How do you know which is the center of any city for Google maps?

this is so scary! 10/10 no bueno.

Here's one I don't think you've covered yet: In early 2023 I moved my local martial arts brick and mortar school from our own dedicated location to a shared space with another martial arts school. My Google business profile got marked closed at the old physical address. Is it possible to move my address/GBP to the new location without displacing the GBP of the business we share space with? In other words, can we both have our GBPs in the same physical location? Thanks for your time! Keep up the great work!

@TheTowAcademy

10 күн бұрын

The only way you can have two GBPs at the same location is to have legit suites and separate entrances for each. Which you'll need to verify.

@martinstothard7670

10 күн бұрын

You just use for example 21 no street, and 21 A no street is easy. !

@WhitesparkCa

10 күн бұрын

When there are two GBPs at the same address with the same primary category, then it's likely that one of them will get filtered out of the results. The trick to fix this is actually related to this post. You need to drag the pin, but just a little bit. As long as you drag the pin 200 feet away from the other pin, you'll break the filter and can both rank. So yes, you can reopen your GBP and both rank.

Nice. Also great for getting rid of fake GMBs ranking above you.

@WhitesparkCa

10 күн бұрын

Would work. This still opens you up to suspension risk though. You can get your Google account suspended for doing this and it could take down all the GBPs you manage in that account. So if you're going to do this to fight spammy fake listings, do it from a Google account you don't have any GBPs in and that you don't care to lose.

@LocalSEOStrategy

10 күн бұрын

@@WhitesparkCa Oh yea. Completely forgot about that. True story.

@KathyLongSEO

10 күн бұрын

That would be nice. There are 16 of them, all by the same person as evidenced by the websites that use the same template and almost identical content, taking up 16 spots and ranking a mile and a half away in the Bay Area. How the heck did they do that? I gave 14 pages of evidence to Google. They did nothing. I just got one taken down finally by submitting a photo AGAIN. It went down in minutes. I think Google might finally be using ai photo recognition. The others are in homes so I don't think it will work for them. I tried on one and it didn't work. Oops. I just gave out a tip to those guys.

@KathyLongSEO

10 күн бұрын

By the way, I got a tip from a friend who works at Google. He said they are inundated with reports. He suggests they have to ignore them because they don't have the time, unless the same listing gets reported on my multiple people. Hint. Hint.

So, if you have a service business, you don't have a physical location but operate within a specific area. Does that mean competitors can't push you out, or can they still affect your business even if it's service-based?

@WhitesparkCa

10 күн бұрын

If your address isn't showing on your profile (SAB), then you don't have a pin that can be dragged by a competitor. But just FYI, your rankings are still "pinned" to the address you verified your business at.

So if I drag my pin exactly where google says is the centre of town / suburb this should help rankings also as in the closest business to that area?

@WhitesparkCa

10 күн бұрын

Yes, that will help you rank in that area around the centre of town, but not in the whole city. I don't recommend doing this. The suspension risk is too high.

@thencandesigns

7 күн бұрын

Just because you can doesn't mean you *should*. Darren and Whitespark are doing a good job of reporting this "hack". Certainly, use it with caution 😬

Wow mind blow, that's wild 😆

@WhitesparkCa

10 күн бұрын

Same!

I can't imagine this working long term. Maybe you should have kept it to yourself, LOL. As soon as everyone starts doing this, the party's over.

@WhitesparkCa

10 күн бұрын

I sincerely hope they shut this down asap.

@NorthTonawanda1

10 күн бұрын

@@WhitesparkCa --- It seems absurd to me they haven't already.

@thencandesigns

7 күн бұрын

@@WhitesparkCa, I'm glad you're putting it out there so that hopefully it stops the inverse: bad actors moving your pin to lakes, etc. 🙏

I think someone did it with my phone number and now I don’t seem to be able to change it back to the correct number

@WhitesparkCa

10 күн бұрын

Someone dragged your phone number to Westmount?! 😄

@thencandesigns

7 күн бұрын

Go into your GBP panel and change it back. Competitors might change things all the time, you gotta defend your profile 💪

I can't do it. That's a black hat tactic to me. Google's going to eventually realize that they made a mistake and start busting some folks.

@WhitesparkCa

9 күн бұрын

sounds like the right choice to me!

@Googleobsessed

9 күн бұрын

@@WhitesparkCa I love that you still gave everyone the option though - Darren cracks me up!!! ....... here is the information do with it what you will ...... ☺