Someone Hi-Jacked my Clients Business Listing and online presence, What to do?

[donsilvernail]

I have a new client and I discovered that someone has ripped off the business and established it in Texas (business resides in New Jersey)

My client is ssscustomclosets.com/ the hijack artist has created forms and business listings such as this https://wirykanaird.wufoo.com/forms/zivaxni09ew6nb/

There is no google listing for Texas however, I have to think that this is causing some seo issues.

Any ideas how to rectify this? I have never come across this situation before.

Thanks,

Don Silvernail

[Dalessi]

Hello,

I am not sure I understand the question correctly but I think you are saying someone in Texas is using the same business information in Google as yours but in a different location.

If it is showing up incorrectly in Google, I would first make sure that you have verified your business location in New Jersy with Google.

Best Regards

[donsilvernail]

They did not take the google listing.

They took the business listing. Created a cloud based contact form and a multitude of business listings not google. They guy is using content from the site on business listings.

[MiriamEllis]

Wow - this is super weird, Donald. When I saw the word "hijack" I assumed your were talking about this entity hijacking your GMB listing, but you've clarified that this isn't so. Bearing in mind that I haven't dealt with this scenario before, here is what I see.

When I search for the Galveston address in Google's main engine, I see:

https://www.google.com/search?q=1644+Lynn+Ogden+Lane+Galveston%2C+TX+77550&oq=1644+Lynn+Ogden+Lane+Galveston%2C+TX+77550&aqs=chrome..69i57.463j0j4&sourceid=chrome&ie=UTF-8

You are right ... there appear to be a number of listings that have been created for this business.

When I click into Maps, I see the following error message:

Maps can't find 1644 Lynn Ogden Lane Galveston, TX 77550

So it would appear that address doesn't exist. Let's check Smarty Streets just to be sure. Yep! As I suspected "address unknown".

So, the address being used doesn't actually exist.

Calling the phone number several time only yields a busy signal.

The website listed on that Wufoo form is your client's own website. Are you seeing a website anywhere for this other entity?

The Manta listing for the strange entity is bringing up a 404 error page: https://www.manta.com/c/mh1l5py/s-s-s-custom-closets, but I'm seeing a live listing on Hotfrog and a couple of other low level directories.

I have to ask, what would be the point of this spam? If they're pointing to your client's website, and the phone number on those weird listings isn't functional, how would this be a successful spam strategy? I just don't get it.

A couple of questions, Don:

1. Are you positive your client has never attempted to operate any type of undertaking in Galveston? Positive they didn't try to do anything spammy on their end, like set up a fake location there? No offense intended in any way, but sometimes clients have done weird things in the past that we don't know about unless we ask.

2. What is the email being listed on those weird listings: warblingjulian@rediffmail.com. Is that your client or the unknown entity? Have you investigated that email at all...tried to write to them? I just don't see any other way to contact this unknown person than by filling out the form/emailing them, if they have no website or working phone number.

One suggestion:

I would urge you to do some work on your client's website to locally optimize it better. The website is currently very vague about its location. The homepage, contact, footer, about, etc. should list the full NAP of the business. Right now, I'm seeing a mention of the city here and there, but to ensure that your client retains dominant status for its name + location, some optimization needs to be done on-page to associate that brand name with the correct street address.

Please, if you can, answer the couple of questions I've asked, and thanks for bringing this mysterious case to the community. It's just not adding up for me. It's not typical local spam.

[donsilvernail]

Hi Miriam,

It does not add up to me either. However, you bring up a good point about the client trying to do something spammy. I do not think that it is my client that would do something like that. I have spent much time discussing this issue with her. She did have a previous SEO person work on the site which has left me with a lot of work to do. That person did some spammy type work on the website which will be some questions i ask on the forum later.

That email address is not the client. I have sent out mail.

The manta listing has been removed at the request of my client directly to manta.

I have called the number too. It just does not make sense to me either. There seems to be no direct reason for the spam.

I have to think it was the old seo who worked the site before me.

Thanks

[MiriamEllis]

Hi Donald,

Thanks so much for the answers. Other than a past SEO doing this for some weird reason for your client, the only other explanation I can think of is that the weird listings are the outcome of some kind of aggregation by the directories in question. Some directories do auto-generate listings, and there is a possibility of your client's business getting mixed up with the details of some other business. But I'm not really leaning that way because of the fictitious address. That "feels like" spam to me. But, I definitely would review this with the client in full to see if anything about it rings a bell to them about past work that may have been done internally or by an agency.

I think the best thing to do here would be to discover as many directories as you can that are listing the fictitious business and contact them to request listing removal, as you've done with Manta. You will easily be able to approve that the address is non-existent, that the phone doesn't connect to anything, and, if you've received no reply trying to use the email address, that the email is unresponsive. Show legal proofs of ownership of the brand name if necessary. Then, once you've gotten these odd listings removed, I would make it a practice once a month to search for any new listings that may crop up. Not very fun, but it seems necessary in the instance of such an odd scenario.

Good luck!