9 Quick Ways to Get Supended from Google Places, Maps, and Local

 Nine Black Hat Tricks that Google Knows All About

You Did What?!?

The phone rings.  I don't recognize the number.  Maybe a new potential client.

"Hi.  Is this Randy Kirk?"  (Of course it is.  I answer the phone)

"Sure is.  How can I help you."

"Well, I used to have this great ranking on Google Places, but now I seem to be gone completely."

"What kind of business are you in?"

"I'm a...fill in the blank...lawyer, carpet cleaner, locksmith, appliance repair, limo service, bail bondsman...and I used to have these seven locations...."

"Tell me about those locations."

Now you know how my day usually goes.  I am now in the unenviable position of telling someone that the gravy train has dried up.  The phone ain't gonna ring no more.  The free ride is over.

Here in detail are the nine most likely reasons that your phone stopped ringing and your Google Places, Google Maps, and Google+ Local is nowhere to be found.

• Don't know if this is #1 for Google, but it is for me.  Location.  You cannot
• Make up addresses
• Select any address at random
• Use a post office box
• Use a UPS box even if you call it suite #
• May or may not be able to use a virtual office or private mail box
• Fill out the form and say that folks come to meet with you even if you always go to them.  Google knows that no one visits a plumber or a house painter.
• Use a telephone number where Google can't get through to you.  They make random calls to try to establish that you are where you say you are.  
• Spam the name of your company.  You can probably get away with adding one descriptive word.  If you name is Sammy's, you can probably add Pizza.  Don't try for Sammy's Detroit Pizza unless that is the name of your company.
• Spam your description with all kinds of location based keywords.  
• Use the same telephone number for more than three locations or more than one business
• Have multiple listings for the same location of the same business - even if by mistake
• Have one name, address, and/or phone number on your Google listing and have a different name, address, and/or phone number on your website or other internet listings. 
• Pay for, solicit, and or spam your reviews.  

If you have done any of the above or are doing them now, and you haven't been suspended or even removed from Google, go straight to Vegas and play for the inside straight.  If you have been caught, and you need help getting out of the penalty box, give me a call.  If you would like to get your Google Places, Maps, and +Local sites set up perfectly and optimized to maximize the Google love, call me for that, too.  310-910-1848.  That will be me who answers the phone.