You may have read this title, and likely, you are thinking, “Why am I concerned about Google India? My practice is in (insert your city here)”. However, the answer to this question might surprise you.
When Google is unable to verify certain components of your listing, such as hidden addresses or phone numbers, a user marking your business as closed, or issues with duplicate listings, they use live people to verify this information. This means that a Google representative calls and asks about certain clarifying details of your listing, such as your location, or the name of your business.
Unfortunately, these specific questions asked over the phone about one’s business, often with no introduction or explanation for the purpose of the call, can put many people on alert. Furthermore, the fact that the caller is calling from India may add to confusion, or lead one to believe that this is just another SEO telemarketer call. It seems all too tempting to just hang up the phone and go about your busy day.
But, before you do, you should understand the consequences of hanging up on Google India. If this hang-up results in Google’s inability to verify conflicting or absent information, this can (and has) resulted in suspensions or removals from the index. Anyone who has worked hard to ramp up their Google listing, or who has relied on referrals from this listing, feels a sense of doom at the mere thought of Google’s “We currently do not support this location” message.
This is the exact consequence you can avoid by curbing that temptation to hang up, and by grinning and bearing just a few questions about your business with Google India.
Read the entire article here: The Sound of Trouble Knocking- A Call from Google Places India