Google on Keeping Maps Information Reliable

If you’re anything like I am, Google Maps is your designated go-to when trying to find a location, but have you ever actually wondered how reliable Google Maps is? Surely Google can’t have eclectic information on every single tiny pizza place in Birmingham and since registering a location is so easy and completely free, there have got to be people out there who have created a business profile just because they could. Quite a productive use of their time. Don’t panic though! Google is -probably more than anyone- aware of the negative implications of online trolls and have their own strategies in place to combat fraudulent business profiles and the edits of those already present.

How Does Google Recognise Spam?

For all their ever-so-slightly dubious client data kafuffles, Google does seem to genuinely care about keeping business data secure. This has meant they needed to identify a way to spot fraudulent business profile edits since changing the profile data is as simple as clicking ‘manage your business profile’. Businesses that have claimed their profiles have it considerably better since Google has acknowledged the link between the profile an email address, demanding identity verification ahead of enacting any changes.

For businesses that aren’t officially claimed, Google makes use of a combination of algorithms, machine learning, and user reports to identify dubious changes and block them before they get a chance to go live. In 2021 Google saw an increase of 30% to the number of business profiles that were being edited signifying that more and more businesses were recognising the importance of the online world to their marketing solution. 30% is pretty huge and a chunk of those are guaranteed to be businesses trying to move their leading competitors to some remote island far, far away. Luckily, this is picked up on more often than not and Google reports that less than 1 percent of all of the content viewed on Google Maps is fraudulent or abusive.  

How Successful Has This Been?

Less than 1% is a pretty impressive figure showing that whatever the people at Google HQ are doing, its working. As important as the total amount is, it’s also key that they can keep it up, below are a list of the things they have achieved in 2021;

• Removed a total of 7 million fake profiles, of these over 630,00 were flagged through user reports,
• Prevented 12 million attempts to create a business profile,
• Prevented 8 million attempts to fraudulently claim a business profile,
• Disabled more than 1 million accounts due to violation of the guidelines.

These figures indicate that Google has been incredibly successful in protecting the information of its Maps platform and that people all across the world can carry on using it knowing that almost all of what is present is reliable and up-to-date.

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