published live giving a near immediate ranking increase to the spammer. When a fake or lead generation business creates a listing with a keyword spammed business name using a temporary physical location in violation of the rules, they then outrank most if not all local legitimate businesses. These listings are either fronts for your competitors or they serve to generate leads which they then sell to your business. Those leads were likely going to contact your business, which inflates the cost of customer acquisition and reduces or eliminates your profits.