Online presence without using google

[Deleted member 5762]

Hello, has anyone been able to gain a reasonable online presence without using Google at all please? I'm on social media with no issues at all.

I'm having problems getting my business verified and am going round and round in circles with Google and getting no further.

They seem to have changed alot this year as if you don't have a business premises that customers visit - like a shop or an office - they will only accept a video being submitted that shows who you are to verify you. You have to include your work vehicle, work equipment, a business card etc just showing it's your business. It's fair enough because no doubt otherwise you'd get all sorts on there pretending to be someone they're not.

I was trying to wait for verification to happen before building myself a website, but as time goes on it's starting to drive me mad.

If anyone has had a little success without using Google I'd be very grateful for the advice.

Thank you.

 

[ched999uk]

Sorry can't help with verification but get your web site up and running asap. The sooner your site is up the quicker it will get indexed and you can link it to your socials.

I assume you have tried googling getting your business verified (sorted by most recent)?

 

[JohnDoeWindows]

Yeah I had a Google page, website, Facebook page etc when I first started out but didn't really push the business through any of those and gained all my customers through word of mouth and canvassing. I only maintain a presence on Facebook for recommendations

 

[Deleted member 5762]

Sorry can't help with verification but get your web site up and running asap. The sooner your site is up the quicker it will get indexed and you can link it to your socials.

I assume you have tried googling getting your business verified (sorted by most recent)?

Thanks Ched. Yes I've been in touch with them and absolutely useless. Takes ages and ages to get any sort of reply and then it's just the usual copy and paste replies and says to submit the video again as they may not have it - even though I can see that the video has been submitted successfully. Honestly mate they are awful to try and deal with.

 

[Deleted member 5762]

Yeah I had a Google page, website, Facebook page etc when I first started out but didn't really push the business through any of those and gained all my customers through word of mouth and canvassing. I only maintain a presence on Facebook for recommendations

Thanks John. I'm ordering some leaflets early next week and might just try some delivering and knocking a few doors. Nearly all my current customers came through Facebook and then word of mouth.

 

[vertigo]

Google suspended all of our business pages in April 2022. We had five pages in total covering different areas which represented each of the franchisee's territories. Some of the pages had over 100 reviews on them. Each of the pages had been verified by PIN codes sent to the franchise homes, I'll admit we did have a few virtual address's but these had also been verified. All of these pages was active and had weekly posts added to them.

I managed all the pages acting as a manager. These pages had been running since 2017 with no problem, then Google suspended all the pages in April 2022. They don't give you a reason why, they just say that you broke the rules.

I kid you not, I've jumped through hoops for over a year trying to get the pages back but have failed. The mistake I made was to cancel my Google business account. I did this out of rage and frustration. This meant that I couldn't fight the suspension anymore so I gave up. The pages have now disappeared from all search results.

At this point I just wanted to get break the ties completely with Google but foolishly I set up a new page and then got a few 5 star reviews. At that point in time I was thinking of building up a new page but in hindsight I wish I never bothered because yet again i'm tied to Google with this single page.

Coming back to your original question: Yes it is possible to break away from Google completely but it takes over a year for your page to disappear. If you do want to break from Google it's a blessing if they suspend your account because that means it doesn't have the "Permanently Closed' banner on it.

I think Lee Pryor managed to break the ties with Google and if you search "window cleaning surrey" he's still on page one of the search results.

When this summer ends I'll probably delete my current Google Business account and mark the business as closed and see how long it takes the pages to disappear. I hate Google with a passion. They basically tried to destroy my business and I cannot forgive them.

If your business relies on direct marketing, leaflets, canvassing etc you don't need Google. I think Pryors Window Cleaning is testament to that.

 

[Deleted member 5762]

Google suspended all of our business pages in April 2022. We had five pages in total covering different areas which represented each of the franchisee's territories. Some of the pages had over 100 reviews on them. Each of the pages had been verified by PIN codes sent to the franchise homes, I'll admit we did have a few virtual address's but these had also been verified. All of these pages was active and had weekly posts added to them.

I managed all the pages acting as a manager. These pages had been running since 2017 with no problem, then Google suspended all the pages in April 2022. They don't give you a reason why, they just say that you broke the rules.

I kid you not, I've jumped through hoops for over a year trying to get the pages back but have failed. The mistake I made was to cancel my Google business account. I did this out of rage and frustration. This meant that I couldn't fight the suspension anymore so I gave up. The pages have now disappeared from all search results.

At this point I just wanted to get break the ties completely with Google but foolishly I set up a new page and then got a few 5 star reviews. At that point in time I was thinking of building up a new page but in hindsight I wish I never bothered because yet again i'm tied to Google with this single page.

Coming back to your original question: Yes it is possible to break away from Google completely but it takes over a year for your page to disappear. If you do want to break from Google it's a blessing if they suspend your account because that means it doesn't have the "Permanently Closed' banner on it.

I think Lee Pryor managed to break the ties with Google and if you search "window cleaning surrey" he's still on page one of the search results.

When this summer ends I'll probably delete my current Google Business account and mark the business as closed and see how long it takes the pages to disappear. I hate Google with a passion. They basically tried to destroy my business and I cannot forgive them.

If your business relies on direct marketing, leaflets, canvassing etc you don't need Google. I think Pryors Window Cleaning is testament to that.

Hi @vertigo , this is a brilliant response. Thank you so much. I'm really sorry to read how many problems you have had with google. Honestly that is a nightmare. I know someone who moved property and google suspended their profile and they couldn't get it up and running again at all. It always sounds like it's generic reasons and a sort of "computer says no" approach, with no human involvement by them at all. Thanks again for explaining this and best wishes to you.

 

[Master Jedi Alejandro]

Google has been really useful for me, that was until they started the ‘Google Guaranteed’ service. Basically Google will payback the customer if the job isn’t satisfactory. Despite having the highest number of reviews of anyone in my area, an unknown company has appeared as the top result. They claim to have been going for 7+ years but no one has heard of them nor do they have recent reviews. Yet they pay for this service. Unfortunately, it’s different from the normal ‘sponsored’ spots that appeared, as this ‘Guaranteed’ space is a lot more prominent.

 

[Deleted member 5762]

Google has been really useful for me, that was until they started the ‘Google Guaranteed’ service. Basically Google will payback the customer if the job isn’t satisfactory. Despite having the highest number of reviews of anyone in my area, an unknown company has appeared as the top result. They claim to have been going for 7+ years but no one has heard of them nor do they have recent reviews. Yet they pay for this service. Unfortunately, it’s different from the normal ‘sponsored’ spots that appeared, as this ‘Guaranteed’ space is a lot more prominent.

I saw something about this a couple of weeks ago. Basically paying and you appear higher up the rankings. Ffs this seems to be the done thing now with so many similar search type engines/companies. It's very unfair on decent people like yourself that do a good job and deserve a higher ranking because of the quality of your work. Our friend contacted a company to quote to do some building work as they had good reviews on a recommendation site. The company was next to useless and it was some kind of scam where people put a request for a quote which the company has to pay for that lead, and the person says yes they did the work and leave a great review (no work has actually been done at all), and the cost of that scam lead is a fraction of what they then earn from the expensive jobs they gain from that review.