le Maps can identify fake phone numbers from photos and help you remove them
Did you know that Google can detect fake phone numbers overlayed in photos uploaded to Google Maps by scammers and block them from being displayed on local business listings within the search results?
Google has published information about its efforts to counter fake content and reviews on Google Maps and in local search. These are some of the numbers Google shared about its efforts to combat fake content and reviews in Google Maps and local search. But was it enough?
Google Maps spam fighting. These are some statistics that Google shared about how it combated spamming in Google Maps in 2022.
- Over 115 million policy-violating reviews were blocked or removed (20% more than last fiscal year).
- Over 200 million photos have been removed or blocked
- Over 7 million videos blocked or removed
- We stopped 20 million attempts to create fake Google Business Profiles
Machine learning. Google has also added two machine learning-based methods to detect and prevent spam in Google Maps.
(1) Google stated that they have released a new machine learning model that helps them identify “new abuse trends much faster than other years.” They also noticed an increase in Business Profiles for websites with.design and.top TLDs, and they quickly took action.
(2) Google has also developed a machine learning model that detects scammers by overlaying incorrect phone numbers on top user-contributed photographs. This allows searchers to scam the number in the phone number, and not the official business number.
Is this enough? Jason Brown recently reported on how hotel managers are worried about fake positive reviews being sent to them by spammers. He also reported recently on how spammers use ChatGPT for fake reviews to Google Maps.
Google stated that “While we have made significant progress in this area we know that scammers continue their evolution — and we will, too.”
Why we care. Spam and fake information when searching for keywords is something marketers have to deal with. Spam is not something we like, nor do fake reviews on clients’ or businesses’ listings. Google is working to reduce spam, but it’s a game of cat-and mouse.
Google is constantly coming up with new techniques and ways to reduce spam. Spammers find other ways to circumvent these efforts. You can view Google’s efforts in the past year .
The post Google Maps detects fake phone numbers in photos, and can remove them was first published on Search Engine land.