As a business owner you want as much exposure in the right spots online as possible. Local businesses are happy to see that the worldwide search engine is working harder to help them have some more exposure in the local market. That’s great, when done right. However, there is a new scam out there and we want you to be aware of it.
There are people out there claiming to be from “411” or some other type of directory service who will take your business and get it on the front page for any town of your choice on Google.com. For example, let’s say you have a salon in Stamford, Connecticut and you want it to be on the front page of Google’s search results for “Greenwich, Connecticut.” While this can be done, legitimately, it can also be done illegally.
These 411 scam artists will take your business, create a fake address in Greenwich, Connecticut and put you in the system. Now your business will come up with a Greenwich address. That’s not so bad, right?? WRONG. It is against Google’s specific Terms of Service to falsify an address. If you do this, Google will delete your company from their search results.
Not only do these scam artists hurt your business majorly by taking you off the #1 search engine people use, but they have also been known to collect your credit card number from you and continually charge your card even after you request they stop. BEWARE! This can really damage your business online.
If you have any questions, or are wondering if you might be dealing with something like this, contact us and we’ll try to steer you in the right direction.
