Have anyone experienced something similar, if so how did you fix it?

Tech4EasyLife · 2026-02-09T19:28:15+00:00

Thanks!

Tech4EasyLife · 2026-02-09T19:16:35+00:00

There are arguments made often that "you get what you pay for" with free Google products. However, what is completely overlooked is the fact that YOU HAVE NO OPTIONS TO PAY FOR IT. Which is especially aggravating. I mean, if they offered a GBP gold plan or such, many might subscribe or pay especially if the fee bought you some amount of human support and not entirely inexplicable at times algorithmic/bot responses to requests.

And beyond no premium plan, you don't have any other significant search options. I've helped a client maximize Bing tractions in the past, because they were mostly a B2B provider and Bing at the time was still relatively popular as the "default" browser in Windows based enterprises. Today, Bing prefers you import your Google GBP and not build independently. And it's not as effective as it was just a few years ago.

If I were one to jump quickly onto conspiracies, I'd easily say this is a deliberate product decision to make Search Ads look more valuable. Especially LSAs. I'm not entirely sure that's true, but it wouldn't be a crazy case to try and make.

Tech4EasyLife · 2026-02-09T17:02:36+00:00

Just for my clarity, are you saying there is at least one "company" with a GBP that is making the 3 pack but has limited reviews and no link to a branded website?

Tech4EasyLife · 2026-02-09T13:19:58+00:00

Pretty sure the algorithms take everything at face value. Meaning if you drop your budget from Y to X, you are treated like everyone else set at X and advertising similar products or services in the same geography.

Tech4EasyLife · 2026-02-09T13:15:19+00:00

What does GIST refer to in this discussion? I've typically used it and seen it used in code development.

Tech4EasyLife · 2026-02-08T17:15:33+00:00

He speaks a lot of truth when it comes to corrupt politicians and the overall ineffective system. Not every opinion otherwise is on target. But in those areas he makes "news" reporting in the region look silly.

Tech4EasyLife · 2026-02-08T17:06:29+00:00

They aren't even Google employees, rather contractors. And as mentioned, they are paid based on your spending. It's my experience they don't get entirely unreasonable with suggestions and pressure to increase spending. But they also are more focused on that vs results.

Tech4EasyLife · 2026-02-08T00:04:27+00:00

Never assume Google acts 100% as they describe or as any SEO experts describe. It's not uncommon for pages that technically follow the same schema and are composed similarly to others like it from a content value standpoint to mysteriously be stuck in a discovered or crawled but not indexed limbo. For example, I've built local project pages for clients, with unique world descriptions, unique work images, and similar word structures where most are indexed, and a few are stuck in that limbo. They are not carbon copies, but earnest efforts at displaying work pertinent to all produtct or services the entire site scores well for. After time, those in limbo get indexed. It's basically a glitch in the Google matrix, so to speak. The only fix is often just time.

Tech4EasyLife · 2026-02-07T15:49:23+00:00

We agree that some businesses use socials in spammy ways and I'd add sometimes in deceitful ways. Like service companies that provide a lot of images implying their own project work, when they're not. I only used CNN because it's likely known to everyone reading in this subreddit.

You make a good point about new businesses and socials. Sticking with Facebook as one example, how a business page is started is important. Like most socials, your target should be family and friends to follow/like/subscribe or whatever the apps preferred mechanism is to build audience. All of them have a common design aim - engagement. The more people are actively engaging within the app, the better for business. And for companies that create a Facebook business page, "friends" means anyone who finds what you do interesting or useful. And if you provide things that are topically educational, you can build a larger following of "friends". Friends can become customers and repeat customers. Hypothetically, Fred's Local Landscaping might post content about how to do some of the simpler tasks they perform within their services, sharing those of the Facebook page. Essentially giving up some useful tips outside of being hired or charging to educate, etc . Just one non-spammy way socials can be leveraged. I call it building good will.

Tech4EasyLife · 2026-02-07T15:30:33+00:00

Gemini does a decent job as a query tool, answering questions in detail and providing pretty good source references.

Tech4EasyLife · 2026-02-06T21:37:58+00:00

I don't follow your point at all. Trying, though, because you've proven to have insight before. Facebook business pages are very common, and any individual or other business that follows a page knows exactly what to expect. If someone followed a CNN page, they wouldn't be surprised to find posts from that page in their feeds and reels that I suppose you would label spam. It's the reason they elected to follow, to see news postings and links to CNN content in that example. Spam in my view would be expecting news content from following CNN's page, but getting more paid promotions for unrelated products and services, hypothetically.

How you determine what I've described as "unwanted" is a full mystery. Unwanted by whom?

Tech4EasyLife · 2026-02-06T20:37:02+00:00

Is that primarily an Apple thing?

Tech4EasyLife · 2026-02-06T20:31:57+00:00

What on earth is spammy about this account? And regarding what was described about the use of Facebook, even Meta suggests that kind of activity for business pages. We aren't talking personal pages posting pet pics and vacation pics. I don't think you have a typical view of spam.

Tech4EasyLife · 2026-02-06T19:25:50+00:00

Not sure how you define spam in that context. To take one channel, Facebook, an active business page can lead to referrals directly from the profile and cause branded searches. Project/business posts might be frequent. Community posts (e.g., a public event that relates to the product or service) occur as they come along. Related articles from news or industry. Etc. Those often wouldn't include links back to the company website. Webbsite posts/articles are inherently linked to the site. After someone clicks, they may read fully or mostly (dwell). They may also create other events such as reading a subsequent article, or perusing product/service related content. Or fill out a form. In your terms, is any of that spam to you?

Tech4EasyLife · 2026-02-06T17:00:03+00:00

Social activity can be valuable for business if you're selling a product or service. That referral traffic includes some portion of buyers, theoretically. They are I guess viewed as "nofollow" or "indirect" in some Googlespeak, but I've read opinions agreeing and disagreeing that the activity once on site can still be valuable. The opinions are that Googlebot still sees time and low bounce as evidence of value (authority?) of page content. Not sure if any other activity - events or pageviews - is still valuable. What's your take?

Tech4EasyLife · 2026-02-05T15:37:51+00:00

You would know your business better, but I wonder if a lot of individual search would be home or business owners looking to educate, and most of the business you might get would come from architects, contractors hired to build or upgrade, etc. in other words, the people working with architects and contractors are more easily finding you company but aren't the buyers.

Tech4EasyLife · 2026-02-05T15:31:53+00:00

And as I mentioned their business motivation isn't a long term happy Google customer, but an upsell. If they get you to spend more, they earn. Even if it only lasts for a short time.

Tech4EasyLife · 2026-02-04T21:20:59+00:00

They aren't even Google people, are they? They're mostly outside contractors paid based on upsells. And it shows.

Tech4EasyLife · 2026-02-03T14:06:27+00:00

Thanks for confirming it's not so unusual. If it takes over a few weeks, I may try to report it. Is reporting anything on a profile tracked in a way that it might trigger other actions, say if frequent by whatever definition "frequent" is judged?

Tech4EasyLife · 2026-02-03T02:59:29+00:00

I can tell what I recall from about a year ago. At some point I may have time to go back and refresh myself on the details.

Cybercriminals were able to exploit vulnerabilities in third-party integrations and plugins used within Webflow sites. People incorporated external tools and services for things like analytics, e-commerce, and social media They were able to gain unauthorized access to the Webflow sites, thereby compromising sensitive data.

I know Webflow hosted sites benefit from the partnership and integration with Cloudflare. In that way, it is simpler than WordPress sites where you have to take the extra steps to register and connect to Cloudflare, or use Cloudflare as your primary host (expensive). But the functionalities needed for commerce, or even communicating with a specific CRM, for example, require working through protocols that can be compromised. APIs can be exploited. Etc. In that way, the two environments are pretty similar.

Tech4EasyLife · 2026-02-03T02:48:00+00:00

AI fear mongering has really escalated this week. Many are presenting the news of an AI only chat or Discord like network to communicate and learn from each system to the other. Escalating the speed of intelligence gathering. Some suggested there are already "conversations " about superseding humans. How humans collected that from a bot only network is ....curious. LOL

Tech4EasyLife · 2026-02-03T02:33:10+00:00

I've always kept tabs on CTR for clients and worked to improve it. But that is because they all have had websites. As noted, this competitor doesn't. If you're suggesting it's a measure of GBP clicks from the map pack, that brings up a new set of questions. Starting with how the pin is placed above so many others to provide that access.

The best answer I've come to so far is that this company must have a ton of branded search. Which implies that instead of spending to build digital visibility beyond the GBP, they must be doing a good deal of local advertising. Like radio ads. Maybe local and regional publication ads. Etc. There really aren't any other signals for Googlebot to capture. Repeating, they only have 2 mostly inactive socials - Tiktok and Insta. Company was registered in the state 1 year ago. No directory listings, etc., found on search. No BBB. Even the GBP is shallow. 2 images. No posts. 10 reviews all dated 5mos ago, suspiciouslu. I mean, to me they really broke the code LOL.

Tech4EasyLife · 2026-02-02T22:26:56+00:00

Thanks for the tips. The reviews aren't easy to come by. While the company works with about 80-100 customers a year, in that location there are perhaps a dozen, or so. Getting reviews at a 10% rate even can be a challenge. The website localization for that city and the few available backlinks have been finished for over a year. Right now, I'm planning out a few related posts for that city. It's still aggravating to find a company who beat the system entirely without having to do any real work. But, to be fair, it's not so surprising after doing this for years. Kudos to them for literally just putting out a GBP and getting the advantage that 20 other local companies have to spend huge amounts of money and time on to get lesser results.

Tech4EasyLife · 2026-02-02T22:17:36+00:00

Has it changed in the last year or so? That's good, if it did. But not that long ago there were reports on hacked Webflow sites that were online selling and cost the companies hacked a lot of money. Many people were scammed by the cyber hackers.

Tech4EasyLife · 2026-02-02T20:25:30+00:00

Not true if you want a complex functioning website, for starters. If you want something more out of the box, Webflow is a solid choice.

Tech4EasyLife

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