Negative SEO Explained: How to Protect Your Google Business Profile

Imagine waking up one day to find your Google Business Profile showing the wrong phone number, a fake address, or—worse—marked as permanently closed. You didn’t make these changes, yet your potential customers now think you’ve shut down. This isn’t a glitch. It’s a real threat called negative SEO—and it’s silently hurting local businesses every day.

But here’s the good news: you don’t have to stay vulnerable. In this blog, we’ll break down what negative SEO is, how it specifically targets your Google Business Profile, and—here comes the surprise—we’ll introduce a powerful tool designed to block these attacks before they ever reach your listing.

Ready to take control and protect your online presence? Let’s dive in.

What Is Negative SEO?

Negative SEO involves unethical strategies designed to harm a competitor’s search engine rankings. Instead of enhancing their own SEO, perpetrators or spammers focus on damaging others through methods like:​

• Creating spammy backlinks to your website.

• Scraping and duplicating your content across the web.

• Hacking your site to alter or delete content.

• Flooding your GBP with false edits or misleading information.​

These actions can lead to decreased visibility, loss of customer trust, and ultimately, a decline in business performance.

How Negative SEO Targets Google Business Profiles

Your Google Business Profile (GBP) is a powerful tool for local visibility. It connects you with customers searching for your services in your area. Unfortunately, it’s also a vulnerable target for negative SEO attacks.

Here’s how attackers can exploit your GBP:

1. Suggest an Edit Abuse

Google allows users to suggest changes to a business profile. While this is meant to help improve accuracy, bad actors often abuse this feature. They can change:

• Your business name to something irrelevant or misleading.

• Your address, sending customers to the wrong location.

• Your phone number, redirecting calls to another business.

• Your business hours, making it seem like you’re closed when you’re actually open.

These changes may seem small, but they confuse customers, lead to missed business opportunities, and damage trust.

2. Incorrect Business Category Changes

Your business category helps Google understand what you do. If an attacker changes it to something unrelated—like setting a dentist’s office to “auto repair”—your profile won’t show up in the right search results. This reduces your visibility and traffic drastically.

3. Map Pin Relocation

Moving your location pin on Google Maps is another sneaky trick. By shifting your pin away from your real location, attackers can make it hard for customers to find you. Imagine a customer driving to your store and ending up in a residential area—they’ll likely give up and leave a bad impression.

4. Keyword Stuffing in Your Business Name

Some attackers edit your business name to include spammy keywords. For example, turning “Sunrise Café” into “Sunrise Café Best Breakfast Free WiFi”. While it may seem like a minor edit, Google may flag your profile for violating naming guidelines. That could lead to a suspension or drop in rankings.

5. Malicious Photos and Updates

Bad actors can upload irrelevant or harmful photos to your GBP. These could include low-quality, off-topic, or even inappropriate images. Since photos influence how customers perceive your business, this can severely impact your reputation.

6. Duplicate Listings Creation

Some attackers create fake or duplicate listings of your business with wrong details. This creates confusion for both Google and customers. It can split your reviews, rankings, and traffic—hurting your online visibility.

Can Anyone Use the “Suggest an Edit” Feature to Conduct a Negative SEO Attack?

Yes, anyone with a Google account can use the “Suggest an edit” feature on a Google Business Profile—and unfortunately, that includes people with bad intentions.

Google introduced the “Suggest an edit” option to allow users to help improve local business listings. It’s meant to keep business information up-to-date and accurate. But like many open-access tools, it can be misused for negative SEO attacks.

Here’s How It Works (and Can Be Abused):

When someone clicks on “Suggest an edit” on a Google Business Profile, they can:

• Change the business name (sometimes adding spammy keywords).

• Edit the address, moving the location pin elsewhere.

• Change the phone number, sometimes redirecting calls to a competitor.

• Adjust the opening hours to show the business as closed.

• Modify the category, mislabeling the business.

• Mark the business as “Permanently Closed.”

Now imagine a competitor or malicious user makes one of these changes. If the edit gets published—which Google may approve based on its algorithm or crowd-sourced trust signals—it can severely harm your business’s local search visibility and credibility.

Even worse? You may not get notified when the change goes live.

Proactive Measures to Protect Your Google Business Profile

Your Google Business Profile (GBP) is your digital storefront. It’s the first impression many potential customers will have of your business. That’s why protecting it from negative SEO tactics is essential. Luckily, with a few proactive steps and the right tools, you can keep your profile accurate, secure, and optimized.

Let’s explore the most effective ways to protect your GBP:

1. Claim and Verify Your Business Profile

The first step is simple but powerful: claim your GBP and complete the verification process.

When you verify your profile:

• You gain full control over the business information displayed.

• Google recognizes you as the official representative of your business.

• You receive alerts and updates about changes or suspicious activity.

Unverified listings are vulnerable to unauthorized edits and could be claimed by someone else pretending to represent your business.

2. Regularly Monitor Your Profile for Unauthorized Changes

Negative SEO attackers can edit your GBP information without your knowledge—if you’re not actively monitoring it.

Here’s what you should check regularly:

• Business name

• Phone number

• Address and map pin

• Business hours

• Primary and secondary categories

• Photos and videos uploaded by users

Even a small change—like modifying your category—can lower your ranking and confuse customers. Set a weekly or bi-weekly reminder to manually review your listing, even if you’re receiving notifications.

3. Limit Access with Role-Based Permissions

Only allow trusted team members to manage your GBP. Grant access using Google’s role-based system:

• Primary Owner: Full control
• Owner: Full control (use sparingly)
• Manager: Can edit profile but not add/remove users

This prevents internal errors and protects your account from being compromised.

4. Maintain Consistent Business Information Online

Google uses multiple signals to verify the accuracy of your listing. If your business name, address, or phone number (NAP) is inconsistent across websites, directories, and social media, it weakens your trust signals.

Tips:

• Use the same format for your NAP across all platforms.

• Regularly audit your online citations.

• Update outdated information on third-party websites.

This not only strengthens your local SEO but also reduces the risk of your GBP being flagged for suspicious activity.

5. Use GBPGM’s Business Profile Proactive Protection

GBPGM (Google Business Profile Growth Manager) offers a powerful feature called Business Profile Proactive Protection, built specifically to safeguard your Google Business Profile from negative SEO attacks.

Instead of merely alerting you about suspicious edits, GBPGM takes it a step further—it automatically rejects unauthorized edits and public suggestions outright. This means:

• Your business name, phone number, address, and other key details stay protected from tampering.

• Spammy or misleading category changes, keyword stuffing, or map pin relocations are instantly blocked.

• You maintain full control of your GBP without the hassle of constantly monitoring for edits.

This hands-free protection ensures that your business profile remains accurate, consistent, and secure—around the clock.

How to Enable GBPGM’s Business Profile Proactive Protection

1. Log in to your GBPGM account using the app or web version.

2. Choose your business location if you manage multiple listings.

3. From the dashboard, click on the “Info” tab.

4. Scroll to the bottom-right corner and toggle on the “Business Profile Proactive Protection” feature to activate it.

Additional Strategies to Safeguard Your Online Presence

Beyond GBP-specific measures, consider these broader strategies:

• Backlink Monitoring: Use tools like Google Search Console to monitor your backlink profile. Identify and disavow any suspicious or spammy links that could harm your site’s credibility.

• Content Protection: Regularly check for duplicate content across the web. Utilize plagiarism detection tools to ensure your content remains unique.​

• Website Security: Implement robust security measures, including HTTPS protocols, strong passwords, and regular software updates, to protect against hacking attempts.​

• Set Up Alerts: Configure alerts in Google Search Console to notify you of any significant changes or issues with your website.

Conclusion

Negative SEO is a real and pressing concern for businesses relying on their online presence. By understanding the tactics used by malicious actors and implementing proactive measures, you can protect your Google Business Profile and maintain your hard-earned reputation. Tools like GBPGM’s Business Profile Proactive Protection offer an added layer of security, ensuring your business information remains accurate and trustworthy.​

Stay vigilant, regularly monitor your online assets, and take swift action against any unauthorized changes. In doing so, you’ll safeguard your business against the detrimental effects of negative SEO.

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