le’s Local Services Ads Platform has a problem with spam

A Google Local Services Ads spam problem is coming to a nearby town.

Local Services Ads are primarily for personal injury law firms. Most of the problems I encounter are in California. Although I’m not able to speak for all verticals or regions, it is true that I don’t have the ability to do so.

Here are some LSA Spam Issues and How Google Might Fix them.

How much spam do you have?

The spam started in September 2020. However, a huge spam wave hit California in March 2022.

Today? Today, we have a tsunami.

When I was writing this article, the “Google Screened Personal Injury Lawyer Results” in Fresno, Calif. caught my eye. I searched for “Fresno Personal Injury Lawyer” and after seeing three LSA ads from Google, I clicked “More Personal Injury Lawyers” to see a list with 100 lawyers.

I carefully reviewed the 100 listings. The top 100 “Google Screened Listings” were 95% spammy or incorrect (the results can vary daily).

Here’s the full breakdown:

• 1 LSA Ad was valid, and it came from a Fresno-based law firm
• Four LSA ads (from Fresno-based firms) were valid.
• 95 listings were either spammy or incorrect

Some firms use completely fake law firm names, as some of the spam/inaccurate listing’s 95. These are usually lawyers who use virtual office addresses that are hundreds of miles from their physical address. It is easy to verify that these addresses are shared or virtual. All you have to do is copy their address from their LSA ad and paste it into Google Search.

LSA faces four major problems

Problem 1: Spammy Locations – Are virtual offices’spammy’ or ‘inaccurate?

Google informs advertisers on their Local Services Ads Page:

“Local Services ads allow you to connect with people searching on Google for your services. Your ads will appear for customers within your service area

LSA spam and inaccurate listings can infiltrate areas, limiting the reach of local advertisers’ ads. Sometimes, spam or inaccurate listings can be so dense that legitimate advertisers’ ads are unable to display.

Here are the Google comments about location advertising:

• Google states on the LSA FAQ Page that you can have more Google Local Services Ads accounts and locations, but each location must have its own address, and be verified by our staff.
• LSA’s platform policies say that targeting ads to locations far from your business location and/or areas you cannot reasonably serve creates a confusing and negative experience for consumers. Additionally, targeting unreasonably large areas of service from one or a few business locations may result in our misrepresentation policy being questioned.

Advertisers use virtual office locations because they know that proximity has an impact on the LSA algorithm.

LSA checks the registration status of an attorney when someone creates a new LSA account to support a law firm. Advertisers can enter the address of the area they want to target, rather than Google Business Profile pages that require verification like a postcard or video.

All the advertisers I spoke with understood LSA guidelines in the same way. They agreed that placing an LSA in a 500-mile radius of where you are actually located would constitute a non-compliant advertisement. They could be all wrong, however.

Google Business Profile guidelines provide a more precise and detailed description.

• A business must contact customers in person to be eligible for a Google Business Profile.
• A Business Profile is not available for businesses that rent physical addresses but don’t have an office there.
• If the office is not well-lit, has clear signage and receives customers during business hours, it can’t be listed at a coworking space.

Google Business Profile is one product, while Local Services Ads is another.

Virtual Offices, in my opinion, are spammy or at worst, incorrect. This topic is up for discussion. LSA support representatives do not seem to have the answer. Different support reps give different answers.

We can only be sure that we are rapidly approaching a boiling point. Whatever the way LSA views virtual office, I don’t know if Google has ever taken any action.

Problem 2: Fake LSA reviews

While ads are often rotated out, some ads perform better. Google Screened uses an algorithm to determine which LSAs will be displayed in Google Screened.

Reviews are one of the main factors that influence the LSA ad rank. Spammers are aware of this and bombard their listings with reviews. Fake LSA reviews can be purchased online for as low as $15 to $25.

Local Services Ads pulls reviews from Google Business Profile accounts (when one is associated with it). LSA doesn’t require an associated Google Business Page. LSAs may also be able to receive reviews through the LSA platform.

Fake LSA reviews can be difficult to spot because the public cannot click on the profile. If you read enough reviews, you will eventually notice a pattern. You may also be able to recognize certain names or keyword stuffing.

Problem 3: Fake business names

Fake business names are another problem LSA has for lawyers. Some of the LSA-targeting firms with many listings may have a DBA. A California DBA costs only $26 at the time this article was written.

Although I won’t name names, LSAs in California will show you the same faces with different names.

One particular firm has created a number of ads under different names and used around 17 different lawyers to do so. They have a large number of LSA accounts, probably 200.

Most of the time, if the result is Google Screened, and you are able to locate the name of the attorney, you can go to the State Bar website and enter their name and find out which law firm they work for.

Problem 4: Multiple ranking of the same firm and ads

The problem I see in many cities is “overlapping advertisements.”

Overlapping ads is when multiple law firms target the same area and have different accounts. This is happening in multiple cities.

This can happen either by accident or intentional. If a company has 200 accounts, or more, it can target your state. This means that one business may take up all or part of the top three advertising spaces.

What Google has to say:

Local Services will only show the highest-ranking ad to answer a query if your business has multiple locations in the same area.

It is false.

Local Services has been showing overlapping ads for many years. Although they may be trying to correct this problem, the ads overlap still a lot and it’s difficult to notify LSA support.

Here is a screenshot showing that one attorney appears twice at the top of Google Screened Results:

Google may offer solutions

According to my sources, Google is currently working on a scaleable solution in order to reduce spam. They might be, or they may not.

Even if Google has a solution, manual intervention is still required, as with all Google products. Spam fighting will always be a game between cat and mouse.

Here are the things I have failed to do so far.

• Report inaccurate content. It has been helpful to me several times. Unfortunately, it has never produced any results. Ever. The report is completed, I submit it and then nothing happens. Nothing happens.
• LSA support has been contacted several times with spam complaints. Support reps were unable to assist. They just say they are unable to talk about other advertisers’ accounts.

Google might try some things that work well with their other products.

• Address Verification A new LSA account will not require address verification, as with Google Business Profile pages (at minimum for lawyers).
• Spam Reporting Anyone can flag any listing that is inaccurate, incorrect, fraudulent or fraudulent in Google Maps. Although this type of report may not always work, it is at least possible.
• Complaint form: Advanced users have the option to report spam or bulk Google Business Profile spam via an oddly-named Business Remedies Complaint form. I believe it is essential to have a spam reporting form that LSA support actually responds to.
• Help community: I believe Google requires a help group for Local Services Ads. There is a Google Ads Community, an Google Ads Community, and a forum for products or help. Why is there no LSA Help Community? This alone will not stop spam but users can at least make it more easy for Google to see via Product Experts.

A call to action

Google informs users about Google Screened professionals that they have undergone extensive background checks. This helps professionals to build trust online.

Local advertisers have difficulty getting their ads noticed by Google Screened Results because they are full of fake reviews, spammy listings, virtual law firms, and non-existent law offices.

Violations can be manually corrected until a more scalable solution can be found.

Advertisers, end users, and marketing agencies all need to be able to report spam.

These opinions are not necessarily those of Search Engine Land, but they do reflect the views of the guest author. Here are the names of staff authors.