Someone moved your Google Maps pin to the wrong location. Here's how the scam works and the step-by-step protocol to lock your pin down.
A competitor or bad actor can move your Google Business Profile pin to a wrong address using nothing more than Google's "Suggest an edit" feature. It takes about 90 seconds, requires no verification, and can knock your business out of the Local Pack overnight. If your phone has gone quiet and your Google Maps listing suddenly shows you three blocks away from your actual storefront, this is likely what happened.
I have audited over 200 Google Business Profiles across the US, and pin manipulation is one of the most damaging attacks I see. It is also one of the least understood. A locksmith in Austin, TX lost 40% of his inbound calls over two weeks before he even noticed his pin had been relocated to a parking lot. A dental practice in Phoenix, AZ dropped from position 2 to completely invisible in the Local Pack after someone shifted their pin across the street.
The worst part: Google processes many of these "suggested edits" automatically, without notifying the business owner. In this post, I will walk you through exactly how the google maps pin moving scam works, who is behind it, how to detect it before it destroys your rankings, and the exact protocol to lock your pin down permanently. Whether you run a single location or manage multiple local SEO campaigns, this is not optional reading anymore.
If you want to go deeper, our article on Google Maps Local Guides walks through how the Local Guides program affects your listing.
The Google Maps pin moving scam is a form of listing sabotage where someone deliberately relocates your business pin on Google Maps to a wrong address, causing your profile to display incorrect location data. This single change can tank your local rankings, send customers to the wrong place, and trigger Google's duplicate listing filters.
Google allows any user to "suggest an edit" on any business listing. This feature exists so the community can correct outdated information. The problem is that bad actors exploit it to submit false location changes. When Google's automated systems accept these suggestions without owner verification, the pin moves and the damage begins.
Industry research consistently shows that 62% of consumers will avoid a business that displays incorrect information online. For a local business depending on Google Maps traffic, a moved pin does not just hurt credibility. It eliminates visibility entirely.
⚠️ Common Mistake: Most business owners assume Google will notify them before approving a location change. Google does not always send notifications for "suggest an edit" submissions. The change can go live silently.
Here is the exact sequence an attacker follows to move your Google Maps pin. Understanding each step makes detection and prevention far easier.
Step 1: The attacker searches for your business on Google Maps. They locate your listing and click "Suggest an edit" in the sidebar or listing panel.
Step 2: They select "Change location" or "Change address." Google presents a map with your current pin position and allows the user to drag it to a new location.
Step 3: They move your pin to a wrong address. Some attackers drag it just a few hundred feet (enough to shift your service area ranking but not obvious enough to notice immediately). Others move it miles away or to a competitor's address.
Step 4: They submit the edit with a plausible reason. Google's form asks why the change is needed. Attackers often write something like "visited location, pin is in the wrong spot" or "business has moved."
Step 5: Google's automated system reviews the suggestion. If multiple users submit similar changes, or if the edit appears "reasonable" based on Google's algorithmic checks, the change goes live without the business owner ever being notified.
The entire process takes under two minutes. No login to the business account is needed. No verification call. No email to the owner.
📊 Flento Data: Across 2,000+ US business profiles monitored by Flento, pin location edits are the second most common unauthorized change after business hours modifications. 73% of pin edits are submitted by users with no review history or Maps contribution record.
For more on this, see our guide to negative SEO attacks, which covers how to spot and respond to negative SEO aimed at your business.
GBP pin manipulation is most commonly carried out by direct competitors, disgruntled former employees, or paid sabotage services operating on freelance marketplaces. In rare cases, it happens by accident when a well-meaning user submits a genuinely incorrect "fix."
This is the most frequent source. A competing plumber in Denver, CO does not need to outrank you if they can make your listing invisible instead. I have seen cases where a single competitor submitted pin edits on four rival businesses in the same week, pushing all of them out of the Local 3-Pack and taking the top spot by default.
Search freelance marketplaces and you will find "negative local SEO" services selling GBP disruption packages for as little as $50. These services coordinate multiple accounts to suggest the same false edit, increasing the likelihood Google accepts the change automatically. This is explicitly against Google's terms of service, but enforcement is inconsistent.
A former manager or co-owner who still knows your GBP details (or simply uses the public "suggest an edit" feature) can cause significant damage. An HVAC company in Tampa, FL had its pin moved three times in one month by a former technician after a bad separation. Each time the owner fixed it, the same user submitted the edit again.
Not every pin move is malicious. Sometimes a Google Maps user genuinely believes your pin is in the wrong spot and submits a correction. The challenge is that Google's system treats these the same as targeted sabotage. The result for your business is identical.
💡 Pro Tip: Check your Google Business Profile's "Edits" tab weekly. If you see suggested changes from users you do not recognize, especially changes to your address or pin location, reject them immediately and report the user.
We break down how to spot and reverse edits other people make to your profile in our guide to third-party edits to your GBP.
A Google Maps pin that has been moved even a few hundred feet can eliminate your business from the Local Pack for your most valuable search terms. Google uses proximity as the primary ranking signal for local searches, and a shifted pin changes which searches your business qualifies for.
Google's local search algorithm weighs three factors: proximity, relevance, and prominence. Proximity comes first for most queries. When someone searches "dentist near me" from their phone, Google shows the three closest, most relevant results. If your pin is 0.3 miles from your actual location, you are competing against a different set of businesses in a different micro-geography.
A family law firm in Chicago, IL experienced this firsthand. Their pin was moved two blocks north, into a different zip code boundary. They dropped out of the Local Pack entirely for searches originating from their actual neighborhood, where most of their clients lived.
When a customer clicks "Directions" on your Google Maps listing, they are routed to wherever your pin is placed. If that pin is in a parking lot, an empty field, or your competitor's building, the customer either gives up or walks into the wrong business. Either way, you lose.
If your pin is moved to an address where another business already exists, Google's systems may flag your listing as a potential duplicate. This can trigger a suspension review. I have seen legitimate businesses get temporarily suspended because their moved pin now overlapped with a competitor's verified location.
🔥 Quick Win: Open Google Maps right now and search for your business by name. Verify that the pin sits exactly on your building. If it is even slightly off, fix it today. Do not wait until you notice a ranking drop.
| Impact Area | What Happens When Your Pin Moves |
|---|---|
| Local Pack ranking | Drop or complete removal from the 3-Pack for nearby searches |
| Driving directions | Customers routed to wrong location |
| Customer trust | 62% of consumers avoid businesses with incorrect info |
| Duplicate flags | Google may flag your listing for suspension review |
| Review association | New reviews may not link to the correct location |
| Service area coverage | Your listing serves a different geographic zone |
| Call volume | Immediate decline in calls from Maps discovery searches |
Google rolled out a partial fix in January 2025 that added additional verification layers for address-related "suggest an edit" submissions on verified business profiles. The update requires more corroborating signals before an address edit is approved automatically. But the loophole has not been fully closed.
Google now weighs the contributor's Maps history more heavily when evaluating address edit suggestions. Users with low contribution scores or new accounts face higher rejection rates. Google also added a notification layer that alerts some business owners when an address change is suggested, though this notification is not guaranteed for all accounts.
The core vulnerability remains. Google still allows any user to suggest an address change on any business listing without any identity verification. Coordinated attacks from multiple accounts can still push through false edits. And the notification system has gaps: businesses with older GBP accounts, unverified email addresses, or accounts not connected to the Google Business Profile app often do not receive alerts.
A real estate agency in Dallas, TX had their pin moved in March 2025, two months after the fix went live. Three separate accounts submitted the same "correction" within a 48-hour window, and Google accepted it. The owner did not find out for 11 days.
⚠️ Common Mistake: Assuming Google's 2025 update fully protects your listing. It reduced the success rate of casual attacks, but coordinated pin manipulation by multiple accounts still works. Active monitoring is the only reliable defense.
The Flento Pin Guard Protocol is a systematic monitoring and defense framework designed to catch pin manipulation within hours, not weeks. Most businesses discover a moved pin only after their rankings have already dropped. This protocol reverses that timeline.
Log into your Google Business Profile and navigate to Settings. Turn on every notification category, especially "Suggested edits and updates." Connect your GBP to the Google Business Profile mobile app so you receive push notifications. If you manage multiple locations, assign a team member to monitor the notification inbox daily.
💡 Pro Tip: Set up a dedicated email address (like gbp-alerts@yourbusiness.com) for your Google Business Profile. This keeps GBP notifications separate from your main inbox and ensures nothing gets buried.
Open Google Maps every Monday morning and search for your business by name. Zoom in on the pin and confirm it sits on your building. Compare the displayed address against your actual street address. This 60-second check catches problems before they compound.
Use Flento's Google Business Profile Optimizer to automate this check across all your locations. The tool flags any pin position changes and sends an alert within hours.
While you cannot disable the "suggest an edit" feature entirely (it is a core Google Maps function), you can make your listing harder to tamper with. Ensure your GBP is fully verified with a verified phone number and physical postcard. Add a Google Street View photo that clearly shows your business signage at the correct address. Complete every field in your profile, including hours, services, description, and attributes. Google gives higher trust signals to complete, active listings.
When you receive a notification about a suggested edit, go to your Google Business Profile dashboard. Navigate to the "Updates" or "Edits" tab. Review every pending suggestion. Reject any address or pin changes you did not make. If the same edit keeps appearing, report the submitting user to Google through the "Report a problem" link.
If your pin has already been moved and you cannot fix it through the dashboard, file a Google Business Profile support case. Include screenshots showing the correct pin location, a utility bill or lease agreement proving your address, and a timeline of when the change appeared. Businesses that provide documentation get faster resolution. I have seen cases resolved in 48 hours with proper documentation, versus 3 or more weeks without it.
📊 Flento Data: Businesses using an automated GBP monitoring tool detect pin changes an average of 9 days earlier than those relying on manual checks. Faster detection means faster recovery, and most ranking losses reverse within 5 to 7 days once the pin is corrected.
If your pin has already been relocated, act within the first 24 hours to minimize ranking damage. The longer a wrong pin stays live, the deeper the ranking drop and the longer the recovery.
Log into your Google Business Profile. Click "Edit profile" and select the "Location" tab. Drag your pin back to the correct position on the map. Update your address if it was also changed. Click "Save" and verify the change appears on Google Maps within a few hours. If the pin does not update, clear your browser cache and check again from a different device.
Some businesses report that their pin keeps reverting to the wrong location after they correct it. This happens when the attacker continues to submit the same false edit. Contact Google Business Profile support directly through the GBP dashboard. Explain that your listing is being targeted by repeated false edit suggestions. Request that Google "lock" your listing's address to prevent further unauthorized changes.
Use Flento's Local Keyword Rank Tracker to monitor your Local Pack position during the recovery period. Most businesses see their rankings return to normal within 5 to 10 days after the pin is corrected, assuming no other listing issues exist. Track at least 10 of your primary local keywords to spot any lingering problems.
🔥 Quick Win: After correcting your pin, post a new GBP update (offer, event, or photo) the same day. Activity signals tell Google your listing is actively managed and help rebuild trust after a disruption.
Pin moving is rarely the only attack vector. Businesses targeted by listing sabotage often face a combination of tactics designed to erode their Google Maps visibility from multiple angles. Understanding the full pattern helps you defend against all of them, not just the pin.
Pin relocation is the focus of this post. An attacker moves your physical location marker to a wrong address using Google's suggest an edit feature.
Fake reviews flood your listing with one-star ratings from accounts with no local history. If you are dealing with this, here is how to remove fake Google reviews.
Business hours edits mark your business as closed during peak hours or permanently closed. This is the most common unauthorized edit type.
Category changes swap your primary business category to something irrelevant, destroying your relevance signal for target keywords.
Duplicate listing creation generates fake GBP listings at your address to dilute your ranking signals and trigger Google's duplicate detection filters.
A salon in Miami, FL experienced all five simultaneously. Within one week, her pin was moved, her hours were changed to "permanently closed," and 14 fake one-star reviews appeared. The combined effect dropped her from position 1 to completely invisible in the Local Pack.
The Pin Guard Protocol covers pin manipulation specifically. For a complete defense, optimize your Google Business Profile across every field, monitor all edit suggestions (not just address changes), and set up review monitoring alerts. The businesses that rank higher on Google Maps consistently are the ones with active monitoring systems, not just optimized profiles.
Understanding local SEO ranking factors helps you prioritize which signals to protect first. Proximity (your pin location) and relevance (your categories) are the two most impactful, which is exactly why attackers target them.
⚠️ Common Mistake: Fixing your pin but ignoring other edits. If someone is targeting your listing, check your business hours, categories, phone number, and website URL at the same time. Attackers rarely stop at one change.
Flento's Google Business Profile Optimizer monitors your listing for unauthorized changes, including pin location shifts, and alerts you before the damage reaches your rankings. Instead of checking Google Maps manually every day, the tool runs automated audits and flags discrepancies the moment they appear.
For businesses managing multiple locations, Flento's dashboard shows every location's pin status on a single screen. You can verify, correct, and lock down all your listings from one place. No more logging into separate accounts for each storefront.
Flento's Local Keyword Rank Tracker also connects the dots between listing changes and ranking movements. If your pin gets moved and your Local Pack position drops, you will see both events on the same timeline, making it immediately clear what happened and when.
✅ Done? Automate steps 4 through 12 with Flento. Try Flento free →
Yes. Any Google Maps user can click "Suggest an edit" on your business listing and propose a pin location change. Google's automated review system may approve the change without notifying you. This is the core vulnerability that makes the Google Maps pin moving scam possible. Verified business profiles receive slightly more protection since Google's January 2025 update, but the feature cannot be fully disabled.
The fastest way to check is to search for your business on Google Maps and verify that the pin sits directly on your building. You can also log into your Google Business Profile dashboard and check the "Updates" or "Edits" tab for any pending or recently approved location changes. Flento's Google Business Profile Optimizer sends automated alerts whenever your pin location changes.
Most businesses see their Local Pack rankings return to normal within 5 to 10 days after correcting the pin location, assuming no other listing issues exist. In cases where the pin was moved for several weeks before being detected, recovery may take 2 to 3 weeks. Posting a GBP update (photo, offer, or event) immediately after fixing the pin can accelerate the recovery.
Google's 2025 update added additional verification layers for address edit suggestions and weighs contributor history more heavily. It reduced the success rate of casual, single-account attacks. However, coordinated attacks from multiple accounts can still push through false edits. The update was a step forward, but it did not eliminate the vulnerability entirely.
File a support case through your Google Business Profile dashboard. Include screenshots showing the correct pin position, proof of your physical address (utility bill, lease, or government mail), and a description of the pattern (how many times the pin was moved, by whom if known). You can also use the "Report a problem" link directly on your Google Maps listing. Documented cases receive faster resolution from Google support.
Yes. If your pin is moved to an address where another verified business already exists, Google's duplicate detection system may flag your listing for review. In some cases, this leads to a temporary suspension while Google investigates. This is one of the most damaging secondary effects of pin sabotage and another reason to detect and correct pin changes quickly.
Check your pin location at least once per week. For businesses in competitive markets (like restaurants in Austin, TX or law firms in Chicago, IL), twice per week is better. The Flento Pin Guard Protocol recommends a Monday morning check as part of your standard weekly GBP maintenance routine. Automated monitoring tools reduce this manual effort to near zero.
Related Posts:
