The Churn and Burn Agencies That Taught Him What Not to Do

Jason spent years working for what he calls "churn and burn agencies" that were selling snake oil, overpromising and underdelivering. But in 2016, he got hired at Over The Top SEO, and the CEO pulled him aside the first week. The CEO told him flat out that anything they do has to be white hat because they have to protect their brand at all costs. They were working with a nationwide franchise with 360 legitimate locations across the US. If they nuked the website, they'd knock out all those locations.

That conversation changed Jason's entire approach. He couldn't do anything black hat, maybe a little gray hat with press releases, but nothing nefarious. This is where his spam-fighting journey really began.

In December 2016, Jason was sitting at his desk when a friend tweeted that somebody showed up at her house over a negative review. He did a reverse image search, found her Yelp profile, and noticed she'd only left two reviews (both negative) for a nail salon and a plumbing company. The plumbing company had a 2.1 rating on Yelp but a 4.7 on Google. Something wasn't adding up.

He looked into their profile and started seeing the same businesses being reviewed in multiple different states. He realized it was a review pod. At the same time, one of their franchises tried to boost their marketing by buying 19 fake Google reviews. Jason ended up working with Mike Blumenthal for three and a half months to get Google to remove all but one of the fake reviews.

Because Mike was so helpful, Jason decided to start helping out on the forum. He became a product expert, and since June 2016, it's been nothing but local SEO and spam fighting for him.

The Exact Process for Removing Spam Reviews That Actually Works

I get a lot of clients and friends asking me about spam reviews. Maybe it's a one-star review from an actual customer who they did a bad job for (which is different), but what about getting spammed by competitors? Jason has a specific process that works.

He puts together a detailed spreadsheet with the reviewer name, the reviewer link, and then highlights all the businesses they've been reviewing. He shows Google that eight people all left reviews for the same seven businesses plus the one that got attacked. Then he shows another 15 reviewers who reviewed six of the same businesses.

He basically highlights and shows Google "this is not a real profile" because they're going all over the United States, leaving reviews in Canada, leaving reviews in Europe. He puts together a really well-documented sheet and turns it into Google for investigation.

Here's what's changed recently. Instead of just removing the reviews, Google is now nuking the entire account so they can't log back in and leave more reviews. I asked if that means nuking the Google account completely or just preventing reviews. Jason said the account is completely deleted. They can't log in at all.

This is pretty recent, within the last couple years. Before, Google would wipe out all the reviews, but the fake review sellers would just log in and keep posting new reviews. It became a game of whack-a-mole. Then Google started disabling the accounts entirely, which has been a real bonus.

The sweatshop operations are real. Jason confirmed they're mostly in India and Indonesia. It's literally call centers where they have tons of people with scripts for 150 reviews they want them to leave for one client. They do such a poor job sometimes that they leave quotation marks in or the name of the business it's supposed to go to. Someone wasn't paying attention or moving too fast.

Why 40,000 Businesses Got Wiped Out in One Weekend

This is the story that completely blew my mind. Jason was tracking a massive fraud operation where people created 30,000 to 40,000 fraudulent lead generation personal injury attorney listings all across the US. These were showing up in Chicago, California, Texas, Florida, New York with the most ridiculous names.

Jason pitched the story to the Wall Street Journal, and they covered it. The Sunday before the article was supposed to come out, Google did a massive sweep and removed about 40,000 Google Business Profiles. Some of them were legitimate, but the majority were fraudulent.

The reason some legitimate businesses got caught up is because of how they named their profiles. One of the ranking factors for Google Business Profile is putting keywords in your business name. A lot of law firms rebranded themselves to be "Personal Injury Attorney Dallas" or "Car Accident Attorney Dallas." When Google saw those patterns plus multiple locations (like eight locations in the Dallas area), they got swept up in the purge.

Even better, the team behind the fraud operation actually spoke with the Wall Street Journal reporter and said "Yeah, we don't care. We're happy doing it." That's insane.

This is why we're seeing massive suspensions now. In February, there was another huge wave. Google cranked up the dial on AI and algorithms, and a lot of legitimate businesses got caught. The reason is black hat spammers were going hog wild creating fake listings.

Google has suspended locksmiths twice from being able to reinstate or create new listings for six months because they went so crazy with fake listings. Google recently sued an Israeli guy in Boston (or Massachusetts) and suspended 10,000 fraudulent lead generation GBPs. They're suing him and everyone connected with him.

People get upset when their listing gets suspended, but Google really can't tell what's a legitimate service area business hiding their address versus what's fraudulent. They use algorithms to detect patterns, which is why legitimate businesses sometimes get caught.

The Two Types of Suspensions and How to Actually Get Reinstated

Jason explained something I didn't know. There are two types of suspensions: soft and hard.

A soft suspension means Google trusts the business but not the activity on it. You're still showing up online, but you can't manage the profile.

A hard suspension means Google doesn't think you're legitimate at all. They don't trust you. You don't have an online footprint. You're completely wiped off of Google.

Jason sees people complaining about suspensions, and when he runs a citation scan, all they set up was Google and Facebook. Where's Yelp? Yahoo? Bing? Apple Maps? All the other directories they could be listed on? They didn't do anything, so yeah, they're going to get a harsh suspension.

For getting reinstated, Jason walks me through the exact process. First, go through your business profile and remove your business description just to be safe. Make sure your hours are normal (8 to 6, 9 to 5). Don't do 24/7. That's a guaranteed block on reinstatement.

Make sure your business name isn't jacked up. Then gather documentation: Secretary of State filing, DBA if you're doing business as another name, EIN paperwork, copy of the lease if you're showing your address (if you're not showing address, you don't need it), utility bill under the company name, city license or insurance if you have it, and if you're a lawyer, your state bar license.

Here's Jason's pro tip: create a Google Drive folder and upload all documents to it. Google only lets you upload four or five pieces of documentation in the appeal, but if you have more, you can include the Drive link in the "why you think it should be reinstated" section. They can go through each document and verify everything.

Jason pointed out how stupid this is. If Google requires more documentation but only lets you upload four pieces, who's running this system? It makes no sense.

You get two tries with the standard appeal, then you can use another appeal process. If that doesn't work, you can hire people like Jason or go directly to the Google Business forum. But make sure your GBP is in compliance and all your documentation is ready because if a product expert looks at it, escalates it, and Google says you're not in compliance, you just wasted months.

The Ranking Factors That Actually Matter (And the Myths That Need to Die)

Jason gets hate online because he disrupts the apple cart and tells the truth. He's had black hat spammers literally offer to pay him to leave their listings alone. One guy said "I'm trying to employ people in a third-world country and it just makes sense if you leave me alone and I can pay you to leave my listings alone." Jason was like "what?"

People don't like him because he calls out bad SEO advice. One of his favorites is "you need to add new photos to your GBP and that's going to impact your rankings." As Jason said, "No, it doesn't. We're regurgitating stuff from 2016."

Then there's NAP consistency. Jason said flat out: "You don't need NAP consistency. Mike Blumenthal said in 2019 it's dead. Joy Hawkins said you don't need your suite or billing number because Google doesn't use that for ranking factors."

You can have a separate telephone number on your GBP, your website, Facebook, Yelp, Yahoo, Bing so you can track those calls coming in. Google's not even looking at the phone number. Jason has seen cases where somebody updates their name on GBP and starts ranking higher even though it doesn't match any of their citations.

The main ranking factors for GBP are: business name, primary category, proximity to searchers, influx of new reviews, and click-through rate. Nobody wants to talk about click-through rate unless they're talking about manipulation, which works but only for two or three months before Google catches on.

One person told Jason "your GBP is not ranking, you need local links." Jason's response? "Local links aren't going to fix your GBP rankings. It'll help with your website, but it won't do as much with GBP."

Jason's philosophy is simple: just go white hat. Forget looking over your shoulder wondering if you're going to get suspended or if Google's going to catch on to your new scheme. Play by the rules the first time.

Why Adding Your Address Might Destroy Your Business for Six Weeks

This section is critical for service area businesses. Jason explained that when you make an update to Google Business Profile, one of four things happens: it automatically gets accepted, goes into pending review, requires reverification, or triggers a suspension.

There are two types of suspension (soft and hard), and Jason always asks people before they make changes: are you ready to apply for reinstatement? Can you afford to be knocked offline? They've seen delays up to six weeks. Can you be offline for six weeks waiting for the team to check your documents?

He doesn't know a lot of businesses that can survive that.

Regarding whether to show your address as a service area business, Jason said "it depends." He's seen cases where SABs actually ranked really well over businesses showing their addresses. He can do side-by-side comparisons with Place Scout heat maps. If you're not ranking well, adding your address might give you a boost.

But here's what most people don't know: if you're an SAB at your home address (because you're the owner), you can keep that SAB and create a new business profile at a brick and mortar address when you get an office. Nobody talks about this.

The only reason people don't want to do that is because they already have reviews on their existing GBP. But Jason's point is you could have dual bang for your buck. If you have two GBPs, you can create a second set of citations for the new one and get links pointing back to your website. You don't sacrifice your key GBP.

One thing Jason emphasized: before deciding to update your address, maybe change the URL you're linking to from your GBP. Think of your GBP URL like setting up a paid ad. You don't send people to your homepage. Send them to a page that's been set to no-index because it's going to have a different click-through rate and bounce rate. If your homepage isn't ranking with your GBP, especially with Google's new update where businesses showing in the map pack aren't showing organically (or vice versa), you need to change the URL.

The Citation Strategy That Brought Back a Knowledge Panel

I asked Jason about citations because even Darren Shaw said they used to be a bigger ranking factor. Jason's response completely changed my understanding.

He was talking with an agency that wasn't showing up for their knowledge panel (the business listing on the right-hand side). He asked if they'd set up citations. They said no. He said "well, set up citations." They said "I don't believe in citations."

They went back and forth for weeks. Finally, the guy went to Whitespark and got citations set up. Two weeks later, he started showing up for his knowledge panel for his brand name. Jason was like "what was that? Was that correct?"

But here's the advanced tactic. When using a platform like Yext, they give you two places to put your website URL. One is called a featured message. Jason takes the keywords in the city he wants to rank for and uses those. Some directory sites actually give you an anchor link text back to your website.

Jason learned this from Blake Denman. He initially set it up for "walk-in chiropractor" and they started ranking for walk-in medical terms. When he looked at their backlinks, it was because he set it up that way. Once he switched to "Houston chiropractor," they started ranking for Houston chiropractor terms.

One time Jason actually got all three of their chiropractic franchises in the map pack in Houston at the same time. He showed his boss and he was floored. Jason lost the screenshot, which kills him because it was proof you can rank in the map pack more than once.

His buddy was complaining to Joy Hawkins saying "I hate the person that does the SEO for the joint chiropractic." Joy said "well, you actually know him." The guy called Jason and said "are you doing the SEO for the joint chiropractic?" Jason said yeah. The guy said "I hate you, but I love you."

My Main Takeaway

1. Google suspended 40,000 businesses overnight because of a Wall Street Journal investigation Jason pitched about fraudulent personal injury attorney listings across the US, and many legitimate businesses got caught because they had keywords in their business names. The fraud operation created 30,000 to 40,000 fake lead generation listings with ridiculous names in Chicago, California, Texas, Florida, and New York. The Sunday before the article published, Google did a massive sweep. Some legitimate businesses got suspended because they rebranded to "Personal Injury Attorney Dallas" or "Car Accident Attorney Dallas," and when Google saw those patterns plus multiple locations, the algorithm flagged them as spam. The fraud team actually told the Wall Street Journal "yeah, we don't care, we're happy doing it." This is why we're seeing massive suspension waves now, with Google cranking up AI and algorithms to combat black hat spammers going hog wild. Legitimate businesses are collateral damage in Google's war on spam.

   
   

2. The exact reinstatement process requires removing your business description, setting normal hours (never 24/7), fixing your business name, and uploading maximum documentation to a Google Drive folder you link in your appeal. You get two standard appeal tries before needing to escalate to the forum or hire someone like Jason. Create a Drive folder with Secretary of State filing, DBA paperwork, EIN documentation, lease copy if showing address, utility bill under company name, city license or insurance if available, and state bar license for lawyers. Google only lets you upload four to five documents in the appeal form, but you can include the Drive link in the "why should we reinstate" section so they can review everything. Make sure your hours are normal business hours like 8 to 6 or 9 to 5, not 24/7 which guarantees rejection. There are two suspension types: soft (you're online but can't manage) and hard (completely wiped off Google). Hard suspensions happen when you have no online footprint beyond Google and Facebook, no Yelp, Bing, Yahoo, Apple Maps, or other citations.

   
   

3. NAP consistency is dead, and the actual ranking factors are business name, primary category, proximity to searchers, influx of new reviews, and click-through rate. Mike Blumenthal said in 2019 that NAP consistency is dead. Joy Hawkins confirmed you don't need your suite or billing number because Google doesn't use phone numbers for ranking. You can have completely different phone numbers on GBP, your website, Facebook, Yelp, Yahoo, and Bing to track calls. Jason has seen businesses update their name on GBP and start ranking higher even though it doesn't match their citations. People perpetuate myths from 2016 like "add new photos to boost rankings" or "you need local links for GBP" when local links only help your website, not your GBP. Click-through rate manipulation works for two to three months before Google catches on. Jason's philosophy is simple: go white hat, stop looking over your shoulder, and play by the rules the first time.

   
   

4. Service area businesses can keep their home-based SAB and create a second GBP at a brick-and-mortar location to get dual ranking power without sacrificing existing reviews. Nobody talks about this strategy. The only reason people don't do it is because they have reviews on their existing SAB, but Jason's point is you can have two GBPs working for you simultaneously. When you get an office, keep your SAB at your home address (you're allowed because you're the owner) and create a new profile at the new address. Now you can create a second set of citations for the new GBP and get more links pointing to your website. Separate the new GBP to its own landing page instead of linking to your homepage. Think of your GBP URL like a paid ad that goes to a no-index page with different click-through and bounce rates. If your homepage isn't properly optimized for your keyword phrase, you may be doing more harm than good by sending all traffic there.

   
   

5. Citations still matter tremendously for knowledge panels and entity building, with the advanced tactic being to use anchor text keywords in directory featured messages to get backlinks. An agency wasn't showing up for their knowledge panel and didn't believe in citations. Jason convinced them to set up citations through Whitespark, and two weeks later they started showing up for their brand name knowledge panel. The proof is undeniable. For the advanced tactic, use platforms like Yext that give you two places to put your website URL, including a featured message section. Use your target keywords plus city in that featured message because some directory sites give you anchor link text back to your website. Jason learned this from Blake Denman and initially set it up for "walk-in chiropractor," which made them rank for walk-in medical terms. When he switched to "Houston chiropractor," they started ranking for those terms instead. He once got all three chiropractic franchises in the Houston map pack simultaneously by using this tactic.

You can find Jason Brown everywhere online by searching "Kyser Holiday" (K-Y-S-E-R H-O-L-I-D-A-Y), his brand he built back when Matt Cutts was always saying "build a brand." He took Kaiser Soze from Usual Suspects and Doc Holiday (with one L missing) from another movie and combined them. As he became the unofficial sheriff of Google, the name made perfect sense: Kaiser because he's an enigma and Holiday because he's a gunslinger in the wild wild west of Google reviews. You can find him on Facebook, LinkedIn, Reddit, and Blue Sky. His website is reviewfraud.com, and he loves diving into suspensions, review removals, and super spammy competitors. He's currently working on a case since December 2023 against a shady pest control company that got investigated by the Michigan Attorney General because their websites didn't have the actual company name. Jason got them removed down to three GBPs, but they kept reinstating and creating more. He's tracking a case with 48 GBPs when they initially had 83, documenting every time they get removed and come back. Follow Joy Hawkins, Darren Shaw, and Jason for the most important local SEO content without the fluff.