How to Fight GMB Spam? Don’t Lose Roofing Leads and Money to Competitors
This GMB series is your ultimate guide on how to make the most of your Google My Business (GMB) listing. This free tool can help you expand your reach, build brand awareness, and get a predictable stream of high value leads to your business.
And let me tell you something upfront. These are NOT your regular “Google Business listing” blog posts.
Sure, I’ll cover the best practices to list your business in GMB. But, you’ll also discover some superbly effective strategies to transform your GMB profile into a lead generating machine, while keeping GMB spam at bay.
First off: Why should you create your GMB listing in the first place and what is GMB Spam?
Digital marketing is crucial for any successful local business today, and Google My Business (GMB) is its pillar. Created by Google, GMB is an amazing tool that doesn’t cost you any money. And, if used wisely, it can help you derive consistent traffic to your business, day in and day out.
That said, this very tool can turn out to be the bane if you do not pay enough attention.
Is that true?
Actually, it depends.
For the past months, the GMB spam has caught my attention. If you’re not using GMB for your business, it can become a blessing for your competitors and spammers. They can steal your customers, and you may lose leads and sometimes even money.
This rampant issue has indeed cast a dark shadow over many reliable roofing companies especially the ones that have not claimed their GMB listing yet.
I understand you might feel hopeless about the whole situation now, but with little knowledge, you can get out of it.
Let’s dive right in.
Competitors are stealing Your GMB Local Pack Spot
There is no silver bullet to spot this shady practice. Look closer or ransack the search result.
Here’s an example:
Do a Google search on a roofing contractor. Let’s take “Mobile Alabama”, for example.
Tip: the search terms you use would impact yours and competitors’ ranks.
In the search result, you will notice two things:
•A hyphen in the middle of a business name – the company might be spamming its name.
•A company with 1 review outranks another one with 74 reviews.
Is it possible? You might be wondering.
Well, it could happen because Google search takes into account a lot of factors. But, I guarantee you; this company is keyword stuffing its name.
No Reviews Beating 100+ Reviews
Do another search on ‘roof repairs’ – One of the most common search terms in the roofing industry that provides roofers with the opportunity to sell a roof or roof repair services.
Now, let’s take a look at how the search results might appear (brace yourself for something worse).
•A company with 3 reviews is at the top, and another one with 128 reviews is at the 5th position.
•And if you take 1 Google Ad into account, a legitimate business actually ranks in the 6th position.
Without a shadow of a doubt, I guarantee, keyword stuffing is the culprit here as well.
Back in the day, Google used to put a small box around the Google My Business ads.
In an effort to blur the line between organic rankings and paid ads, Google pulled out the box.
A Huge Percentage of Clicks Goes to the Local Pack
According to Bright Local, “over 32% of all clicks on the first page of Google results go to the local pack”
So, if you have not claimed your GMB listing, your business does not get the recognition it deserves!
Now it’s Your Turn
There you have it – Some of the most common types of GMB spam that can negatively impact any genuine business. Give us a call today to know how you can boost your sales and leads by implementing time-tested Google My Business strategies while avoiding spammers and trollers.
I would like to wrap this article here, you can find out similar GMB spam on your own. Stay tuned, I’ll be back with more!
