Google has updated its business redressal complaint form over here to add “this business doesn’t exist” as an option on why you think the business listing is fraudulent. This gives you one more way to communicate to Google why the business listing should be removed from Google Search and Google Maps.

You can see the new option, which was added over the past several days, in the form in the screenshot below.

The previous options. The older options were not removed, they just added “this business doesn’t exist” the existing options which include:

• Title
• Address
• Phone number
• Website

What is the business redressal form? Google said you can use this form “if you come across misleading information or fraudulent activity on Google Maps related to the name, phone number, or URL of a business.” Google said, “you may use this form to submit a complaint. Complaints submitted through this form will be reviewed in accordance with our guidelines for representing businesses on Google Maps.”

Why we care. Google Maps and local search business listings have their fair share of spam and fraudulent information. This gives you one more way to communicate to Google that a specific business listing is fake and should not show up in Google Maps or Google Search.

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Google said that is can use machine learning and AI to update the business hours of local listings when the search company thinks the hours listed are inaccurate. Google wrote “we developed a machine learning model that automatically identifies if business hours are likely wrong, then instantly updates them with AI-generated predictions.”

Why do we care. This is why it is important to regularly, on a consistent basis, review your business hours listed for your business listing but in Google Business Profiles and how searchers see it listed in Google. If Google changes your business details and hours, you can quickly update it in Google Business Profiles. This is just good local SEO practice in general because your listing details may change through Google’s AI or other edits done by Google Local Guides or searcher’s suggested edits.

How it works. How does Google change your listing with machine learning? Google said it looks at multiple factors to determine if the hours listed for a local listing is accurate. These include:

• When was the last time the business updated their business profile
• What other local business hours are set to
• The Popular Times information for that local listing (real user traffic)
• Street View images look specifically for business hour signs on the door

Then if there is conflicting information, Google may go ahead and update the hours automatically.

20 million businesses. Google said the company is on track to update the business hours of “over 20 million businesses around the globe in the next six months using AI.”

Google also uses Duplex to automatically call businesses to verify hours and other details.

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