How can unfair competition shut down your business profile on Google?
Your Google business profile has been temporarily closed or permanently shut down. What happened, and who did it?
Has your business profile been labeled temporarily closed or permanently shut down on Google and Google Maps? Or were other data in your Google business profile, such as title, category, and phone number, edited and changed in the process?
No coincidence here, but most likely the actions of an unfair competitor who cannot accept that your company profile looks better and it is you that potential customers are reaching out to.
This article will discuss how competitors make changes, when you can expect it to happen, what the consequences are and how to avoid them and protect your business and your money. Enjoy!
Who can edit your Google profile data?
Unfortunately, we do not have any good news for you because, in Google, every user can suggest and make changes to company profiles displayed in Google Maps and Google search results, with no need to contact Google or the business owner.
This feature is available to everyone as Google wants to ensure that the data on the internet is always as up-to-date as possible and that the users who use Google's search engine take care of the validity of the data, e.g., correcting details of the old business locations.
Unfortunately, many people have started to use this feature to use and share abusive practices aimed at removing company profiles from Google, or what is known as competitor depositioning.
When can I expect a competitor to want to disable my Google business profile?
Usually, when your business is not visible and is also of poor quality, it is not seen by potential customers and your competitors, leaving you not exposed to negative actions from them.
The problem arises when you become visible on the internet, get more and more customers and start to do well. Then your competitors wonder how they can overtake you online and harm you.
What effects could be of my Google business profile being flagged as permanently closed, temporarily closed, or data editing by a competitor?
Sadly, the consequences are immediate and very dangerous for your business, as you lose virtually all your customers immediately.
Suppose a competitor sends Google information that your company does not exist, practically, after several minutes. In that case, Google marks it closed or deletes it. It disappears in the search and will be difficult or impossible to find.
In addition, people who already come across your company's Google profile will learn from a large permanent or temporarily closed label, and the potential customer will give up even trying to contact it.
What happens if you don't restore your Google company profile immediately after a few minutes?
You already know that improving your Google business profile and achieving high rankings results from a long-term effort.
It is time-consuming and often costly if you don't use the advanced and appropriate tools that can help you do this.
Unfortunately, once your company profile on Google has been edited by a competitor, negative changes have been applied, or it has been closed down, you lose a lot in a short period, as usually reversing the changes even after an hour will not allow you to immediately return to the high position and visibility of the company you previously achieved.
Waiting to reverse negative changes and competitor actions for only one day can set you back weeks or months of your work. You'd have to do it all over again to get back to the same position and visibility you had before your competitor's actions.
How do you protect your company's Google profile from negative competitor actions and not lose visibility and customers?
We won't tell you how to make harmful changes to your competitors' company profiles, as these are not practices you should be following.
Still, we will tell you how to protect yourself from unfair competition and make them spend their time and energy ineffectively.
There are two ways to do this:
One: You need to be available non-stop and check your email inbox every minute. You will receive a notification from Google that someone has changed your company profile details on Google or closed it.
Every minute and second counts.
Second: Your competitors will usually make changes to your Google company profile when you don't have time to react immediately, or they will do it overnight, as is typically the case. In such a situation, you stand no chance, but there is a way.
In the Localo tool, where you can increase your company's visibility by completing a weekly portion of tasks, monitoring it, and keeping track of your competitors, there is special protection for your company profile against unfair competition.
The tool analyses your company's profile in real-time and immediately undoes negative changes you have not made.
A few seconds after a hostile action by a competitor, the tool reverses the data in your company profile to the data you have set, thus protecting your profile from disappearing from Google and later returning to the top, saving you a lot of time and money.
The only person to be able to make changes in your business listing, such as closing the business or adding a new location's address or business hours, is you in your business dashboard.
Summary
Unfortunately, we can find competitors who want to harm us in every industry, and we think about it daily. The more prosperous our business locations are, the more competitors wish us bad.
Fortunately, thanks to the business support of Localo, your company's profile on Google will be safe from now on, and you won't lose the time and money you spent to get to the top on the internet.
Good luck!
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