trage in Google’s Local Services Ads – What you should know //

There are many great articles that expose the dark side of Local Services Ads spamming and fake reviews. Search Engine Roundtable has one about fake reviews , while Search Engine Land features Len Raleigh’s discussion on location spam and reviews, as well as names, ads, and ads.

A client recently told me that there is more to the dark hole than being misleading about reviews and locations.

This will allow those working in local SEO to recall the personal injury as well as the garage doors spaces.

Local search spam is being combated

We have seen review spam and location spam grow exponentially over the past two years.

Large networks of lead generators were also involved. They would dump an area with fake profiles and boost them with reviews, then turn around to sell those leads on to merchants – often the same merchants that they had buried.

A number of people working in local SEO helped to reduce the spam volume. Google finally took action.

Although spammers are still present in some form today, it seems that they have moved on to another area that Google does not know how to police or is unwilling to.

I was told by Dennis Yu, a fellow digital marketer.

• Spam in garage doors is just as bad and unfair as in personal injury law. LSA is becoming more popular among marketing agencies. Any move you make can be interrupted by bad actors at any moment, making it difficult to eliminate.

Spam and fake reviews in Google’s Local Service Ads

Local Service Ads (LSAs) allow consumers to find companies that Google feels they trust because they have passed multiple checks on personnel backgrounds, licenses and insurance, among others.

• 
  Cali Garage Door Service
  
• Universal Garage Door Repair
• 
  Danny’s Garage Door Service
  
• 
  Legendary Garage Door Service
  

• AAA Garage Door Services (removed)
• Socal Garage Door Services (removed).
• Jordan’s Garage Door Service (removed)

• 
  M&M Garage Door and Gate
  
• 
  Electra Garage Door and Gate Service
  

• 
  Garage Door near Me
  
• 
  Garage Door Repair No Stress
  

• 
  A Class Garage Door Repair
  
• 
  Karlo Garage Door Repair
  

*An affiliate entity is one that has overlapping ownership as determined by the California Contractors State License Board.

According to research by a third party the companies mentioned above own multiple entities, some of which are also LSA.

It is common to create entities solely for the purpose of getting into LSA. By looking at the fake entitlements, we have been able to remove spam LSA entries. (Learn more about why this is important.)

Now we have multiple entities. Now what? What about fake reviews?

Raleigh’s article makes it clear that LSA reviews are easy to obtain and inexpensive.

Sidenote A “verified LSA review” is not actually verified. After a job has been completed, a unique link is generated. This link can be sent to LSA customers, or you can simply hand out the LSA review link to anyone. Even people who have left a Google Business Profile review (GBP). It is not trustworthy and it can easily be manipulated.

How can these entities get fake, non-bought reviews? It’s quite simple.

• To schedule a fake appointment using a Google Local Service number, call the “company”.
• Leave a review after the time limit has passed via the link.
• This review costs the same as a call to Google Local Service. For 1,500 reviews, a call to a local provider listed in the 3-box will cost you around $25.

How Local Services Ads Arbitrage Works

LSA Arbitrage is something like this:

• Without having to hire employees, you can create licensed entities and register with Secretary of State. LSA checks can only be passed if you have the required documents.
• Seed the profile with fake reviews using fake GBP or with verified LSA reviews.
• They subcontract the job to unlicensed individuals or companies when a lead is received.
• The buyer arrives at the job and states that the company has canceled, but they are able to complete the order. The consumer is left dealing with an unknown company or individual that they won’t be able track down. The consumer is often overcharged and offered parts/services that they don’t need. (Sound familiar?)
• You can create more entities
• If you see negative reviews, it is time to turn off the ads and start looking for new entities.

Google does not have any knowledge of or control over subcontracting between licensees and the outside entities that will ultimately manage the jobs. This could be difficult to detect, but there are mechanisms that could help.

Google claims they will investigate any subcontracting allegations on LSA and enforce the law as appropriate.

It is through a combination strategy that bad actors companies can succeed.

• Dominating access to customers and burying good merchants.
• Do not be limited by poor service or bad customer experiences.
• Core activities include posting fake reviews (against U.S. Federal Trade Commission guidelines), and subcontracting with unlicensed entities which are illegal. They seem to be able get away without any consequence at all for the moment.
• Engage in GBP fraud.

What has Google to say?

I inquired at LSA about the matter and was given the following statement by a spokesperson for Google:

“We have strict policies for Local Services Ads in place to protect advertisers and people from industry-wide fraud and abuse. We are committed in fighting fake content and reviews in local listings and ads. We have invested significantly in new enforcement system that protects both providers and users from abuse.

In another meeting, I was told that this is being done up to the highest levels of LSA and Google Legal. So there could be some changes in these policies.

Google previously reported to provide context. To help people locate reliable local information in 2021 they:

• More than 95 million policy-violating review were blocked or removed, with more than 60,000 being taken down because of COVID-related incidents.
• They received more than 1,000,000 reviews.
• Their machine learning technology has allowed them to remove more than 190,000,000 photos and 5,000,000 videos that were blurry or low quality or in violation of Google’s content policies.

Is this LSA Arbitrage a warning sign

The garage door spam and personal injury started in a particular cycle. Spam would appear in the major states/metros like California, New York and Florida.

They would remain in these metros for approximately six months before spreading across the U.S. According to reports, these are the metros where they are now.

We can take actions

Google may not be willing to take this seriously, but they have to go through many legal hurdles. Google could be disincentivised to act because it is difficult to find scaleable proof. This is a money-making platform, let’s face it.

To make money, good merchants will spend whatever they can to get leads if the bad actors have been eliminated. Some customers have a $100,000+ weekly budget.

These are just a few of the many actions search marketers can take.

• To prevent repeat abusers, create a new entity. Document and Report your evidence to Google.
• Report false GBPs and LSAs at the FTC. Google would love to investigate any fraud allegations before they escalate to the FTC.
• Google should be made to address this issue
• These issues can be raised through industry outlets.

What can Google do for you?

• LSAs are valuable because they can help consumers know that the contractor is legitimate and will be there if there is a problem. Google does background checks on employees. Google cannot conduct background checks on subcontractors who are changing. Google can declare that subcontracting to another company or person is against policy (and, in certain states like California, it’s a violation state law). Google can also suspend LSA profiles that have been reported while it investigates.
• To assess the reliability and the rate of reviews received, you can improve the ranking algorithm based on employees. How can a company get 1,500 reviews for one employee in less than a month? There might be a problem if hundreds of reviews arrive between midnight and 6 a.m.
• Adverse licensing groups should be held responsible for violations by other companies.
• Multiple companies that share ownership cannot compete for the same geographical region in LSA.

This should have been obvious to us.

The Local Services Ads platform remains young.

Marketers ought to have seen it coming. Google should have seen this coming, too, given their extensive experience with spamming and arbitrage in Google Ads.

Google can do better. They should take this as an opportunity to do the right thing no matter what it takes.

While it will be costly in infrastructure and revenue loss, the upside is that real merchants can spend real money on leads. The platform will eventually gain more trust from consumers. This is a win-win situation in my book.

We are grateful to all those who have supported the efforts to increase awareness.

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