SEARCHENGINES

Beware Of Fraudulent Ownership Requests From Google Business Profiles

Published

1 year ago

November 20, 2022

Beware Of Fraudulent Ownership Requests From Google Business Profiles

I am sure many of you have received one or two (or more) requests from Google Business Profiles saying the owner is requested access to maintain your business. I just delete them but I am hearing from Local SEOs that this is becoming more and more of an issue.

Ben Fisher said in the Local Search Forum “I am seeing a ton of owner requests come in from hijackers, are you all seeing the same? Started this week.” Others are saying yes, but maybe not just this week. Scott Rawlins replied, “I saw quite a few maybe 3 weeks ago (for a couple of weeks), but the requests have dramatically declined for me.” Sarah said “Last week I got 5 scam requests from the same person! I am used to getting maybe 3 a month, but I too have noticed an increase recently.”

Here is the Google help document on ownership requests that says “If a Business Profile on Google has already been verified and you’re authorized to manage the profile, you can request ownership from the current profile owner. If you can’t find a “Claim this Business” or “Own this business” link on the Business Profile, you’re likely already an owner for the business. On your profile, search for a “You manage this business profile” badge.”

Just be on the outlook for these requests, they may seem official and if you do not own the business and you just manage that business for a client, be super careful before granting someone you don’t know access to that business listing.

This is not a new issue, it has been going on for many years but there are reports of an uptick in this fraudulent activity.

You don’t want a competitor gaining access to your business listing on Google and then requesting the business to be removed from Google Maps and Google Search.

Forum discussion at Local Search Forum.

Source: www.seroundtable.com

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SEARCHENGINES

Google Hanukkah Decorations Are Live For 2023

Published

7 days ago

December 3, 2023

Entireweb News Bot

Hanukkah (aka Chanukah) starts this coming Thursday night, December 7th. Google has added its Hanukkah decorations to the Google Search results interface to celebrate. Google does this every year and I expect to see the same rollout in the coming weeks for Christmas and Kawanzaa but for now, since Chanukah is in the coming days, we have the Hanukkah decorations live at Google Search.

Here is a screenshot of the Chanukah decorations as they look like on the mobile search results.

You can see it yourself by searching on Google for [chanukah], [hanukkah], but not yet [חֲנוּכָּה‎] or other spelling variations yet but it should soon. It looks better on mobile than it does on desktop results.

To see the past, the 2023 decorations, 2021 decorations, 2020 Chanukah decorations, 2019 Google holiday decorations, the 2018, 2017, 2016, 2015, 2014, 2013, 2012, 2011, 2010 and so on.

Happy Chanukah, everyone!

Forum discussion at X.

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SEARCHENGINES

Google Pay Accepted Icons In Google Search Results

Published

1 week ago

December 3, 2023

Entireweb News Bot

Google seems to be testing a Google Pay Accepted label or icon in the Google search results. This label has the super G logo followed by the words “Pay accepted” words next to search result snippets that support Google Pay and notate such in their structured data.

This was first spotted by Khushal Bherwani who shared some screenshots of this on X – here is one:

Here are some more screenshots:

Here is test and without test window for same query. pic.twitter.com/n9cYWBOsro

— Khushal Bherwani (@b4k_khushal) October 20, 2023

Brodie Clark also posted some screenshots after on X:

In continuation from the test from October, Google is now testing out a new Google Pay label associated with organic results. Last month, Google was testing Pay Accepted text, with this month changing it to Pay encrypted checkout. More details: https://t.co/MvFNoPmMDR pic.twitter.com/WDVVc4RbTO

— SERPs Up 🌊 (@SERPalerts) November 30, 2023

I tried to replicate this but I came up short.

This is not the first time Google had similar icons like this in its search results.

Forum discussion at X.

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SEARCHENGINES

Google Discover Showing Older Content Since Follow Feature Arrived

Published

1 week ago

December 2, 2023

Entireweb News Bot

Typically, Google Discover shows content that is less than a day old, but it can show content that is weeks, months, or even years old. However, typically, Google will show more recent content in the Discover feed. Well, that may have changed with the new Google follow feature.

Glenn Gabe, who is a very active Google Discover user, noticed that since the Follow feature rolled out, he has been seeing content that is weeks and months old way more often than before the follow feature rolled out. Glenn wrote on X that “this could also be playing a role. i.e. Google isn’t providing as much recent content, but instead, focusing on providing targeted content based on the topics you are following.”

It makes sense that if you follow a specific topic and if Google Discover only shows the most authoritative types of content, it might be hard for Google to find new content on that topic. So it does make sense that Google may show older content more often for that specific topic you follow.

Here are screenshots Glenn shared:

Google Discover Old Stories Follow