Dumbing Down GMB

Wrote this long post to help a fellow member understand ranking and renting GMB... and thought I'd post it here to help clear things up for whoever has trouble understanding the concept. This is as per my understanding, so feel free to correct me if I'm wrong!

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So...

Y'know when you Google, say, "Florist". At the top of the page for the search results, it will show the nearest florist shops in your area.

These listings are sometimes ABOVE the florist listing that paid for adwords (number 1 on top), and is in a prime location.

This feature is GMB = Google My Business. It allows local businesses to appear on top based on their locations.

So, the deal is this. Sometimes, some areas do NOT have florists. For example, maybe in LA, there are no local shops selling flowers. (dumb example, I know, but bear with me.)

What happens is that, through blackhat techniques, someone from somewhere else in the world (Singapore for example), can register a local business in LA to Google that represents the category of a florist. This means that the address is a physical address, but not a shop. (I'm still figuring what passes as a physical address at this point). Residential addresses work as well.

Now Google takes these brick and mortar shops seriously and will have verification methods either by sending a postcard with a unique code to the lot, or via a phone call to the landline of the "shop". But the GMB verification services in BHW takes care of this.

So why would someone from Singapore wanna invest in a fictional virtual address in LA? Because, by nurturing faked reviews and a website, they can potentially rank this listing high, and "rent" this listing to a florist in the outskirts of LA who can potentially deliver the service.

So a florist will rent the LA listing, and all leads, phone calls and emails will be redirected to them for a rental price. Prices can reach up to $1k per listing if it was nurtured correctly, and there is a demand in the locale.

This may sound dumb, but $1k is cheaper than ACTUALLY owning a physical store in the area. PLUS, they save on SEO to rank on top ABOVE the guy who paid for SLOT 1.

So... This is actually a smart way to "invest" in virtual real estate and collect rent every month. If they don't pay rent, they lose the listing and lead. It's as simple as that.

This could work for on-call car mechanics, landscapers, renovators, towing services, etc...

Does this explanation help?

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Feel free to populate with what services might work!

it defiantly makes sense good read man, i'm working on my first rank and rent sites now and will be doing gmb as well

if you have multiple gmb listings, how do you update them without google connecting all your accounts and getting a ban. i dont want any of my listings connected

Thanks for this. GMB kinda new for me - looking to do some stuff in other countries.

Nice write up OP

You seem experienced in this, I was researching how to actually verify GMB myself and not reply on the marketplace to do so.

I assume you won't tell that.

It seems no one is willing to let the secret out and keep making money.

Eat You said:

Nice write up OP

You seem experienced in this, I was researching how to actually verify GMB myself and not reply on the marketplace to do so.

I assume you won't tell that.

It seems no one is willing to let the secret out and keep making money.

Click to expand...

If you`re like me. keep scratching round, all the bits will come to you - noobs need to keep searching bro!

Nice method to consider, as long as they still keep the google maps at the top following updates.

Does this 'distance-dominance' pertain to the city's EXACT MIDDLE point? Like how will you show up, if you're 'too far' from where the user is searching?

Example: Google 'florists in LA' will show businesses spread out all over LA, but how do you "top" them? Where in this ranking are you/how do you climb it?

Hopefully that makes sense as a question.

Also, Great post OP!

Eat You said:

Nice write up OP

You seem experienced in this, I was researching how to actually verify GMB myself and not reply on the marketplace to do so.

I assume you won't tell that.

It seems no one is willing to let the secret out and keep making money.

Click to expand...

I wished I knew as well. I'd still need to get the help of the guys in the marketplace for this.

But TBH, even if I knew, I would not go public with it for a simple fact.

Never be reckless with such loopholes or it might just encourage Googuys to shut it down, making this whole thing impossible to work with in the future.

wpsokw said:

Does this 'distance-dominance' pertain to the city's EXACT MIDDLE point? Like how will you show up, if you're 'too far' from where the user is searching?

Example: Google 'florists in LA' will show businesses spread out all over LA, but how do you "top" them? Where in this ranking are you/how do you climb it?

Hopefully that makes sense as a question.

Also, Great post OP!

Click to expand...

Coincidentally I was with some Googuys today and they did say it is similar to SEO where it's made of a collection of criteria.

The main thing was to keep it constantly engaged, like putting up reviews and user submitted images.

Not very ideal in our situation, but one of the ways to get started is also to target low competition high demand niches.

So if you choose florist, for example, you need to make sure that there are no florists in the area with GMB.

Some research will have to be done prior.


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Now that being said, I've never done this before and I'm still learning the ropes myself.

What I've outlined above is based on my limited understanding through resources like Chad's.

It is in the pipelines and I'll definitely be doing some research prior, which I suggest you do as well.

Like everything else on BHW, there are a lot of opportunities but you need to plan, research and strategize them in order to get decent ROI.