Blog – Page 62

Is Google Trying to Trick You? (And Other Related Scams)

Last Updated: February 15, 2024

As any savvy business owner or SEO specialist already knows, there’s an overabundance of online scams and unfair Google policies taking over web-based marketing. You don’t need to hear it from Prospect Genius. However, we’d like to dedicate this post to a few of the disturbing trends and scams that we’ve noticed recently in hopes that it will help some of you avoid potential dangers down the road. In particular, these cons and rip-offs are related to Google and Google+ Local.

Scam #1: Google Impostors Call Businesses, Seek Private Information

The first major scam that’s increasing in frequency involves anonymous third parties calling business owners under the guise of “Google,” “Google Inc.,” “Google Places,” or a similar name. While the idea of pretending to represent a company in order to trick unsuspecting victims into payment or divulging valuable information is nothing new, this poses a new problem unique to our current state of technology. Now, with resources like caller ID, it’s easier than ever for miscreants to deceive innocent business owners and lead them to believe that they’re speaking with a Google representative. Using these tactics, they’ll ask you for personal information and even convince you to sign up for a paid program that doesn’t exist. Of the scams that will be highlighted here, this one is by far the most dangerous.
How to Protect Yourself
As stated above, these swindlers have engineered a way for their telephone account names to display on caller IDs as different variations of “Google.” But don’t let that fool you. No matter what the caller ID says, there are only two phone numbers affiliated with Google that will actually make attempts to contact business owners: 650-253-2000 and 650-253-0000 (both these numbers show as GOOGLE INC on your caller ID). If you receive a call from any other number that claims to be Google, don’t answer. It’ll be an impostor, and the conversation won’t be pleasant.
For your security, keep in mind that anyone asking for your password, PIN, and other sensitive information is not a legitimate Google representative. Remember: The real Google will never contact you for this kind of information.

Scam #2: If You Have a Suspended Listing, Google May Extort You Into Paying for AdWords

We’ve heard reports from several different clients suggesting that Google is getting greedy when it comes to AdWords. Allegedly, if a business has had their Google+ Local listing suspended (for any reason), Google will contact that business owner and offer to reinstate the listing if they simply pay $200 per month for AdWords.
This has a couple of ominous implications. First, since Google has full control over whose listings are maintained or suspended, they could feasibly suspend a listing for the most minor infraction and then force that business to pay hundreds of dollars a month to have their listing put back up. We hate to be conspiracy theorists, but this sets a disturbing precedent, to say the least.
Second, if Google is willing to reinstate any listing for the price of $200, then it’s likely that they’re assisting some very dubious business owners who had been spamming Google Maps listings, lying about their storefront location, and employing other very shady strategies. Obviously, this doesn’t bode well for the reliability or overall quality of Google+ Local content.
How to Protect Yourself
If your Google+ Local listing was previously suspended and you receive a phone call from a Google rep with this type of offer, don’t comply. You don’t have to. In time, if you make the appropriate adjustments and revisions, Google will restore your listing organically. All it takes is patience and a strong will on your end.
In the meantime, utilize resources like Yelp, Yahoo! Local, Bing Local, Citysearch, Local.com, and Angie’s List. These directories rank highly with Google’s algorithms and will keep your web presence strong while you wait it out with Google.

Scam #3: Google Representatives Call Businesses, Pretend to Be Prospective Customers

Google has recently taken to contacting business owners directly and asking them about the accuracy of their Google+ Local listings. These phone conversations are usually very straightforward, with the Google representative asking simple questions about that particular business’s location, store hours, and other pertinent information. The ultimate goal of these inquiries is to determine the validity of a listing. If the representative suspects that the business isn’t being honest about its address or storefront, then the business’s listing will likely be suspended.
Here’s how a typical conversation with a Google representative should go:

Click to Listen
Unfortunately, we’ve seen firsthand that some of Google’s representatives are resorting to more deceptive tactics—apparently in an attempt to catch dishonest business owners in their own lies. In these phone calls, a Google rep will actually pretend to be a prospective customer who’s interested in the products or services that this business provides. Here’s an example:

Click to Listen
We understand that Google wants to weed out companies that are spamming, lying, or otherwise gaming the system, but stooping to this kind of deception is plain wrong, no matter how you slice it.
How to Protect Yourself
This is the least threatening scam of the ones depicted here. If you’re an average business owner with nothing to hide, then there’s no need to worry in either scenario. Rather, just be aware that this tactic is employed randomly and stay on your toes for any questionable phone calls. Remember, only calls from 650-253-2000 and 650-253-0000 will be inquiring about official Google-related business. If you receive a phone call from any other number, even if your caller ID says “Google,” you should not give away any information that isn’t already public.
If the call is coming from one of the two official Google phone numbers, you still may not want to answer questions right away. Instead, it’s not a bad idea to ask the rep to call you back in a few hours and take that extra time to study a Google Map of your surroundings. Pay attention to nearby intersections, prominent highways, shopping plazas, and other landmarks that the representative might ask you about. This will ensure that you answer all of the questions confidently and accurately, thus eliminating the risk of your listing being suspended from Google+ Local.

Conclusion: If Something Seems Shady, It Probably Is

Take a minute to write down those two official Google Inc. phone numbers so that you’ll recognize them. Be aware of the information about your business that’s available publicly. Most importantly, trust your instincts. If someone is calling you and asking for sensitive information, it’s probably a scam. If they’re trying to strong-arm you into a service that you simply do not need, it’s probably a scam. Even if you have a bad feeling about an interaction, it’s best not to comply at first and then do your research to be sure. When in doubt, call your SEO provider for advice. If you don’t have one, you can always get in touch with one of the specialists at Prospect Genius. After all, we’re here to help!

Changes to Google+ Local That YOU Should Know About

Last Updated: February 15, 2024

Surprise, surprise: Google is revising its local search policies again. At Prospect Genius, it’s our responsibility to stay on top of these ever-changing policies and how they could potentially impact you, our valued clients.
As Google adapts their policies, we must adapt ours to ensure the ongoing success of your business’s lead generation program. Fortunately, we haven’t had to make many changes on our end this time, but there are certain things that you and we will have to do a bit differently in order to accommodate Google’s demands.
Below, we’ve outlined the latest policy changes as they stand at the time of this writing. We’ve also included the ways in which they could affect your business and our suggestions for how to deal with them.

New Policy: Google Gives You 30 Days to Submit Your PIN

In an attempt to crack down on fake addresses and businesses, Google+ Local mails a postcard (or, on rare occasions, calls you directly) with a PIN to your physical location as soon as you attempt to create a new listing or claim an existing one. They require you to submit that PIN on Google+ Local as a means of verifying that the address exists and that you live or work there. Your PIN is set to expire in 30 days as a way of preventing spam and fraud.

How Will It Affect You?

Because Prospect Genius is in charge of maintaining your company’s Google+ Local listing, you need to provide us with your PIN as soon as you receive it. The timeframe used to be much more flexible, but now that Google is getting strict, they’ve instituted a concrete limit on how long you can take. Now, you only have 30 days to call Prospect Genius with your PIN so that we can verify your listing. If you don’t get it to us in time, your listing could be suspended indefinitely.
Bottom line: Call Prospect Genius as soon as you receive your Google PIN!

New Policy: Google+ Local Will Call Your Business Directly

This is the most important policy to keep in mind. Google+ Local has begun calling business owners directly in order to confirm whether the business is actually where it’s supposed to be. When Google representatives call businesses, they ask difficult questions about the company location that are meant to trip up the individual who answered the phone. Ultimately, Google’s aim is to catch fraudulent business owners in their lies and take down their listings.

How Will It Affect You?

With this policy, you’ll need to be on your toes. You might think you don’t have anything to worry about, given the fact that you’re being honest about your business, but that’s not necessarily true. The Google representative on the phone will ask you specific questions about your location (e.g. What’s the nearest intersection? Is there a CVS nearby? Are you close to I-95?). Any hesitations or inaccuracies in your answers could lead Google to become suspicious and flag your listing.
When navigating any interaction with Google, it helps to think of them as the judge, jury, and executioner. They have sole discretion when assessing the quality of a website or business listing’s content, and they have the final say in what ultimately makes it (or stays) on their results pages. In this way, Google is very much like the federal government of local search. This means that you don’t have to incriminate yourself—instead, you can “plead the fifth” and remain silent, at least temporarily. Rather than answering their questions right away and inadvertently incriminating yourself, you can postpone talking to them until you’ve sought counsel with Prospect Genius, your “defense lawyer,” if you will. Simply tell the Google representative to call you back in a couple of hours (for any reason you like), and then call your Prospect Genius campaign coordinator right away. We’ll walk you through the questions that they’re most likely to ask you and help you prepare the correct responses. Then, when Google calls you back, you’ll be able to answer their questions with honesty, accuracy, and confidence.
Some of you may have already received a phone call from Google. Hopefully it went well. For the rest of you who have not yet had the pleasure of being grilled by a Google+ Local representative, we’ve included snippets of real phone calls that our clients have received. The below audio clips from real conversations should give you an idea of what to expect.

Click to Listen
This first conversation is relatively straightforward: the Google rep asks for the address of the company’s main office and then for the website. Pay attention around the one-minute mark, when the business owner pauses to take out his Prospect Genius wallet card and read off the URL of his website.

Click to Listen
In the above clip, a business owner is rightfully suspicious of a Google rep who fails to verify his identity. Ultimately, the conversation is anticlimactic: when the business owner refuses to divulge personal information, the call ends. It’s important to remember that you have this option.

Click to Listen
This truncated clip is simply intended to show you that there won’t always be a language barrier between you and the representative. Some calls will go more smoothly than others.
However, Google will sometimes go the extra mile to trick you through flat-out deception. Listen to this clip of a Google+ Local representative posing as a prospective home restoration customer.

Click to Listen

Bottom line: Study your business’s surroundings, call Prospect Genius for assistance, and be prepared to answer any questions about your locale. When you receive a phone call from 650-253-2000 in Mountain View, CA, you’ll know that Google+ Local is on the other end.

New Policy: Changed Addresses Will Get New Listings

Not so long ago, you could change the address on your company’s listing without much of a consequence. This was helpful for businesses that moved locations or wanted to counteract an unfavorable reputation. However, there were also a lot of spammers who took advantage of this and created listings for locations in every nearby city. To crack down on this, Google+ Local has implemented a new policy for changed addresses. Now, instead of simply updating your current listing with the new address, Google will create an entirely new one that will have a note indicating that your company relocated from its previous address. Simultaneously, a note that says your company moved to a different location will be tacked onto your old listing.

How Will It Affect You?

This will only have a major effect on clients who have exhibited spammy behavior (e.g. creating a different listing for each city) in the past, as you will no longer be able to hide the number of times you’ve changed your address. But if you’re a business owner who has never moved or has only changed addresses once or twice in your entire time of operation, then there’s not much to worry about. For now, we’ll just reiterate how important it is for you to make certain that you input the correct information in the first place, since it’s nearly impossible to cover up any mistakes or revisions, as honest as they might be.
Bottom line: Get your address right the first time and don’t commit any factual errors on your Google+ Local listing, or else you’ll have a highly difficult time covering your tracks.

New Policy: Poorly Managed Listings Will Be Suspended

In addition to monitoring your address changes, Google+ Local carefully watches how your listing is being handled in general. If it seems like there is more than one entity in charge of your listing, Google will grow suspicious and most likely yank your listing until it gets sorted out. Most commonly, this happens when more than one person tries to edit a listing or gain access to the account by requesting another PIN.

How Will It Affect You?

When you began your campaign with Prospect Genius, we asked you to tell us about any Google+ Local listings that may exist for your business. That’s because if we try to gain access to your listing without knowing that you or another SEO company is managing it, then the validity of the listing will be called into question. For the same reason, it’s equally important that you don’t attempt to edit the listing yourself while Prospect Genius is managing it. If at any point it appears to Google that multiple parties are vying for control over the same listing, then that listing will be pulled.
Bottom line: Tell your Prospect Genius campaign coordinator about all of your existing listings and don’t attempt to edit listings yourself. Instead, call us and request a revision; one of our content specialists will take care of it.

When in Doubt, Call Prospect Genius!

Our team is here to help. If you ever encounter a situation that you don’t know how to handle or you simply need some clarification on these new policies, don’t hesitate to contact us! Your campaign coordinator, account manager, and content specialists are all standing by to ensure your business’s total success.

Is Yelp Doing More Harm Than Good for Your Business? Part 2: Prospect Genius Case Study

Last Updated: February 15, 2024

Last month, we issued a post detailing the problems that the popular site Yelp causes for small, local businesses in all different corners of the country. In today’s followup post, we’ll detail how, like many businesses, Prospect Genius was hit by Yelp’s well meant but poorly executed practices. It was an unfortunate experience, to say the least, but there are some important lessons in our story that are worth sharing.

First, an Overview…

As you know, Yelp is a self-described urban guide that’s predicated on active users and community members voluntarily writing reviews of local businesses. Its purpose is to enable individuals to assess how well other customers fared with nearby companies in terms of service, quality, price, and overall value. Generally speaking, Yelp empowers consumers and helps businesses connect with prospective customers.
However, there’s a major flaw in Yelp’s review system, namely the automated review-filtering software. Intended to improve the reliability of Yelp’s content, it weeds out questionable reviews while keeping seemingly trustworthy ones. When a review is filtered out, its star rating goes with it, leaving zero impact on a company’s rating, for better or worse. While this seems like a good idea in theory, it has actually wound up hurting a great number of users due to an imperfect algorithm that seems to favor negative reviews over positive ones. This is what happened to Prospect Genius’s very own Yelp listing…

How the Issue Transpired

We’ve been in business for over five years now, and we’ve always committed ourselves to providing clients with exceptional service and support. In fact, we are accredited by the Better Business Bureau and maintain an A+ rating.
However, our Yelp listing used to paint a much different picture. As it turns out, a former, disgruntled client decided to spam his own Yelp listings and ours. This is a client who had signed up for our lead generation program three different times for two separate, unrelated businesses. On his own listings, he boldly left glowing reviews without even disguising himself with a different username. These reviews beat the filtering system. Meanwhile, on our listing, using the same name, he wrote a deeply negative and false review, which also made it past the filters.
At the same time, five different, legitimate clients gave us very positive reviews. How many of those made it onto our Yelp listing? Zero. You read that correctly: 100% of our positive reviews were filtered out. This left our listing with a one-star rating and a solitary, terrible review from an angry spammer, while five excellent reviews remained filtered and hidden. As you can guess, we weren’t happy about this.

Our Course of Action in Response

Not prone to ignore blatant injustice, we faced the issue head on. First, we reported our former client’s reviews as spam on his own listing (because that’s exactly what they were). Then, we contacted Yelp’s Customer Service Department and requested that a human, not a robot, look at the reviews on our listing because the automated filter had made an error. In return, we received a form response that explained how the review filter works without providing any semblance of a solution.
At this point, we decided to go one step further and contact the Legal Department, this time with a stronger request: either manually review the results of the filter or remove Prospect Genius completely from the Yelp directory. Rather than comply with our request, their response was to mark our listing as “no index,” meaning that it still exists but cannot be found via search. Obviously, this is not the same as deleting it.

The Less-Than-Agreeable Outcome

As it stands now, our listing still exists on Yelp without being indexed. While you won’t find us by searching for our name, you can view the listing here: http://www.yelp.com/biz/prospect-genius-troy.
The negative review from our former client is no longer anywhere on our listing. One terrific client review with a five-star rating has made it through the filter—but four other positive reviews still remain hidden.
Unfortunately, Yelp’s review filter is here to stay. We can only hope that the software becomes more accurate as time goes on. For now, we’ll chalk this up to a learning experience and use it as an important lesson for small business owners everywhere.

The Lesson to Take Away

While this encounter with Yelp and its Customer Service Department has certainly left a bad taste in our mouth, we’ve at least managed to take away a few lessons—primarily, that you must be vocal and stand up for yourself as soon as you notice a problem. Otherwise, the bad guys (a.k.a. spammers and uncaring corporations) will win. Who wants to live in that kind of world?
The second lesson is a point that we’ve made before, but it bears repeating: Don’t put all of your eggs in one basket. Unpleasant interactions with former clients and impersonal web directories are bound to happen. That’s why you should always use a variety of websites when marketing your company. Some of our preferred directories include Google+, Yahoo! Local, Bing Local, Citysearch, Local.com, and Angie’s List. When you utilize a handful of different outlets, you’ll prevent your honest advertising efforts from being crippled by any one spammer, nasty competitor, or irate customer.
If you decide to stick with Yelp, just remember, that while it can be a useful tool when the system works in your favor, it also has equal potential to harm your reputation. Stay on top of your listing, watch out for dubious behavior, and report any problems as soon as they appear. If you end up having an experience similar to ours (which we wouldn’t wish on anyone), then you can save a lot of time by directly asking for your company not to be indexed. Yelp won’t delete your listing, but at least others won’t be able to find it without knowing the precise URL.

Get Advice From Prospect Genius

No matter which online business directories you decide to work with, vigilance is your best strategy. But if you see something suspicious and aren’t positive that it should be a red flag, feel free to give us a call! Having gone through this ourselves, we’ll be more than happy to give you our opinion.

Local University: Prospect Genius's Higher Education

Last Updated: February 15, 2024

At Prospect Genius, many of our clients are family-owned, brick-and-mortar businesses. They are extremely talented and knowledgeable in their respective trades and industries, but since they don’t specialize in online marketing, they aren’t always familiar with best practices and sound SEO strategies. Instead, it’s our job to stay abreast of all the latest developments in the online advertising world and remain as knowledgeable as possible about the evolution of local SEO. That’s why they hire us, after all.
In our most recent attempt to stay up to date with new local advertising strategies, we decided to attend a Google-sponsored event known as Local University. The conference was put together by a brain trust of the savviest SEO experts in the industry, focusing on an array of topics that centered on improving Google Maps rankings and local search results for businesses of all shapes and sizes. We knew that this would be an educational and invaluable experience, so we sharpened our pencils, opened our notebooks, and got to work.

Why a Conference?

As anyone in the SEO field knows, the world of local online advertising is constantly changing. This is especially true for Google+ Local, which is predicated on the physical location, relevance, and proximity of search results. Effective SEO on a local level is an art form and a science all at once. As Google takes strides to weed out lazy, dishonest web marketers through update after update to their search algorithm and filters, the process gets just a little more complicated for the rest of us.
While we consistently read industry blogs, interact with other SEO professionals, and conduct our own independent A/B testing in order to keep up with Google’s changes, information straight from the horse’s mouth cannot be undervalued. That’s why we ultimately decided to attend this conference: it would be the best way to receive the most forward-thinking information directly from the brightest minds in the field.

What Did We Take Away?

The expert speakers and panelists who presented were extremely knowledgeable, and we were able to glean a great deal of insight from them. While not all of the content was applicable to Prospect Genius, there were some important highlights:

Strategies to help draw real reviews for local listings
Proven tactics for improving local search rankings
Paid advertising options for local businesses
Ways Google is fighting spam in local business directories
Solutions to common problems encountered by businesses with multiple locations
Effective marketing tools beyond the scope of Google and Google+ Local

How Can It Be Applied?

Our production team is currently in the process of reviewing this flood of new information and brainstorming innovative, practical applications for it. We’re looking forward to:

Expanding our SEO practices into more paid advertising
Revamping our press release syndication strategy
Changing how we leverage local business directories (e.g. Yelp, Superpages, etc.)
Continuing to implement updates and best practices for Google Maps

Is Yelp Doing More Harm Than Good for Your Business?

Last Updated: February 15, 2024

Small businesses in every corner of the country are wondering where all of their good Yelp reviews have gone.
Yelp’s official website states that their primary purpose is “to connect people with great local businesses.” What they don’t tell you is that a large number of these upstanding local businesses are feeling the squeeze of Yelp’s practices every day.
This is especially true when it comes to reviews. In fact, a shocking number of small businesses have reported that a majority, if not all, of their positive reviews have been filtered out while their negative reviews remain. But before we get into the nuts and bolts of how Yelp’s filtering system may be hurting instead of helping, let’s take a quick look at what Yelp even is…

(Source: Yelp.com)

Yelp: A Brief Overview

If you’re a frequent Internet user, you’ve probably noticed that Yelp listings for local businesses tend to appear at the very top of Google search results. If you’re also an informed user, then you probably clicked on that listing to check out the business’s contact info and reviews.
Yelp.com is a relatively up-and-coming website that only gained significant traction on Google’s search results when Google dialed up the importance of reviews about 12 months ago. Yelp describes itself as an “online urban city guide,” designed to assist locals on the hunt for good restaurants, bars, hair salons, repair shops, dentist offices, and the like. Moreover, it helps local businesses connect with the people who are already searching for their products or services.
Over the course of the last year or so, listings on Yelp have gone from the bottom of Google results pages to the top, thanks to the site’s increased popularity on social media and a strong focus on user reviews. Will the party last? A Google algorithm update weighting social relevance and reviews more heavily is responsible for Yelp’s sudden rise. But, since Yelp competes directly with Google+, we think it’s likely the bubble will burst sometime in the next 12 to 24 months, as Google targets Yelp as the competition.
Today, no business owner can argue against the value of a good Yelp listing, whether it appears in Google search results or on the Yelp mobile app. When attractive photos, accurate contact information, and plenty of positive reviews are included, a solid Yelp listing can convince local consumers that a company is worthy of their business.
Unfortunately, if business owners are unable to fill their Yelp listings with flattering content—or are unaware that they have listings on Yelp to begin with—then they’ll quickly feel the negative consequences. The basic downside of Yelp is that anyone can create a listing on a business’s behalf and leave poor, unsubstantiated reviews. While Yelp seems to be making efforts to improve the quality of their listings by promoting community involvement, filtering dubious reviews, and nominating especially helpful and active users to “Elite” status, there are still many loopholes that allow poor content to slip through.
But how does Yelp’s wide range of positive and negative aspects pertain to small business owners and local service providers?

Good Intentions, Poor Execution

As Yelp continues to develop, it has attempted to enhance the efficacy of business listings by designing a handful of additional features, most notably filtered reviews.
The review-filtering feature is purported to weed out questionable reviews. It’s meant to provide users with more dependable and informative content and to discourage dishonest or spam-like behavior. Furthermore, any review that’s been filtered will not contribute to the business’s overall Yelp rating.
Operated by undisclosed software, the filtering process gives more credence to reviews written by users with proven track records of honesty, helpfulness, and fairness. While the intended goal is to increase the reliability and accuracy of Yelp’s listings, there may be some unintended consequences, due mainly to the fact that the filtering software isn’t perfect. Frequently, legitimate reviews from new, not-yet-established users will be filtered out, while poorly written, deceptive reviews from dubious users will make it onto the listing. Since filtered reviews have no bearing on a business’s rating, this can prove to be highly detrimental to listings that have few reviews to begin with.
(To hear about Prospect Genius’s own unfortunate brush with Yelp’s filtered reviews, stay tuned for our next blog post.)

Don’t Fall Into the Yelp Trap

Some businesses have been fortunate enough to maintain positive reviews on their listings, thus benefiting greatly from their experience with Yelp.
However, countless other businesses have felt the wrath of one angry competitor who’s gaming the system or are struggling due to the number of positive reviews that have been inadvertently filtered out. Those businesses may not realize that they have other options.
We’ve learned a lot from our brief run-in with Yelp, namely that it’s not the be-all and end-all of local online advertising. Many business owners think they’re stuck with Yelp just because a listing was created, but what they don’t know is that they can actually contact Yelp representatives directly and ask them to remove their listing from the site. If they don’t want to go that far, they can try to encourage satisfied customers to leave reviews and hope that Yelp’s review filter won’t remove all of them.
Moreover, there are several other online advertising options available outside of Yelp. While Yelp can be a helpful business tool, it’s not the only local business directory out there. Business owners can utilize Google+, Yahoo! Local, Bing Local, Citysearch, Local.com, and even Angie’s List to protect themselves from problems with any single website. It’s important for business owners to remember not to put all of their eggs in the Yelp basket, especially with Yelp’s success in Google search results predicted to melt away down the road.

To Be Continued…

In our next blog post, we’ll discuss our own experiences with Yelp and use it as an example of how other small business owners can take action themselves.
Stay tuned!

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