129 False Competitors Closed in One Afternoon
Fuchs Financial is a fiduciary financial planner in West Hartford, Connecticut, with a perfect 5.0 rating. In Google Maps, it was losing ground to listings that broke Google’s own rules. On June 23, 2024, we reported them. By 7:23 PM, Google had closed 129 of them and sent a confirmation email for every one.
Individual results vary. Google makes all final decisions on listing removals.
Strong Fundamentals, Buried by False Competition
Fuchs Financial had everything Google says matters: a 5.0 rating, recent posts, and a complete profile. It still wasn’t showing up where clients were searching.
We scanned the five searches that bring a financial planner new clients: financial planner, certified financial planner, investment planning, retirement advising, and income planning. Each scan checks the map results at 169 points spread across a 7.5-mile radius around the office.
Across those five searches, 548 different listings were competing with Fuchs. The top result for “retirement advising” was in Fuchs’s own building and ranked at 141 of the 169 points. 13 listings at 433 S Main St held real visibility across these searches, several of them team listings sharing a single suite. By the re-scan, eight of those 13 had been closed and were gone from every search.
A Google Business Profile is supposed to represent one real business at one real, staffed location. Google enforces that rule when someone reports a violation, and nobody had reported these.
One Afternoon, Start to Finish
Every time below comes from a timestamped source: the scan reports, our audit records, or Google’s own emails.
Baseline Scans
Five keyword scans, 169 points each, record every listing competing with Fuchs.
511 Competitors Loaded
The competitor set goes into Spam Watch. Fuchs is whitelisted, so it’s never reported.
Auditors Start
Each listing is checked against Google’s guidelines for real addresses, real names, and duplicates.
First Confirmation
Google emails: “Place is closed. Published.”
Last Report Filed
384 listings reported. Another 119 were cleared as legitimate and left alone.
Last Confirmation
130 emails from Google, covering 129 listings.
Verified Re-Scan
The same five scans, same grid, same center point. Four hours and seven minutes after the baseline.
Google’s Closure Emails, by Time Received
130 emails in 15-minute windows, June 23, 2024
This case moved faster than most. Our team audited the whole market in one sitting, and Google acted on many reports within minutes. In a typical Spam Watch Campaign, you see your competitors on day one, auditors report over three to five business days, a first removal wave usually lands around days seven through 10, and a second around day 20. Scans rerun every billing cycle.
Google Confirmed Every Closure by Email
Each closure came with an email from Google Maps (noreply-maps-issues@google.com) marking the edit as published. Three of the 130, with business names withheld:
Already Gone at 7:46 PM
Of the 129 closed listings, 93 were missing from all five searches at the re-scan.
Still Propagating
32 still showed at 7:46 PM. Most were confirmed in the last hour, and Google’s own email says changes can take up to 24 hours to appear.
Outside the Scans
Four were in the wider trade area but didn’t rank in these five searches that day.
The Most Contested Search Moved the Most
“Retirement advising” was the toughest search. Before the campaign, the top listing sat in Fuchs’s own building and took the #1 spot at 141 of the 169 points on the grid.
That listing was reported and closed that afternoon, along with seven other high-visibility listings in the same building. At the re-scan, Fuchs ranked in the top three at 28 points instead of nine, and showed up in the top 20 at 111 points instead of 94.
Drag the slider to compare the two scans. Green and yellow pins mean Fuchs ranks near the top. Red means it ranks lower or not at all.
Local Falcon grid scans for “retirement advising,” 13×13 grid, 7.5-mile radius. Before report · After report
All Five Searches, Before and After
When Google removes a listing, it fills the gap with the next one in line. That’s why each total fell by less than the number removed.
| Search | Competitors at 3:39 PM | Competitors at 7:46 PM | Removed from all five searches | Backfilled by Google |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Retirement advising | 225 | 194 | 45 | 18 |
| Income planning | 136 | 119 | 44 | 32 |
| Investment planning | 270 | 239 | 56 | 34 |
| Financial planner | 410 | 378 | 67 | 39 |
| Certified financial planner | 336 | 297 | 62 | 36 |
| Different listings, all five combined | 548 | 507 | 100 | 59 |
“Removed from all five searches” counts listings in that search’s baseline scan that didn’t appear in any of the five re-scans. The bottom row counts each listing once, even if it ranked in several searches. Of the 100 listings that disappeared from every search, 93 have a matching closure email from Google.
Fuchs Financial’s Scorecard
| Search | Top-20 points before | After | ATRP before | After | SoLV before | After | ARP before | After |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Retirement advising | 94 | 111 | 15.11 | 13.48 | 5.33% | 16.57% | 10.41 | 9.55 |
| Income planning | 41 | 71 | 18.84 | 17.25 | 0.00% | 1.78% | 12.10 | 12.07 |
| Investment planning | 38 | 46 | 18.01 | 17.92 | 5.33% | 5.92% | 7.68 | 9.70 |
| Financial planner | 19 | 24 | 19.24 | 19.08 | 5.92% | 5.92% | 5.37 | 7.50 |
| Certified financial planner | 10 | 11 | 20+ | 20+ | 1.18% | 1.18% | 8.80 | 10.27 |
| All five searches | 202 | 263 | Fuchs appeared in the top 20 at 61 more points (+30%). | |||||
How to read this. Top-20 points is how many of the 169 grid points showed Fuchs in the top 20. ATRP (average total rank) scores every point, counting a miss as 20, so lower is better. SoLV (Share of Local Voice) is the share of points where Fuchs ranks in the top three. ARP only averages the points where Fuchs already ranks, so it can rise when Fuchs starts appearing in new, farther-out points. That’s what happened on three searches, which is why we lead with the other measures.
Income planning
SoLV 0.00% → 1.78%
Top-20 points 41 → 71
44 competitors removed
Investment planning
SoLV 5.33% → 5.92%
Top-20 points 38 → 46
56 competitors removed
Financial planner
SoLV 5.92% → 5.92%
Top-20 points 19 → 24
67 competitors removed
Certified financial planner
SoLV 1.18% → 1.18%
Top-20 points 10 → 11
62 competitors removed
Every Closure, Listed
All 129 listings Google closed that afternoon, in the order Google confirmed them.
Show all 129 closures
| # | Google email | Town | Searches it ranked in | Peak grid points | At 7:46 PM re-scan |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 4:22 PM | South Windsor | 1 | 3 | Gone from all five searches |
| 2 | 4:24 PM | South Windsor | 2 | 3 | Gone from all five searches |
| 3 | 4:33 PM | Manchester | 2 | 5 | Gone from all five searches |
| 4 | 4:37 PM | Glastonbury | 4 | 17 | Gone from all five searches |
| 5 | 4:37 PM | Glastonbury | 3 | 8 | Gone from all five searches |
| 6 | 4:47 PM | South Windsor | 5 | 22 | Gone from all five searches |
| 7 | 4:51 PM | Glastonbury | 3 | 7 | Gone from all five searches |
| 8 | 4:53 PM | Glastonbury | 1 | 15 | Gone from all five searches |
| 9 | 4:58 PM | Middletown | 1 | 4 | Gone from all five searches |
| 10 | 5:01 PM | Cromwell | 5 | 20 | Gone from all five searches |
| 11 | 5:01 PM | Windsor | 2 | 2 | Gone from all five searches |
| 12 | 5:02 PM | Windsor | 0 | 0 | Not in these five scans |
| 13 | 5:02 PM | South Windsor | 4 | 8 | Gone from all five searches |
| 14 | 5:03 PM | Windsor | 4 | 11 | Gone from all five searches |
| 15 | 5:04 PM | Wethersfield | 3 | 17 | Gone from all five searches |
| 16 | 5:04 PM | South Windsor | 2 | 6 | Gone from all five searches |
| 17 | 5:06 PM | Windsor | 4 | 19 | Gone from all five searches |
| 18 | 5:09 PM | Not listed | 1 | 2 | Gone from all five searches |
| 19 | 5:10 PM | East Hartford | 4 | 4 | Gone from all five searches |
| 20 | 5:13 PM | Rocky Hill | 2 | 8 | Gone from all five searches |
| 21 | 5:13 PM | Cromwell | 4 | 31 | Still showing |
| 22 | 5:14 PM | Rocky Hill | 3 | 13 | Gone from all five searches |
| 23 | 5:18 PM | Glastonbury | 1 | 24 | Gone from all five searches |
| 24 | 5:19 PM | Windsor | 5 | 23 | Gone from all five searches |
| 25 | 5:19 PM | Windsor | 5 | 13 | Gone from all five searches |
| 26 | 5:20 PM | Bloomfield | 4 | 10 | Gone from all five searches |
| 27 | 5:21 PM | Hartford | 3 | 6 | Gone from all five searches |
| 28 | 5:22 PM | West Hartford | 3 | 7 | Gone from all five searches |
| 29 | 5:23 PM | West Hartford | 3 | 9 | Gone from all five searches |
| 30 | 5:24 PM | West Hartford | 5 | 69 | Gone from all five searches |
| 31 | 5:24 PM | West Hartford | 5 | 141 | Gone from all five searches |
| 32 | 5:24 PM | West Hartford | 4 | 15 | Gone from all five searches |
| 33 | 5:25 PM | Wethersfield | 3 | 18 | Gone from all five searches |
| 34 | 5:25 PM | Rocky Hill | 3 | 39 | Gone from all five searches |
| 35 | 5:27 PM | Newington | 2 | 6 | Gone from all five searches |
| 36 | 5:28 PM | Rocky Hill | 5 | 35 | Gone from all five searches |
| 37 | 5:33 PM | West Hartford | 1 | 7 | Still showing |
| 38 | 5:37 PM | South Windsor | 3 | 6 | Gone from all five searches |
| 39 | 5:38 PM | South Windsor | 3 | 2 | Gone from all five searches |
| 40 | 5:39 PM | Simsbury | 5 | 6 | Gone from all five searches |
| 41 | 5:40 PM | West Hartford | 4 | 16 | Gone from all five searches |
| 42 | 5:42 PM | Farmington | 2 | 4 | Gone from all five searches |
| 43 | 5:43 PM | Not listed | 2 | 6 | Gone from all five searches |
| 44 | 5:43 PM | Glastonbury | 1 | 4 | Gone from all five searches |
| 45 | 5:43 PM | Farmington | 2 | 6 | Gone from all five searches |
| 46 | 5:43 PM | West Hartford | 3 | 33 | Gone from all five searches |
| 47 | 5:44 PM | Glastonbury | 3 | 9 | Gone from all five searches |
| 48 | 5:45 PM | Glastonbury | 1 | 4 | Gone from all five searches |
| 49 | 5:46 PM | Berlin | 4 | 28 | Gone from all five searches |
| 50 | 5:47 PM | Farmington | 2 | 10 | Still showing |
| 51 | 5:48 PM | Avon | 2 | 7 | Gone from all five searches |
| 52 | 5:50 PM | Glastonbury | 0 | 0 | Not in these five scans |
| 53 | 5:51 PM | Rocky Hill | 1 | 3 | Gone from all five searches |
| 54 | 5:53 PM | Canton | 2 | 5 | Gone from all five searches |
| 55 | 5:54 PM | Glastonbury | 2 | 7 | Gone from all five searches |
| 56 | 5:55 PM | Farmington | 4 | 13 | Gone from all five searches |
| 57 | 5:55 PM | Avon | 5 | 35 | Gone from all five searches |
| 58 | 5:56 PM | Hartford | 1 | 2 | Gone from all five searches |
| 59 | 5:57 PM | Farmington | 5 | 48 | Gone from all five searches |
| 60 | 5:57 PM | Hartford | 3 | 46 | Gone from all five searches |
| 61 | 5:59 PM | Hartford | 1 | 24 | Gone from all five searches |
| 62 | 5:59 PM | Bristol | 5 | 13 | Gone from all five searches |
| 63 | 6:01 PM | West Hartford | 4 | 31 | Still showing |
| 64 | 6:01 PM | East Hampton | 3 | 19 | Gone from all five searches |
| 65 | 6:01 PM | Glastonbury | 2 | 37 | Gone from all five searches |
| 66 | 6:01 PM | Bristol | 4 | 12 | Gone from all five searches |
| 67 | 6:02 PM | Windsor | 5 | 29 | Gone from all five searches |
| 68 | 6:02 PM | Simsbury | 5 | 23 | Gone from all five searches |
| 69 | 6:04 PM | Windsor | 2 | 7 | Gone from all five searches |
| 70 | 6:07 PM | Glastonbury | 1 | 46 | Gone from all five searches |
| 71 | 6:09 PM | Avon | 4 | 38 | Gone from all five searches |
| 72 | 6:09 PM | Avon | 5 | 40 | Gone from all five searches |
| 73 | 6:10 PM | Plantsville | 1 | 2 | Gone from all five searches |
| 74 | 6:10 PM | West Hartford | 2 | 27 | Gone from all five searches |
| 75 | 6:11 PM | Hartford | 3 | 5 | Gone from all five searches |
| 76 | 6:14 PM | Farmington | 2 | 11 | Gone from all five searches |
| 77 | 6:14 PM | Weatogue | 4 | 15 | Gone from all five searches |
| 78 | 6:15 PM | Southington | 5 | 10 | Gone from all five searches |
| 79 | 6:16 PM | Southington | 3 | 9 | Gone from all five searches |
| 80 | 6:16 PM | West Hartford | 4 | 54 | Gone from all five searches |
| 81 | 6:18 PM | New Haven | 1 | 2 | Gone from all five searches |
| 82 | 6:21 PM | Newington | 4 | 19 | Still showing |
| 83 | 6:24 PM | Wethersfield | 1 | 9 | Gone from all five searches |
| 84 | 6:25 PM | Agawam | 1 | 33 | Gone from all five searches |
| 85 | 6:26 PM | Farmington | 4 | 9 | Gone from all five searches |
| 86 | 6:27 PM | Rocky Hill | 1 | 7 | Gone from all five searches |
| 87 | 6:27 PM | Old Lyme | 1 | 67 | Gone from all five searches |
| 88 | 6:28 PM | Farmington | 1 | 30 | Still showing |
| 89 | 6:29 PM | West Hartford | 4 | 91 | Gone from all five searches |
| 90 | 6:30 PM | Bloomfield | 3 | 8 | Gone from all five searches |
| 91 | 6:31 PM | Bristol | 1 | 1 | Gone from all five searches |
| 92 | 6:32 PM | Southington | 4 | 19 | Gone from all five searches |
| 93 | 6:33 PM | Bristol | 5 | 24 | Gone from all five searches |
| 94 | 6:34 PM | Southington | 3 | 38 | Gone from all five searches |
| 95 | 6:35 PM | West Hartford | 1 | 3 | Gone from all five searches |
| 96 | 6:36 PM | West Hartford | 1 | 3 | Gone from all five searches |
| 97 | 6:36 PM | West Hartford | 1 | 1 | Gone from all five searches |
| 98 | 6:37 PM | West Hartford | 0 | 0 | Not in these five scans |
| 99 | 6:37 PM | Not listed | 1 | 2 | Still showing |
| 100 | 6:39 PM | Rocky Hill | 2 | 9 | Gone from all five searches |
| 101 | 6:39 PM | West Hartford | 2 | 11 | Still showing |
| 102 | 6:40 PM | Berlin | 3 | 4 | Gone from all five searches |
| 103 | 6:43 PM | Avon | 3 | 21 | Still showing |
| 104 | 6:45 PM | Avon | 1 | 17 | Still showing |
| 105 | 6:46 PM | Farmington | 3 | 3 | Still showing |
| 106 | 6:48 PM | Kensington | 1 | 12 | Still showing |
| 107 | 6:49 PM | Farmington | 1 | 25 | Still showing |
| 108 | 6:51 PM | Simsbury | 2 | 6 | Still showing |
| 109 | 6:51 PM | Avon | 1 | 6 | Still showing |
| 110 | 6:53 PM | Avon | 1 | 9 | Still showing |
| 111 | 6:55 PM | Windsor | 2 | 5 | Still showing |
| 112 | 6:57 PM | South Windsor | 2 | 4 | Still showing |
| 113 | 6:57 PM | Avon | 1 | 3 | Still showing |
| 114 | 6:59 PM | Avon | 3 | 13 | Still showing |
| 115 | 6:59 PM | Hartford | 0 | 0 | Not in these five scans |
| 116 | 6:59 PM | Farmington | 2 | 12 | Still showing |
| 117 | 7:01 PM | Bristol | 2 | 1 | Still showing |
| 118 | 7:02 PM | Glastonbury | 2 | 15 | Still showing |
| 119 | 7:04 PM | Glastonbury | 3 | 33 | Still showing |
| 120 | 7:07 PM | Wethersfield | 2 | 43 | Still showing |
| 121 | 7:09 PM | Farmington | 2 | 3 | Still showing |
| 122 | 7:09 PM | Farmington | 1 | 3 | Still showing |
| 123 | 7:11 PM | Farmington | 4 | 17 | Still showing |
| 124 | 7:19 PM | Windsor | 1 | 1 | Gone from all five searches |
| 125 | 7:20 PM | Windsor | 1 | 1 | Gone from all five searches |
| 126 | 7:21 PM | Bloomfield | 1 | 4 | Still showing |
| 127 | 7:22 PM | Hartford | 1 | 25 | Still showing |
| 128 | 7:22 PM | West Hartford | 1 | 1 | Still showing |
| 129 | 7:23 PM | Glastonbury | 2 | 8 | Still showing |
Business names are withheld here. Every business in each scan is named in the raw Local Falcon reports below. “Searches it ranked in” and “Peak grid points” come from the 3:39 PM baseline scans. Download this table (CSV)
Check Our Work
Every number on this page traces back to one of three sources.
Local Falcon Grid Scans
10 reports: five keywords, each scanned at 3:39 PM and again at 7:46 PM with identical settings. Each report lists every business found and its ranking data.
Spam Watch Audit Records
Our app logs when each competitor was loaded, who reviewed it, and what was decided. On June 23, 2024, 511 competitor listings were loaded at 3:58 PM. Auditors reported 384 of them between 4:01 and 7:22 PM and cleared 119 as legitimate.
Google Maps Confirmation Emails
130 emails from noreply-maps-issues@google.com between 4:22 and 7:23 PM. Each reads “Place is closed” with the status “Published.” Two emails covered the same listing, for 129 listings in total.
How We Counted
We matched every listing by name and street address across all 10 scans. A listing counts as removed only if it’s missing from all five re-scans, not just one. Listings that moved between searches don’t count.
Google can reinstate a listing on appeal, and owners sometimes create new ones. That’s why Spam Watch rescans your market every billing cycle.
The Map Pack Has Three Spots
Fuchs Financial’s profile work was already done. What stood in its way were fake, outdated, and keyword-stuffed listings that Google’s own rules say shouldn’t exist, and the only way to move those is to report them.
Every false competitor that comes down opens room in the map pack. That room goes to the real businesses left standing.
A Spam Watch Campaign does the same work for you: it finds the false competitors in your market, reports them to Google with evidence, and rescans every billing cycle so new ones don’t settle in.
Don’t Outrank False Competitors. Remove Them.
See who’s competing with you in Google Maps today. Setup takes about two minutes, and our auditors take it from there.
Individual results vary. Google makes all final decisions on listing removals.