Someone Hi-Jacked my Clients Business Listing and online presence, What to do?
-
I have a new client and I discovered that someone has ripped off the business and established it in Texas (business resides in New Jersey)
My client is ssscustomclosets.com/ the hijack artist has created forms and business listings such as this https://wirykanaird.wufoo.com/forms/zivaxni09ew6nb/
There is no google listing for Texas however, I have to think that this is causing some seo issues.
Any ideas how to rectify this? I have never come across this situation before.
Thanks,
Don Silvernail
-
Hi Donald,
Thanks so much for the answers. Other than a past SEO doing this for some weird reason for your client, the only other explanation I can think of is that the weird listings are the outcome of some kind of aggregation by the directories in question. Some directories do auto-generate listings, and there is a possibility of your client's business getting mixed up with the details of some other business. But I'm not really leaning that way because of the fictitious address. That "feels like" spam to me. But, I definitely would review this with the client in full to see if anything about it rings a bell to them about past work that may have been done internally or by an agency.
I think the best thing to do here would be to discover as many directories as you can that are listing the fictitious business and contact them to request listing removal, as you've done with Manta. You will easily be able to approve that the address is non-existent, that the phone doesn't connect to anything, and, if you've received no reply trying to use the email address, that the email is unresponsive. Show legal proofs of ownership of the brand name if necessary. Then, once you've gotten these odd listings removed, I would make it a practice once a month to search for any new listings that may crop up. Not very fun, but it seems necessary in the instance of such an odd scenario.
Good luck!
-
Hi Miriam,
It does not add up to me either. However, you bring up a good point about the client trying to do something spammy. I do not think that it is my client that would do something like that. I have spent much time discussing this issue with her. She did have a previous SEO person work on the site which has left me with a lot of work to do. That person did some spammy type work on the website which will be some questions i ask on the forum later.
That email address is not the client. I have sent out mail.
The manta listing has been removed at the request of my client directly to manta.
I have called the number too. It just does not make sense to me either. There seems to be no direct reason for the spam.
I have to think it was the old seo who worked the site before me.
Thanks
-
Wow - this is super weird, Donald. When I saw the word "hijack" I assumed your were talking about this entity hijacking your GMB listing, but you've clarified that this isn't so. Bearing in mind that I haven't dealt with this scenario before, here is what I see.
When I search for the Galveston address in Google's main engine, I see:
You are right ... there appear to be a number of listings that have been created for this business.
When I click into Maps, I see the following error message:
Maps can't find 1644 Lynn Ogden Lane Galveston, TX 77550
So it would appear that address doesn't exist. Let's check Smarty Streets just to be sure. Yep! As I suspected "address unknown".
So, the address being used doesn't actually exist.
Calling the phone number several time only yields a busy signal.
The website listed on that Wufoo form is your client's own website. Are you seeing a website anywhere for this other entity?
The Manta listing for the strange entity is bringing up a 404 error page: https://www.manta.com/c/mh1l5py/s-s-s-custom-closets, but I'm seeing a live listing on Hotfrog and a couple of other low level directories.
I have to ask, what would be the point of this spam? If they're pointing to your client's website, and the phone number on those weird listings isn't functional, how would this be a successful spam strategy? I just don't get it.
A couple of questions, Don:
-
Are you positive your client has never attempted to operate any type of undertaking in Galveston? Positive they didn't try to do anything spammy on their end, like set up a fake location there? No offense intended in any way, but sometimes clients have done weird things in the past that we don't know about unless we ask.
-
What is the email being listed on those weird listings: warblingjulian@rediffmail.com. Is that your client or the unknown entity? Have you investigated that email at all...tried to write to them? I just don't see any other way to contact this unknown person than by filling out the form/emailing them, if they have no website or working phone number.
One suggestion:
I would urge you to do some work on your client's website to locally optimize it better. The website is currently very vague about its location. The homepage, contact, footer, about, etc. should list the full NAP of the business. Right now, I'm seeing a mention of the city here and there, but to ensure that your client retains dominant status for its name + location, some optimization needs to be done on-page to associate that brand name with the correct street address.
Please, if you can, answer the couple of questions I've asked, and thanks for bringing this mysterious case to the community. It's just not adding up for me. It's not typical local spam.
-
-
They did not take the google listing.
They took the business listing. Created a cloud based contact form and a multitude of business listings not google. They guy is using content from the site on business listings.
-
Hello,
I am not sure I understand the question correctly but I think you are saying someone in Texas is using the same business information in Google as yours but in a different location.
If it is showing up incorrectly in Google, I would first make sure that you have verified your business location in New Jersy with Google.
Best Regards
Got a burning SEO question?
Subscribe to Moz Pro to gain full access to Q&A, answer questions, and ask your own.
Browse Questions
Explore more categories
-
Moz Tools
Chat with the community about the Moz tools.
-
SEO Tactics
Discuss the SEO process with fellow marketers
-
Community
Discuss industry events, jobs, and news!
-
Digital Marketing
Chat about tactics outside of SEO
-
Research & Trends
Dive into research and trends in the search industry.
-
Support
Connect on product support and feature requests.
Related Questions
-
Multiple SAB listings - Optimal Setup According to Proximity?
Hi everyone and thank you in advance!I am a new startup carpet cleaning business and looking to adopt the franchise SAB model since we are 5 cleaners, first being the owner (myself) located at the first SAB location. The aim is to have the other 4 cleaners create their own SAB listings managed by themselves, each pointing to its own dedicated landing page under the same domain for brand consistency. We collectively aim to cover Hertfordshire county in he UK and rank high in a few hot spots.A few questions:1. Setup - is this the right model for multiple SABs?2. SAB proximity - two of the addresses are 10 miles away from each which I get, not a lot of distance, but I understand even if this close, one SAB can only hope to rank high in a different town 10 miles away despite mentioning the town in its service area. I've been told being so close not only it looks silly on the map but we risk massively reduced visibility in GMB. Is this the case?3. If Question 2 is a no go - is it worth considering a different setup such as perhaps each GMB with its own dedicated web domain and therefore each listing becomes a different entity to avoid clashing?4. NAP consistency - being SABs and therefore not displaying the address in GMB, should we display NAP on the landing page for optimum SEO?Many thanks
Local Listings | | valrucar0 -
Trading As Business Name
Some businesses are set us with a company name but trade under another name (or numerous other names). What's the best way to handle this when it comes to Knowledge Graph & Schema.org and what about NAP consistency? Am assuming the only way to handle this is to do something like this: Blue Widgets Ltd trading as Cars UK Or is there a better way?
Local Listings | | GrouchyKids0 -
I want to remove my business from Google Local Listing Completely
I deleted my business from Google my business (GMB) but it's still showing on Google Local Listing. Kindly, tell me how can I removed completely. I need help?
Local Listings | | Sabar-din1 -
2 Google my business listings for one company
Hello all I work for a small company. we do carpentings and old wooden furniture repairs. With the same company, we've started a tiny house building business, which is completly different of what we usally do and this is a national business wj The question is, can a create a different google my business listing for this activity ? It has different brand on logo but same phone number and same physical address. From what i ve found in google help pages , i would say yes, but i d take opinions about this , tks for your precious answers from google : Departments within other business, universities, or institutions
Local Listings | | uservices
Departments within businesses, universities, hospitals, and government institutions may have their own listings on Google.
Learn more
Publicly-facing departments that operate as distinct entities should have their own page. The exact name of each department must be different from that of the main business and that of other departments. Typically such departments have a separate customer entrance and should each have distinct categories. Their hours may sometimes differ from those of the main business.
• Acceptable (as distinct listings):
o "Walmart Vision Center"
o "Sears Auto Center"
o "Massachusetts General Hospital Department of Dermatology"
• Not acceptable (as distinct listings):
o The Apple products section of Best Buy
o The hot food bar inside Whole Foods Market
For each department, the category that is the most representative of that department must be different from that of the main business and that of other departments.
• The main business "Wells Fargo" has the category "Bank" whereas the department "Wells Fargo Advisors" has the category "Financial Consultant"
• The main business "South Bay Toyota" has the category "Toyota Dealer" whereas the "South Bay Toyota Service & Parts" has the category "Auto Repair Shop" (plus the category "Auto Parts Store")
• The main business "GetGo" has the category "Convenience Store" (plus the category "Sandwich Shop") whereas the department "GetGo Fuel" has the category "Gas Station", and the department "WetGo" has the category "Car Wash"1 -
Google My Business pages for New Construction Communities
I have a number of builders of new homes as clients. Typically, they build out a whole neighborhood at once and give the neighborhood a fancy name. We were planning to create Google My Business pages for these communities but then ran into some potential challenges. As new communities, they are sometimes not on Google's radar yet Some of them have model homes where you might take a tour with a realtor that serves the community exclusively but many don't. So here come the questions... Is there a way to make Google speed up its process of recognizing new addresses? I have to choose an address to associate with the GMB page, probably the address of model home. Is this going to create annoying problems for a buyer who someday buys that model home? Since some communities don't have a model home, I could arbitrarily assign an address of one of the neighborhood homes to the GMB page, but this leads to the same question about creating a GMB page that will exist after the builder has sold all the houses in the community. Will it be weird to have the GMB referring to someone's private residence down the road? My assumption is that claiming a GMB page would help with local ranking if someone searches for something like "new homes" in addition to providing easy driving directions to someone who has done a bit of research and Googles the name of the new home community while out driving and searching for homes. These seem to be the main benefits, but are the challenges associated with questions 1-3 even worth the trouble of trying to claim listings for these communities?
Local Listings | | TheKatzMeow0 -
Google My Business page no longer appearing with search results
Title pretty much says it all--my company's local Google+ page has always appeared under our listed website information up until very recently. I'm also noticing the same with our competitors. Has anyone else just began to experience this? Our NAP, map, photos, and review are still displayed to the right of the results, but nothing is linked to the actual Google page itself. Am I missing something? Thanks!
Local Listings | | LMcLaughlin0 -
Yext Power Listings and SEO Question...
Hi, I was wondering if anyone that has used Yext's Power Listings has experienced any negative (or positive) organic SEO results. As you know if you've used Yext, it creates a ton of links from directories. I think they're mainly no-follow links, but wanted to check if anyone has had experience (either good, bad, or neutral) regarding impact on organic results. Thanks.
Local Listings | | mrodriguez14400 -
Questions about On-site Location Content for Service Area Businesses
Hello all, I've got a couple tough questions about how to go about creating locations pages for my business, and I'm wondering if you can give me some much needed direction. I'm about to launch a professional house cleaning business which will serve Philadelphia and a couple surrounding counties. I plan on aggressively expanding to other large cities, and while I plan on building a Philly locations page, I'm unsure of how to rank organically for all the individual towns/municipalities in the surrounding counties in the middle without having a physical business location there. Should I even hope to rank for these smaller towns? Would a page where the county is in the h1 tag, and say the top 10 largest towns in that county listed underneath in h2 tags help me reach searchers in those top 10 largest towns? How about paying ~$100 for a physical street address in each county and submitting that NAP to local directories of the larger towns, as well as getting a Google My Business page and using the service radius option? Is there some other strategy that I'm missing? I'm just at a loss for how to compete without AdWords for the people searching in the smaller towns when my competition is businesses with NAP/citations and their main page dedicated solely to that smaller town. Google seems to have made it even harder with Pigeon coming out recently. I serve those areas just as readily as my competition, yet the customer will predominantly see them SOLELY due to the fact that most of my competition are incapable of serving or choose not to serve wide areas. I understand that these businesses are dedicating a lot of resources to those small towns, but it does seem a sad fact that it doesn't mean they're any higher quality of a company than mine, yet they get a leg up. ANY advice or direction would be greatly appreciated, and would come with a huge internet bear hug.
Local Listings | | PTHerrington0