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11 million fake business listings on Google Maps, is your Law Firm at risk?

There are currently an estimated 11 million fake business listings on Google Maps, and new listings with false phone numbers or addresses arrive every month.  

Making edits to a Google Maps listing is easy, and anyone can do it. If you wanted to, you could make it seem as though your competitor has closed down, or shortened their business hours, or you could slightly change their website address or even worse, and yes you can do that. You hope that no one does that to your business, but that’s the best you can do when it comes to protecting your Google Business Listing, or is it?

The business owner will receive an email about the change, and may notice it, but only after the change was implemented. They then need to go in and update their listing and wait hours to sometimes days or even weeks for Google to make the update in the search results.

I don’t think I’m alone in wishing we all had a way to disable people from making edits to our local listings if the local listing is verified and managed in a Google Business account. Improper edits can result in your listing completely disappearing from the search results, thus impacting your business in a major way.

One idea that’s been floated around would be to simply disallow third party updates for verified Google Business Listings. 

There is software in existence that is suppose to monitor your Google Business Listing in real time. Some of them even claim to be able to stop changes to your listings before they go live. They typically charge a monthly fee for these kinds of services and may be overkill for most small businesses. LocalViking.com is one such provider, offering plans for businesses of all sizes.

Why does Google allow anyone to make edits to your business listings? Because if your business is shutting down, chances are you won’t take the time to go online and mark the business closed in Google maps. Many business owners do not claim or maintain their own Google business listing. In order for Google Maps to stay updated, it requires this open collaboration.

Allan Frisk from Phoenix writes, “I’ve seen cases in which due to external edits, name or categories get changed and when corrected by the listing owner, the listing goes into suspension! There should be a better way to manage external edits for verified businesses, something that shows information on updates to posts, photos, reviews, etc.”  

Some business owners submit the listing correction and see the updates happen within as little as one hour, while others are not so lucky, and have been known to wait weeks. This is a harsh reality for Law Firms that depend on this organic listing, and a great reason to consult with a professional before attempting to manage or correct Google Business Listings.

In Orange County, California, the owner of one law firm had to film a video tour of his six area branches to reinstate his Google Maps listings. He found out that a competitor had posted 108 local listings, all of them with phone numbers that led back to that firm’s one office in the county. Other affected trades include moving, towing, vehicle repair, utility repair, and general contract work. 

The best offense is a great defense, particularly when it comes to maintaining a Google Business Listing for a business generating millions of dollars. Digital Advertising Agencies, like SYZYGY, incorporate real-time Google Business Listing monitoring services into all of our service plans. If you believe you have a Google Maps or Google Business Listing problem, contact me via the “Inquire” tab to schedule a time to talk.

If you come across misleading information or fraudulent activity on Google Maps related to the name, phone number, or URL of a business, you may use this form to submit a complaint.  Business Redressal Complaint Form

Brandon Speagle
PPC Manager, Author, MDDS
SYZYGY — Google Ads For Lawyers

Basecamp CEO tweets Google’s ads are a ‘shakedown’

Jason Fried, CEO of “Basecamp,” says it can be tough for the average consumer to discern whether a Google listing is an ad since Google’s “Ad” qualifier is so small. “It’s so easy to miss,” he said. “The ads look more and more like organic results.’”

This story relates directly to a common complaint I’ve received from Attorneys, referring to competitors bidding on a business’ brand name and Trademarks. “Conquesting” is a common way for brands to show up when potential customers search for a competitor. The increase in competition across all areas of industry is forcing business’ to step up their game when it comes to Google Ads. This increase in competition is forcing businesses who once had a monopoly on the top positions in Google to share the space. I would argue many businesses simply were unaware of how good they had it. It was easy to establish a false sense of security out of a mostly empty playing field.

In this case, it’s a company who has always dominated rankings in Google organically for its name and brand, and had no need to run paid advertising. It was also a big player in an emerging market that now has fierce competition. 

One business impersonating another business with the purpose of deceiving the public by using trademarked slogans or business names within the ads that are served to the public could be considered fraud. This goes against Google Ad guidelines. Fried did mention the company filed complaints about trademark violations with Google for ads that use Basecamp’s name, but added that ads of that kind keep popping up.

However, this isn’t just about the obvious cases of fraud as I’ve just described. The real subject of this complaint targets legitimate competitors, and their ability to bid on any business’ name or Trademark. 

This is the kind of advertising headache Attorneys and Law Firms have known all to well, for many years. In my last article, a prominent Texas Attorney filed suit against 14 Law Firms for allegedly bidding on his Trademark and name in a similar complaint. The outcome of that case could be an indication of what direction the law, and Google will go on this issue in the future.

In a statement from Google, the company prohibits the use of trademarked terms in the text of an ad if the owner files a complaint. “Our trademark policy balances the interests of users, advertisers and trademark owners, ” the statement said. “To provide users with the most relevant ads, we don’t restrict trademarked terms as keywords. We do, however, restrict trademarked terms in ad text if the trademark owner files a complaint.”  This is an important distinction to understand. You don’t see the keywords a business bids on within Google search results. You only see the Ad they have chosen to display when the keyword they are targeting wins the keyword auction.

In Google’s defense, one could argue that preference is being given to the business itself when a business bids on their own branded terms because they typically have the business name in the URL, and plastered all over their website. This improves relevance and drives down Cost-per-click costs for that name and related terms. This may not be the case however if you resist to make the proper investment in your Google Ads account, or don’t have it being managed by professionals. A poor performing account could leave you vulnerable to competitors burying your listing for your own branded terms. 

The tweet is a screencap of an ad that Basecamp is currently running in Google Ads, and reads “Basecamp.com | We don’t want to run this ad.” The copy says “We’re the #1 result, but this site lets companies advertise against us using our brand. So here we are. A small, independent co. forced to pay ransom to a giant tech company.”

Fried mentioned that he previously hadn’t ran ads in Google but had no choice because of paid ads from competitors burying his organic listing, sometimes as far down as fifth place.

There are reports that the Justice Department is looking into Google’s digital advertising and search operations practices’ as authorities prepare an antitrust review of the tech giants’ market power. It makes me wonder if the recent combination of social media exposure, and lawsuits might influence Google to find some kind of solution, especially when 30 states are considering their own antitrust investigations against the tech giant.

Fried continued, “It just seems completely unfair”.

He also says, “You basically have to pay protection money to Google to even have a chance”.

Fried says the company is running the ad to stand up for small businesses having these kinds of problems with Google. When you put it that way, it sounds like a selfless endeavor, and as a fellow small business owner, one I can empathize with and get behind. However, I don’t know if I would consider a business that has 50+ employees, and Jeff Bezos as a minority stake holder, a small business.

In my opinion, this is an example of what happens when you have it easy for too long. I call sour grapes..

I’ll leave that up to the reader’s interpretation, and conclude my observation.

Brandon Speagle
PPC Manager, Author, MDDS
SYZYGY — Google Ads For Lawyers

Texas Attorney Sues Over Google Ads

Jim S. Adler, “The Texas Hammer,” alleges that competing Law Firms infringed on his trademarks by using them in their Mobile “Click to Call” Google Ads. The lawsuits claim, using those keywords allows the defendants’ ads to pop up whenever potential clients search for Adler on mobile devices.

If the defendants used the name of his Law Firm in the Ads themselves, that is a violation of the Rules of Professional conduct in most states, and could be grounds for a lawsuit, and possibly even disciplinary action if the state BAR gets involved.

“New technology raises new challenges to trademark holders’ rights,” plaintiff attorney Jered Matthysse of Pirkey Barber in Austin said in an email. “Our complaints seek to prevent the misuse of click-to-call technology on mobile devices in a way that violates trademark rights and confuses consumers.”

Under most states bar rules, the name of at least one attorney or law firm and office address must be included in any communications used for advertising that indicates the attorney is responsible for the content on the website or advertisement. This information must be clear and conspicuous and must be of the same size, color, duration, cadence, contrast, location and audibility that an ordinary person would be able to easily read, hear, notice and understand.

“Defendants have bid increasingly higher amounts to strategically place their own confusing ads next to—and often before—plaintiffs’ own ads in the search results. Defendants have done so intentionally, knowing that having their ads appear next to or before plaintiffs’ ad will cause a significant number of consumers specifically searching for plaintiffs to be confused and contact defendants instead.”, The lawsuits alleged.

Digital Advertising guidelines for Lawyers can vary from state to state. Rules of Professional Conduct govern attorney and Law Firm advertising, including electronic communication, content published on the internet and attorney or law firm advertising or marketing websites. All attorneys must abide by these rules when creating a website for advertising or marketing purposes.

The lawsuits also alleged that the defendants use a fraudulent scheme to use Adler’s reputation and trademarks when they buy mobile device keyword search ads for his name and trademarks. This has the effect of making the defendants’ “click-to-call” ads pop up when people use their mobile devices to search for Adler, according to the complaints.

If Adler’s claims are true, this would mean that the Ad’s were impersonating his Law Firm in order to siphon business, which is a violation of the Rules of Professional Conduct in most states. This is why it’s important to work with Advertising Agencies who have a thorough understanding of your State BAR Advertising Rules of Professional Conduct in order to make sure that your Law Firm’s Google Ads don’t get you into trouble.

Also, the defendants are bidding high amounts for Adler’s marks, which has the effect of driving up the costs for Adler himself, the attorney argued. A higher number of consumers are calling the defendant’s’ lawyer referral call centers by mistake even though they’re searching for Adler, the lawsuits alleged. Those call centers then refer the clients to Adler’s competitors.

I personally don’t think this piece of the argument will hold much water seeing as this simply refers to the keywords being targeted on the backend. I might see this argument holding more weight if it weren’t for the fact that Google gives favor to your Business for your own branded terms, such as the exact name of your business.

I will be interested to see if this lawsuit goes so far as to say that even bidding on the name of a competitor is against the rules. If it does, I can almost certainly foresee more lawsuits of this type being filed in the future.

This is going to be an interesting case to watch unfold, and one that could set precedent, forcing Law Firms to rethink the way they advertise on Google. Feel Free to contact me if you’re interested in a list of the competitors who are bidding on your Law Firms’ name & Trademarks.

Brandon Speagle

SYZYGY — Google Ads For Lawyers