Updated on August 29, 2025
Here is my official guide to help other users know how to better fight spam that appears on Google Maps and spam that appears in Google Search 3 packages. It’s no secret that spam is a Google problem. But, over the past few years, the junk strike as a tactic has seemed to have become lessened.
TLDR:
- Google Maps spam is still common, although it has become less effective over time.
- Common spam types include keyword fixed names, non-qualified businesses, duplicate lists and fake locations.
- Effective spam reports require reliable research and evidence (licenses, street views, calls, photos).
- Use remedial forms for stronger situations: Simple edits are often rejected or reversed.
- Spam continues to be in progress – fame may reappear, so persistence and organized tracking are key.
This is mainly due to businesses rebranding at a surprising rate in order to legally include Keywords in its Google business profile (GBP) name. In addition, we have observed the following points in the past few years:
- Spam is usually not a long-term strategy. The demand for spam fights will disappear over time unless businesses affected by spam continue to expand the number of locations or services they provide So they have been face-to-face with new types of junk competitors that have not been competing with before.
- Sometimes we see spam lists Filter its correct list So by removing them, you might actually be helping to compete.
- Spam tends to come back, over and over again.
That being said, spam is still a problem and deserves your attention. The goal of my guide is to help you better report spam so that you can make Google’s search results cleaner and better. This guide also uses Google Business Profile Guide As an inability to be metric.
Related to it, Joey shares her observations “Spam Status: What We Learned from Analyzing 5,306 Lists in 16 Industry” At the Localu event on April 5, 2022.
It is important to define the four main things you want to eliminate.
- Keyword fills business name
- Businesses not eligible for Google Maps
- Enterprises with multiple lists
- List of businesses where they do not exist
Before submitting edits or upgrading spam to Google, you need to collect enough research to ensure you are sure of the submitted information.
Company name:
- Is the business name on the list anything on the sign on the street view?
- Does the business name on the list match what is on its business license? You can view the registration of a business by searching for registration in the country of its state to view the registration of a business Secretary of State website.
- Call your phone number. How do they answer the phone? When you make these calls, call from Gmail to make your phone number anonymous and they cannot call you back. Many spammers create large numbers of fake lists to answer their phones with common content like “Hello, Locksmith” or “Hello, Service.” Ordinary companies usually answer with their business name. If they are just “Hello” answers, you can always ask, “Hi, I’m trying to make sure I get the correct numbers, what business is this?”
- Other government documents Can be used to verify the company name
- What names are listed on their website? These people will usually be listed on Google as “Keywords 1, 2, 3”, but the page on their website about us lists their real names.
- Go to see the actual location. Photos can be used as proof.
address:
- Street View confirms they are at this address?
- Search for the address of Google. Does it return to the UPS store website or mail service? (None of these are allowed).
- Zoom in Google Maps to identify other lists that also use this address.
- Drive along the location. Photograph. Is the business actually there?
- Call the business and ask for instructions to go to their office to see how they respond.
- Does the address on the list match what is listed on their website?
In our experience, organizations are one of the most important parts of an effective spam battle. This is Spam fight The organization we use to keep in the Sterling sky. Make yourself a copy as you please.
Spam network
- If you encounter a large list with the same address/phone number, you may fall on the spam network. I recommend you investigate and report as much as possible (some of these networks contain thousands of lists)
- Through some websites http://domainbigdata.com/ And check other websites on the same IP address.
Check the comments on the list. People who usually leave fake comments will bring them a lot of fake lists. If you see something like this, the user leaves a comment for two different garage door companies from two different states, which suggests that this could be a marketing company writing them and could lead you to discover more fake business lists.
Remedy Form
Marrissa Nordahl from Google on February 27, 2019 Posted One announcement is that users have a new way to report criminals who spam on Google Maps/Google My Business.
You can do this now by filling in This form This will submit a report to Google My Business Team. Another huge announcement that comes with it is because Google product experts will no longer be able to assist with spam reporting as they will retire the spam section.
Submit Edit
Submitting your own editor to spam lists has become an effective way to deal with spam over the past year. Manually editing lists has become a major pain point for spam fighters, as editing very obvious spam is not usually rejected by Google.
Having said that, we still think it’s a good practice to submit edits this way. It can help build your editing profile when they get approval. Yes, sometimes they are still approved.
Where to edit
You can edit the Enterprise List through Google Maps > Suggested Editing (Note: This only appears in Google Maps no Local discoverers on Google search. Once you submit an edit, you will receive an email after approval. If it is not approved, you will do this no Received an email to tell you. So check your Contribution Tab On Google Maps, see if the status is being pending, approved or rejected (it will say “not applied”).
How to edit
Through Google Maps:
Go to Google Maps, extract the manifest and PRess “Suggested Editing”.
- Select according to the type of spam:
- “Change name or other details” or
- “Offset this place”
- If it is the wrong business name, select Change Name or Other Details and submit an edit to remove the keyword fill.
- If it does not exist, select Select Delete this place from the drop-down list and select No exist or Spam, Fake or Offensive.
Waiting for the game
So how long does it take to review an editor? It really depends on your profile and how trust you trust. You can help add this feature by editing and reviewing it on Google Maps regularly. Notice Having a higher local guide level does not mean you will post more edits.
The current remedial form of turnover is approximately two weeks.
Just because your editor is approved, your mission is not over yet.
If you report it as spam and is a verified list, prepare someone in Google My Business (GMB) to mistakenly recover the list. It happened Always. Don’t believe me, please check the example This article. When something like this type of thing happens, absolutely put it in GMB Forum And one of them Product Expert May be able to help you. Be sure to be polite in your post. Volunteer rants on Google or forums simply didn’t help.
If you edited the business name and it is a verified list, prepare for business owners to change it the next day with Google My Business Dashboard. If this happens all the time, make sure to use the remediation form and clarify how many times you have edited the business name and how quickly you recover. This should help give Google a reason for why a soft suspension should be obtained (the list is not verified). Google has also recently begun imposing severe penalties on repeat offender keyword fillers.
Additional Information
When you use a remedial form, some evidence is provided to prove your case:
-
- For resources, use only government resources (such as business license searches cited above), business websites (or business websites that really own that address, such as UPS), images you shoot and shoot online and share online (such as: I drive to, it’s real stuff) or images on street view.
- You can always reference other lists on the map as proof that this list should not exist (for example: this business is already listed here…)
- Never use third-party websites as resources (for example: listing businesses this way on Facebook or Yelp)
- Using Street View is helpful and is recommended. Lists specific links to the zoom version of the view version of a specific logo/building.
If you like fixing spam on Google Maps and using Twitter, feel free to use hashtags #StopCraponThemap It attracted the attention of some GMB product experts.
For those reading this idea, I agree, “This is a problem with Google and they should solve it”. However, we don’t live in a perfect world, so if you have the ability, it’s better to try to correct the problem yourself. After all, if Google did everything perfectly for every business, would you find a job in local SEO?
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