I come across this issue on many occasions as a Local SEO consultant. The issue being competitors making fake Google+ pages so that they can rank more than once in the local pack. The benefit being pushing other businesses further down the list. It can be very frustrating, especially as you would think Google is smart enough to detect fake pages.
The Google My Business Support team do not make it any easier either, but it’s still worth a shot to get these fake pages removed. There are two options for reporting a fake page, one is very simple and the other takes a little more time and effort but tends to be more successful.
Option 1 – Report It
It’s very easy to report a fake page, using Google Map Maker. Once you are on Map Maker, you can search for the name of a business. It will then show a list of the Google+ pages that match or are similar to your desired search. Find the page you wish to report and click the little drop down arrow. You then need to click Report and select the correct reason along with any notes that will convince the support team.
Option 2 – Evidence & Report
Option 2 is very similar to option 1 but instead of reporting it via a contact form, this gives you the option to speak to a member of the Google Support Team. Before you go ahead and request a call, I would advise you to gather as much evidence as possible to show that it is a fake listing. Look out for things such as same phone numbers, same address or even a website that links bank to the original website.
Google support can be very difficult to work with at times and can sometimes be like talking to a child, so make sure you have everything ready. Once you have everything you need, go ahead and click this link.
If you have followed both steps and still can’t solve it, get in touch and I will try my best to help you out. Good Luck!
You may also be interested in our article on “How to Remove Fake Google Plus Reviews” and “How to Claim Ownership of a Verified Google Plus Business Page”
if you have any questions about SEO or digital marketing, follow Bowler Hat on Twitter, Facebook or LinkedIn and ask away!
24 Responses
Hello Ryan,
I was just wondering. You can contact me, I have a couple questions for you.
As I’m sure your busy and your time is valuable, I promise it won’t take long, it’s a problem I’m having with a few fake business accounts.
Thank You for your time,
Have A Wonderful Day
Agent Clark
Hey,
I’d be more than happy to help you out! I’ll fire you an email now.
Amazing value from this post! I managed to call google support team to remove a listing of a “tree-felling” company that had listed to my private property!
Service was amazing, and without this post, I would have been lost!
Thanks
Hey Terrence,
Glad to hear that I could help! If you ever need any assistance in the future, feel free to pop us an email.
Hello I need help to remove a fake page that is about my business .. can you plz contact me.. thank you!
Hey Judith,
Sure! I’ll send you an email.
Hi. Ryan
I too having difficulties because someone are using business name in Google my business listing.
I had try your way.
Seem Google my business team are busy still no reply
Hey Samuel,
I’m sorry to hear that you are not having much look with Google support. I suffer the same pain every week. Hopefully they will get the issue sorted for you in the near future.
Dear Ryan,
I am having trouble with fake pages on Google and they have only been brought to my attention because guests are saying the wrong address is on there. When Googling the Tavistock Hotel, our Tavistock Hotel comes up and another fake ‘Tavistock Hotel’ comes up, with our Imperial address. Please can you help!
Kind regards,
Hey Christianna,
I’m sure we can help. I’ll send you an email now.
We are being harrased by a client who now appears to be creating falsified profiles with no history and impersonating current clients. They are making multiple bad reviews on our google business page . What can I do to remove these false profile comments?
Kind regards
Chrissy
Hey Chrissy,
I’m sure we can help. I’ll send you an email now.
I am having a problem with a business which is listed twice just so that they also appear when you tipe in another city.
Hey Eric,
No problem. I’ll ping you an email and see if we can help.
Hi Ryan,
I need help with a fake business location listed on Google. Please get in touch.
No problem. I’ll ping you an email now.
Hi Ryan please please help
I’ve received negative false reviews from some people who has never been clients my business pages account got hacked and received a email from google do had to change me password.
Hey,
I’ll ping you an email now.
I am having a problem. Someone hacked into my account and erased a lot of my information. Including the Google business account which I had for years and with many reviews. We have now recuperated our accounts but am having a hard time getting another place verified, because the area where we are at does not have postal service. I have sent company documents, photos of us, photos of the building with company sign. and to top it off I requested numerous times that an English rep call me and I continue to get calls in Spanish which is my second language. Not only that, but there are several fake listings around me which are on the map, not sure how they got verified if they had to go through the same verifying process.
Hey Jocelyn,
I’ll send you an email shortly to see if we can help!
Hi Ryan, thank you for this helpful post! I haven’t been able to contact anyone at Google, but I have a competitor in my field that is creating a crazy number of Google listings to drive business back to them. Is that something you could help out with?
Hey Roderic,
I’ll fire you an email now!
Hi Ryan,
I have a little problem with my restaurant page on Google. Someone has created a duplicate. Probably in the good faith but this is messing up the idea. The name, location and pictures are correct but it is not ours. If you enter the name of my resto into Google, this intro pops up on right and is like the correct one except that it has only one review. Our official one has 33 reviews currently (we are just few months old). So this is misleading our customers. I have reported it and waiting the postcard with the code for further action. But I refuse to take it that for the next two weeks my customers are still mislead – this is unbelievable. Can you suggest any better way to get the fake page down and the original up there?
Hey Rene,
I’ll fire you an email now!