Your intuition is correct. The people who keep calling you on the phone are definitely NOT Google. The callers are companies "acting like" Google. They want to charge you for services that are free directly from Google.

I realized this when talking with locally owned and operated small businesses that had not claimed their free listing on Google. The response I would get was "...we can not afford to get a Google listing and we wish they would stop calling us."  

The tragedy is that these calls prevent small businesses from claiming their free Google listing. This listing is important to fill out completely, update when changes occur and add content to in order to appear on Google searches and Google maps.  

These calls may resemble the following format: "This is a verification call for Google Maps." ... or "This is a Google Maps Service Provider. We want to verify your listing on Google. Press #1 on your phone to be transferred to a Google Maps verification specialist." I don't know about you, but I would probably think this is a call from the real Google.

If you answer this call, the person will act like they are verifying your business and say something like, "...we notice your business in not categorized correctly." These companies are looking for incorrect or missing information on your Google listing to show you. They request that you look up your business to show you this incorrect or missing information and to convince you of their credibility. This is the hook. Following that they attempt to transfer you to a sales representative. I have been told prices can be $1500 or more for getting "help" to set up what is essentially a free listing.  

The last caller told me to search "google maps marketing" which brought up this page: https://www.google.com/search?q=google+maps+marketing&oq=google+maps+marketing&aqs=chrome..69i57j0l5.479j0j4&sourceid=chrome&es_sm=122&ie=UTF-8 


The Truth

You can set up all of this information for your free Google listing yourself, take a class to learn how to do it, use online resources or pay a legitimate person to help you for a much more reasonable amount of money.

What can you do about these calls?

If you get these calls you can report them to Google using the local support call back request: https://support.google.com/business/answer/3039617?rd=1#contact=1 

After reporting them, if you continue to get calls from companies like this you can always have a little fun with them.  A response I love to give these callers is - "Why are you calling me? This number is on the Do Not Call list." and generally they hang right up. Or use the old give your phone to your 3-year-old and let them chat a while. You can also list the number on the National Do not Call Registry. This seems to work for awhile then the calls start again  Just repeat and add them all to the list.

Just to be clear, Google does not call businesses about their listings unless they are responding to a specific support request that was initiated by someone affiliated with your business. You can request Google Support and they will send a verifying email that will come from (something)@google.com or local-help@google.com

Need help setting up Google yourself? How do I set up my free listing on Google at:  http://Google.com/mybusiness

Here is my personal resources page with links to help: http://www.ncsmallbusinesstraining.com/small-businessresources/public/google-plus-help/

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