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To report a fake business on Google Maps, open the listing, choose Suggest an edit, then Place is closed or not here, then Offensive, harmful, or misleading, and submit. If the problem is a fake or misleading business name, phone number or website, especially across several listings run by the same competitor, use Google’s Business Redressal Complaint Form instead, which takes many listings in one complaint. Google doesn’t promise to act on either, so what gets a listing removed is reporting the right rule break through the right route, with evidence a reviewer can check quickly.
This guide is for owners of service businesses who keep losing map spots and calls to listings that shouldn’t be there: made-up locations dotted around a service area, virtual offices, names stuffed with keywords. Every step and rule below comes from Google Maps Help and Google Business Profile Help, linked as we go. If you’re also getting calls from people claiming to be Google about your listing, see does Google call you about your business listing. If you’d rather have someone run your profile and the reporting for you, that is part of our local SEO service.
How can I tell if a competitor’s listing is actually fake?
Check it against Google’s guidelines for representing your business: a listing breaks them if the business doesn’t really operate at that address, uses a name it doesn’t use in the real world, or is one of several profiles for one business. A listing with no visible address is usually fine, because Google tells service-area businesses run from home to hide their address.
Before you report anything, match what you’re seeing to a row below. Only the rows marked Yes are worth reporting.
| What you see on the competitor’s listing | Against Google’s rules? | What the guidelines say |
|---|---|---|
| No address shown, just a service area | No | Service-area businesses should hide their address, for example a plumber working from home. |
| Address is a mailbox store, P.O. box or virtual office | Yes | P.O. boxes and remote mailboxes aren’t acceptable, and a rented mailing address the business doesn’t operate from isn’t eligible. |
| Address is a co-working space | Only if unstaffed | Allowed only with clear signage, staff there during business hours, and customers received at that address. |
| Name includes a town, a service or extra keywords | Yes, if those words aren’t part of the real name | The name must match the real-world name on signage, website and stationery. Service and location details aren’t allowed in it. |
| Several listings for one company around your area | Yes, unless each is a real staffed location | One profile per business. A service business gets one per location only when each location has its own staff and service area. |
| Phone or website goes to a different company or a lead seller | Yes | Phone numbers and URLs must not redirect or refer people to anyone other than the actual business. |
| More reviews, higher ranking, newer business | No | None of these break a rule. Google ranks local results on relevance, distance and prominence. |
To check a suspicious address quickly, drop into Street View and look for permanent signage (Google expects businesses that show their address to have it), then search the address itself to see whether it’s a mailbox store or serviced office. Search the phone number in quotes too. When the same number or website sits behind several listings with different names, you’ve found the pattern Google’s fraud form is built for.
Which Google report should I use for each problem?
Use Suggest an edit to fix one wrong detail, the Place is closed or not here route for a business that doesn’t exist where it says, and the Business Redressal Complaint Form for fraud in a name, phone number or website, especially across many listings. Google’s report a business page asks you to pick the right form, and the redressal form says it won’t review anything outside its scope.
| Problem | Route | Where to find it |
|---|---|---|
| No business at that address (virtual office, empty lot, someone’s house with no business) | Request removal | Google Maps: Suggest an edit, then Place is closed or not here, then Doesn’t exist here |
| Listing looks fake or misleading enough that the business may not exist | Report misleading info | Google Maps: Suggest an edit, then Place is closed or not here, then Offensive, harmful, or misleading |
| Real business, but keywords or a town added to its name | Edit the name | Google Maps: Suggest an edit, then the place name |
| Fake or misleading names, phone numbers or URLs, often across a network of listings | Fraud complaint | Business Redressal Complaint Form, 10 to 100 URLs at a time or a spreadsheet |
| Business offering discounts or payment for reviews | Report business conduct | Google Maps app: Suggest an edit, then Report business conduct at the bottom |
| A single fake review on their listing | Report the review | On the review: Menu, then Report review |
When one listing has several problems, start with the strongest. A fake address you can prove beats a keyword in the name, because removing the listing fixes both.
How do I report a fake business on Google Maps step by step?
Sign in to your Google Account, open the listing in Google Maps, select Suggest an edit, then Place is closed or not here, pick the option that matches (Doesn’t exist here or Offensive, harmful, or misleading) and submit. These are the steps in Google’s help pages on reporting a business and requesting removal of a Business Profile.
- Before you touch anything, copy the full Maps URL of the listing and take screenshots of the name, address, phone, website and photos. Listings change, and the redressal form asks for the public URL.
- Open Google Maps while signed in. Google says a removal request needs a signed-in account.
- Search for the listing or click it on the map.
- Select Suggest an edit, then Place is closed or not here.
- Choose Doesn’t exist here when nothing operates at that address, or Offensive, harmful, or misleading when the listing itself is deceptive. Then select Submit.
- Watch your inbox. Google says you might get a status email with follow-up questions, and the listing is removed from Search and Maps if the request is approved.
- Check progress in Google Maps under Menu, then Your contributions, then Edits. Google’s edits page shows each one as Pending, Accepted or Not Accepted.
You can’t cancel an edit once it’s sent, so get the reason right first. If an edit comes back Not Accepted, Google’s advice is to submit a new one with correct details, which is your cue to add evidence or switch to the redressal form.
How do I fill in the Business Redressal Complaint Form so Google acts on it?
Quote the exact name, phone number or URL you say is misleading, paste the full public Maps URL of every listing, and explain how a customer would be misled. The form says Google won’t process a complaint that isn’t properly filled out, won’t review anything unrelated to fraud in a name, phone number or URL, and won’t send you status updates.
The form asks for:
- Your full name and a contact email.
- The business or organisation being affected (yours).
- The type of malicious content: phone number, URL, address or title.
- The public URL of each listing. Google recommends 10 to 100 at a time for faster processing, added with the “Add additional” link or as a spreadsheet upload.
- A detailed explanation that quotes the exact content from each listing.
Worked example: a roofer reporting a network of fake listings
This is an illustration with made-up business details. A roofing company notices seven new listings in its service area over two months. Each is named “[Suburb] Roof Repair Pros”, all seven share one phone number, and the website on each is the same lead form. Street View shows a mailbox store at one address, a vacant lot at another and houses with no signage at the rest. The owner saves the seven URLs, screenshots each listing and writes:
Example wording: “These seven listings use the names ‘Northgate Roof Repair Pros’, ‘Riverside Roof Repair Pros’ and five similar names, but all list the same phone number and website. That website names no company and no address. One listed address is a mailbox store and one is a vacant lot in Street View. None of the addresses has signage. We believe this is one lead-selling operation creating fake locations, which misleads customers about who they are calling and breaks Google’s rules on names, addresses and redirecting phone numbers. Screenshots attached.”
That explanation works because every claim can be checked from the URLs in a minute: the shared phone number, the address types and the rule each one breaks. “They’re spamming Google” gives a reviewer nothing to verify.
What if the fake listings keep coming back?
Keep a simple log and report each new listing alongside the old ones, because the shared phone number, website or naming pattern is what shows Google it’s one operation. Owners on r/GoogleMyBusiness describe exactly this: listings removed after a report and back a few days later under a new name.
A spreadsheet with these columns is enough:
| Column | Why it helps |
|---|---|
| Date found and full Maps URL | The redressal form takes URLs in batches or as a spreadsheet upload. |
| Name, phone, website, address as shown | Lets you quote the exact content, which the form asks for. |
| Route used and date reported | Stops you sending the same weak report twice. |
| Status from Your contributions, then Edits | Shows which reasons Google accepted, so you reuse them. |
| What’s shared with earlier listings | The link between listings is your strongest evidence. |
If a well-evidenced batch still stays live, post the URLs and your evidence in the Google Business Profile Help Community. Volunteer Product Experts answer there. They aren’t Google employees, but they can look at your evidence and tell you whether it fits the route you used.
Can reporting a competitor come back on my own profile?
Google’s help pages don’t describe any penalty for reporting, but a competitor can report your listing just as easily, so make sure yours would pass the same review before you start. Google can suspend profiles that break its guidelines, and that applies to you as much as to them.
Run your own listing through this check first:
- Your business name matches your signage, website and invoices, with no added town or service.
- If customers don’t visit you, your address is hidden and you show a service area instead.
- You have one profile per real location, each with its own staff if you have more than one.
- Your phone number is under your direct control and rings your business, not a lead seller or another company.
- Your primary category describes your core business, using the fewest categories that do the job.
Report honestly, too. Google’s Maps edit page warns that edits trying to significantly change a business may be rejected as possibly fraudulent, so suggesting false closures on legitimate competitors wastes your time and can get your own edits ignored. If your profile has already dropped off the map, start with why a business stops showing on Google Maps.
Should I spend my time reporting spam or improving my own profile?
Do both, with a cap on the reporting, because Google gives no guarantee any report will be acted on while the factors it ranks on are partly in your hands. Google’s local ranking help page names relevance, distance and prominence, and says there is no way to request or pay for a better local ranking.
Report when all of these are true:
- The listing shows up for your main service searches in your area.
- It breaks a rule from the first table, and you can show it from the listing and Street View.
- It’s plausibly taking calls that would have come to you.
Skip it when the competitor is simply a real business with more reviews, a hidden address or an overlapping service area. Spend that hour on what Google says helps instead: complete and accurate business information, the right category, photos, and a steady flow of reviews you reply to. Our guide to getting more Google reviews within the rules covers the last part.
If you’d like this handled for you, our local SEO service covers Business Profile setup, review systems and spam reporting for local service businesses. The first two months of management are free.
FAQ
How long does Google take to remove a fake listing?
Google doesn’t publish a timeline. Track a Maps report under Your contributions, then Edits, where it shows as Pending, Accepted or Not Accepted. The redressal form sends no updates, so recheck the listing itself after a couple of weeks.
Will Google tell me what happened to my complaint?
Not for the Business Redressal Complaint Form, which says you won’t be updated on its status. Edits you suggest in Maps show a status in your Edits list, and reported reviews show in the Reports section of the Google Maps app.
Is a business with no address on Google Maps fake?
Not necessarily. Google tells service-area businesses that travel to customers, such as a plumber working from home, to hide their address and show a service area. A hidden address only becomes a problem when there are several listings for one business with no real staffed location behind them.
Can I report a competitor for fake reviews?
Yes. Report each review from the listing with Menu, then Report review, and track it in the Reports section of the Maps app. If the business is offering payment, deals or discounts for reviews, which Google prohibits, use Suggest an edit, then Report business conduct in the Maps app.
Sources: 1. Report a business on Google Maps (Google Maps Help). 2. Business Redressal Complaint Form (Google Business Profile Help). 3. Request removal of a Business Profile from Google Search and Maps (Google Business Profile Help). 4. Guidelines for representing your business on Google (Google Business Profile Help). 5. Edit place information in Google Maps (Google Maps Help). 6. Find your Google Maps edits (Google Maps Help). 7. Report or fix content (Maps User Generated Content Policy Help). 8. Tips to improve your local ranking on Google (Google Business Profile Help).
