le sues company for falsely promising Page 1 rankings
Google filed a lawsuit against a company accused of charging business owners for Google Business Profiles free of charge, promising first-page ranking and selling fake reviews.
Why do we care? Don’t listen to anyone who claims they are calling from Google. Be safe. Do your research. Never pay such demands. It is a fraud.
G Verifier promised first page rankings on Google. It was typically run by Kaushal Ptel of Ohio. They threatened to deactivate or mark their business listings as “permanently close” and hide their positive reviews. This would result in lost visibility, revenue, and even loss of visibility.
According to the file
G Verifier Websites make false claims about search ranking and priority. G Verifier, for example, promises business owners that they will be “[g]et first page in Google search” and that their Google Maps business location “[i]f we buy the service from them, our Google Maps business location (in Google search) will be first.” These claims, which suggest superior placement in organic search results, can be misleading and false. Google’s complex search engine cannot guarantee that a specific webpage will appear on the first page.
Google claimed that “hundreds of hundreds” of Business Profile users reported the scam to Google since December 2021.
G Verifier also sold false reviews. Google’s lawsuit stated that G Verifier used Virtual Private Networks to obtain reviews from “reviews from any country or location of your choice.”
You could also purchase negative reviews on the website, which could be used against competitors.
What Google claims. Google stated in a blog post that it was launching the lawsuit.
We are suing scammers who tried to defraud hundreds small businesses by pretending to be Google via telemarketing calls. They also set up websites advertising fake reviews to manipulate the Business Profiles on Google Search or Maps. This is a shady practice that exploits small businesses and entrepreneurs. It also violates our policies regarding deceptive content.
This isn’t the first time that a company has attempted to impersonate Google. Be wary of anyone claiming to be from Google and asking for money in order to rank on the first page or provide 100% free services.
The post Google files a lawsuit against a company that falsely promised Page 1 rankings was first published on Search Engine Land.