Can a competitor close your business on Google Places?

[SEODinosaur]

One of my listings says it has been closed and the business is not closed. On Google + / Google places there is a field that allows users to check that claims the business is closed. Can they actually close it?

Your Google Places listing has been updated

Dear Google Places user,

Google has updated your listing data on our consumer properties such as Google and Google Maps to more accurately reflect the latest information we have about your business.

We use many sources to determine the accuracy of our listing data and to provide the best possible experience for business owners and consumers who use Google and Google Maps to find local information.

Based on our sources, the following listing has been marked as closed:

Company info...

If you disagree with the changes we have made, please visit your Place Page to edit your listing.

Note that if you are an AdWords or Boost customer, your ads will be unaffected by this change and will continue to display the listing information you have provided in Google Places. To manage your online advertisements, please sign into Google Places or Google AdWords.

For more information about updates to claimed listings, please visit:http://www.google.com/support/places/bin/answer.py?hl=en&answer=1318197

Sincerely,
The Google Places Team

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[MiriamEllis]

Oooh...be careful, Donnie.

[SEODinosaur]

Yeah it's not fun... I have been contemplating a $5 Fiverr deal for 25 good reviews on G+ just to cover up all this spam. I don't like cheating/lying/spamming however I want to cover up all this spam...

[MiriamEllis]

I feel the headache you're experiencing, Donnie. So sorry about this and I couldn't agree with your more that Google's review process leaves much to be desired. But then, I don't know of a review entity that is perfect. Yelp has certainly come in for their share of public complaint for their policies. Google just tends to get the most heat because they are just so darned visible and powerful. What happens on Google directly effects the bottom line of the business owner, and there are no two ways about this. Over the years, I have written rather extensively urging Google to take serious responsibility for the effect they are having on businesses, especially on account of the fact that they initially populated their local index without owner consent. Suddenly, all local business owners were tossed into a sea of publicity, scrutiny and reputation management which few of them had the skills to handle. So, these days, to run a local business you've got to have the time to learn about Google because of its power over your presence and you've got to have good luck when coming up against the weaknesses and bugs of the system.

Google offers superb chances for visibility, but there are definitely big risks, too.

[SEODinosaur]

Actually all these spam attacks were done after the migration, people can just use a proxy and create ten Google accounts on 10 IPs. IMO Google should send a letter to every users house for verification (At lease the people who are interested in leaving reviews) and a company should be abe to rebuttal a fake review or report a review from a user they were never associated with.

[MiriamEllis]

Hi Donnie,

Wish I could guarantee that, but I've stopped underestimating the havoc evil-doers can cause in Google's Local entity. What is supposed to get better in the new Google+ Local environment is the spamming of reviews, because reviewers are now required to have a real ID. Assumedly, then, Joe Jones at the competing pizza house in your town isn't going to be able to go trash your pizza place anonymously because his name would be right on the review. We'll see how that plays out, but my word to the wise is that you should never consider any Google-based listing immune to anything. Maybe someday!

So glad my response was helpful, Donnie.

[SEODinosaur]

Thank you for this helpful answer. The listing was being spammed and Google is placing the listing back up. Now that Google is going to place the listing back, do you think it will be more immune to being attacked again?

[MiriamEllis]

Hi Donnie,

Unfortunately, yes, competitors can report your business as closed. Here is a legacy thread on this from Mike Blumenthal's copy of the old Google Places Help Forum which he saved when they shut it down:

http://places.blumenthals.com/threadb6b9.html

And here was a highly visible article from the New York Times on this problem:

http://www.nytimes.com/2011/09/06/technology/closed-in-error-on-google-places-merchants-seek-fixes.html?_r=2&hp

Mike Blumenthal was so irked by this that he actually closed down Google's own listings in Places with a couple of clicks: http://blumenthals.com/blog/2011/09/14/google-places-now-permanently-closed-with-2-clicks-its-getting-worse-not-better/

Now, these issues were all from last year, prior to the Google Places changeover to Google+ Local, so let's take a look at some very recent reports of this issue:

http://productforums.google.com/forum/#!searchin/business/business$20reported$20as$20closed/business/1MOJVhteWoQ/Y8zW4MIH86cJ

And pay close attention to Linda Buquet's advice on this thread:

http://productforums.google.com/forum/#!searchin/business/business$20reported$20as$20closed/business/sZVZ65w4ESE/U_i3NqX6DXYJ

And here is a thread that actually got a response from a Google employee:

http://productforums.google.com/forum/#!searchin/business/business$20reported$20as$20closed/business/-zkCEShnwj0/Qk1SXUTClEsJ

Basically, Donnie, if your business gets labeled with the closed label, you are going to have to try to appeal to Google either through the forum or their troubleshooter. There is a long, long history of issues with this, as you can see. Sometimes, this issue stems from competitive sabotage, and other times, the root of the problem can actually be duplicate listings or other problems.

I really hope the links I've provided will bring you up-to-date on this troublesome topic and point you in the right direction for resolution!

[irvingw]

I don't think anyone can change it except the verified owner.

This makes me wonder though about Google needing to deal with the issue of businesses that may be owner verified and then go out of business. In most cases my guess would be that owners of failed businesses are not going to go in and close out their page or mark it as closed. So Google may have some need to close out claimed pages if they are getting data from different sources stating that the business is closed since they want to provide accurate information about businesses.