I’ve scoured the google maps local business listings and have flagged illegitimate and places that go against Googles own policies.
Many come back as “couldn’t verify”, even though they’re blatantly not up to Google policy.
For instance, a Plumbing store that is a residential address, has no front office, no sign, etc. Everything that is required to be legitimate is missing, yet Google fails to edit or remove the listing.
How can I escalate this?
How did you try to remove it? If you used Remove / Doesn’t exist, you could try Remove / Spam. In my experience it sometimes works better. Give it a try.
Cheers
Morten
Well, it is not very simple to respond without some real example, @SupremeOverload , because the reasons for Google not being able to verify the edits are several, even if most of them are related to the verification it the digital footprint of the business (e.g. the business exist but the address is wrong) or the business is a service business, or it is claimed.
Can you please provide some links for a more appropriate feedback?
Look up Plumbing Central. 215 6 Hills Ln, Alpharetta, GA 30004
Residential. Tried everything, and always get unable to verify.
According to the Guidelines for representing your business on Google “If your business either has a physical location that customers can visit, or travels to customers where they are, you can create a Business Profile on Google.”
The business mentioned by you (a plumber) seems to cover the second case, as they visit customers at home.
In my opinion this business is not violating the rules. In any case I will tag a more expert Local Guide, @Flash , for a more detailed response
Guidelines do state a business required a front desk, a sign marking the business, etc. A house, with no customer entrance, no sign, no reception area, no customer service is just a private residence does in fact violate google business listing policy.
Ok, just did. Its confirmed that listing shouldn’t be there. See below the info that does state that address shouldn’t be there. With that, question still stands on how to remove a house as a place of business that violates Google policy.
Important: If you don’t serve customers at your business address, do not enter an address under the ‘Info’ tab in Business Profile Manager. Leave the ‘business location’ field blank.
If you don’t serve customers at your business address: Clear the address field and only enter your service area.
What makes you sure this is not a legit business?
Just because they made a mistake when creating their Maps listing does not justify removal.
Try looking up the phone number in an online phone directory. And check if the business is listed in the Local Business registry.
Cheers
Morten
It’s not a legitimate place of business because it is a private residence. Satellite and street view confirm this.
It’s very well possible that the place is registered as a business and they’re a mobile plumber. That type of listing is against maps policy as it inadvertently directs maps customers to a private residence instead of an actual retail business.
How can this be escalated to clean up thousands of these phony maps entries that “could not be verified”.
You need better proof. Just because a business is registret in a recidential area is not sufficient evidence that the listing is fake.
Judging from the website it could be legit and it could be fake. That is why I ask you to check the business registry and in a local phone directory. Without such proper documentation you can not expect to be able to remove the place on Google Maps. The automated approval system for edits will do exactly this.
Please check out these two posts:
And
They are in my opinion very relevant to your case.
Cheers
Morten
A street view and satellite view showing that this is a residential home is sufficient proof that this is not a retail store location and cannot accept customers.
The solution would be for the business to have a service area listed, and not the residential location. They don’t do business at their home, they service an area.
Per policy, Use a precise, accurate address and/or service area to describe your business location.
This nuance needs someway to be flagged for sake of google customers and to cleanup irrelevant locations.
Even Microsoft started out in the parents garage in a residential area, @SupremeOverload .
If the business is listed in the business registry and online phone directories with this address you will not be able to remove it.
Please read the links I provided.
Cheers
Morten
With 65 reviews you are very unlikely to be able to remove this business, @SupremeOverload .
It would be really helpful if you would use the tagging tool when replying to someone here on Connect. Type @ followed by the username. Type slowly. Then we get an e-mail notification and you are more likely to get a prompt reply.
Cheers
Morten
Hi @SupremeOverload , Indeed in my opinion you’re right. Although my friends @ErmesT and @MortenCopenhagen also suggest true things about a SAB.
A Service Area Business could not be added to the map, but could be add on a GMB panel which represents an area for the business on the map (not an individual marker).
About this specific place, its generic naming, address (which is not mentioned in website), reviews and photos shows it is not a real physical address. @Flash has great tips to hunt such spams.
On the other hand, there could be a mistake by owner to specify an address for this SAB (although this has less chance). So because this is a verified business, I think GMB Forum with experts like @HelmutG is the best place to describe such issues.
Thanks for your detailed insights, @Amiran .
On the website the following address is mentioned:
Alpharetta, Georgia
Lic #MP209208
The business could be a lead generating business. As much as I don’t like them I doubt they can be removed for being just that.
I agree that an experienced GBP expert would be a great next step as @SupremeOverload have not (yet) made a reverse lookup of the phone number and checked the local business registry. This could easily move the issue forward by a lot.
Thanks
Morten
You’re totally right @MortenCopenhagen
It mentioned to license number (Lic #MP209208) in their website but not a specific address.
Definitely this business works in an area but I have doubt about real address. Even it seems that the phone number is a mobile number of the owner Terry so it is hard to say there is a real place here! Anyway it could easily be changed to SAB by the help of GMB experts and Google and maybe removal is not the best option.
Hello @SupremeOverload ,
As others have been stressing, a residential address does not disqualify a place from having a listing.
There are two different sets of rules to consider here. First is GBP’s rule that a business must do face to face business with their customers in order for the place to be claimed.
The second is Maps rule that to be on the map it must have a storefront that people can visit during normal business hours.
To make them work together, GBP allows business to hide the street portion of their address if they are an SMB that goes to the customer. Such business will not have markers on the map but will show up in searches of the map or other local searches. That way all plumbers can be listed, whether they have an office or not.
There are lots of people that run businesses out of their homes. These generally fall into one of three groups:
In the context of Google Maps, all that storefront means is a place to receive customers. So a residence can have an office on the bottom level with it’s own doorway, and that will then qualify it as long as that business is staffed and ready to receive customers during normal business hours.
In this case Street View is from too far away to assert that this business doesn’t have a storefront. If that was your complete evidence then you should not attempt to remove this listing.
Additional evidence, though, is that this business does not list its address on its website, what we generally refer to as an “invite to visit”.
The second piece of evidence is the fact that this is a 24/7 business. The only way to be a 24/7 business and show on the map is to have an staff waiting in your storefront to receive customers 24/7. While it’s very conceivable and normal to see home based business that do meet the requirement of having a storefront; a 24/7 storefront in a residence on a residential street is not.
For a business that, as far as you know, exists at the location but doesn’t have a storefront; it should be marked as “Close or Remove → Not open to the public”. This allows Google to retain it’s info but hide it; and will not let the owner reactivate it unless they prove they have a storefront or they hide their address. If you’ve used “Does not exist”, "Permanently closed, etc. then please use that option instead.