Google Local Negative SEO
Back in 2008 or 2009 when Google Maps was trasitioning into Google Places a lot of us SEOs tried to be too clever for our own good. We put our keywords in our business name, stuffed them into every nook & cranny we could find in the places dashboard. I even setup a PO Box in the centre of Melbourne so I could have a CBD address. The latter plan did not work. Subsequently we had a a couple of places accounts suspended. Places has always been a bit of a basket case though. One time I saw my places account combined with another Melbourne SEO company. Google had merged our names at our address. Being an SEO I have a healthy paranoia and contacted the other SEO Company. They were just as bewildered as us. Eventually I just decided to play ball with Google. On the weekly video back then I said if you like the show leave a review on our Places account. Within 24 hours we had 20 to 30 reviews. Then BOOM! Our account got shut down. When I was talking to a couple of Melbourne based Google employees they told me it would have triggered the algorithm because I had so many reviews in such a short space of time.
What a dumb algorithm
I wasn’t gaming the system, paying for reviews, all the reviews were from legitimate people who watched the show. Discerning, intelligent folk like yourself no doubt. We all know there are plenty of fake reviews out there that are spaced out over time on places accounts so as not to trigger the algorithm but they are fake! Ours were real. If this trigger still exists there are plenty of businesses that could be hurt from it as Google+Local or Places for Business provides a great source of traffic for many local businesses. There are legitimate reasons why it could occur if a business is running an event that people love and they all leave a review within a short space of time.
Negative SEO
What an easy way though, for your competitors to destroy your places rank. Simply get some school kids to go and leave reviews on your competitors places account in a short space of time and BOOM they’re gone. That’s how it used to be anyway. Has it changed? Maybe with the stronger verification of Google users through Google profiles it has but there are still plenty of reviews out there from anonymous “Google users”
Google Places STill Broken
As I demonstrate in today’s show Google Places is still broken with faulty listings, duplicate listings, impossible verifications for national businesses and many other flaws. I’d love to hear your experiences with Places.
Let’s find out if Negative SEO is possible
I’d like to know if this “review frequency” trigger still exists. A simple mind like mine can come up with plenty of ways to verify a review so why can’t Google? IP address, geo-location, time zone, Google profiles etc etc all present tools that Google could use. To test if it is still in use I’d like YOU to leave a review on our Google Places account IF you like the weekly videos. In turn I will give you nothing, no quid pro quo, no free beer or anything like that because that would be breaking Google’s terms of service.
. People have already started to review and nothing seems to have broken yet… maybe you’ll be the one that does it 🙂 . Love to hear your stories about Google Places.
Jim’s been here for a while, you know who he is.
