So I got a call just now from a lady saying she was Google, asking if I wanted a featured listing. She ent on to say this offer was only available to recently registered businesses - and - that my business could be listed above my competitors for 5 keywords in my local area. She said before I signed up with any other people like yell.com or thomsonlocal that for £99 I could try it for a month and see the extra traffic / results. I dont have the money for this - so she said her goodbyes and went away rather quickly. Thinking about the call - is this really Google selling positions or altering the ranking for money? I thought they stood behind their claim that listing positions cannot be bought. Or this just another semi scam for a business listing that Google are working on following their local business rename and local map changes? Your thoughts.
It sounds to me like one of the sales pitches from PPC companies who try to confuse you with exactly what they are selling, though I could be wrong (it has happened once or twice
This is surely news to me as I have never heard from anybody ever receiving a call from Google to sell featured listings! It appears more to be a prank or scam... rather than a genuine call! Regards, RightMan
There are lots of "Local SEO" companies that are shady and try to make it sound like they are Google, when they are just selling you’re their service. They called one of my Google Places Optimization clients saying they were from the Google verification department. My client gave me the # and asked me to see what they wanted. I called and it was a Local SEO company PRETENDING to be Google.
It seems like a shady tricks trying to sell you their PPC service instead of Google Local Listing as she was trying to convince you. If I remember correctly, Google local listing service is completely free.