Real Business Information and How It Affects Your Dealership SEO
Ensuring that all information about your business is accurate and consistent across the web is essential for strong SEO and customer trust. Misrepresenting your business, or overinflating what you do, risks damaging your reputation and may result in search engine penalties.
With tools such as Google Business Profile (formerly Google My Business) and Bing Places for Business appearing so prominently in search results, it’s vital that the information shown is correct, complete, and genuinely reflects your business.
Accurate Business Listings and SEO
Publishing online content is easy, but so is making a mistake. A missing digit in your phone number or an outdated address can quickly spread across the web. While it’s simple enough to update your own site or your official Google and Bing listings, it’s far harder to fix incorrect details that have been copied to third-party directories you don’t control.
Directory sites often “acquire” your business information from other sources, and this can lead to inaccurate details being replicated across dozens, even hundreds, of sites. Once that happens, cleaning it up can be time-consuming and costly.
Always double-check your information before publishing. For more on this topic, see our page on consistent business listings.
Don’t Fake It – It’s Not Worth the Risk
Some businesses attempt to manipulate search results by creating misleading or duplicate listings — for example, using a second empty office address to appear as a different business in another area. While this might seem like a shortcut to increased visibility, it is a breach of search engine guidelines.
Google’s official stance:
“Google reserves the right to suspend access to the Google My Business website builder or other Google services to individuals or businesses that violate these guidelines.”
The consequences can be severe: your real business could be suspended from Google entirely. Beyond search engine action, misleading business information can also harm your brand’s credibility and, in some cases, lead to legal trouble.
Real Business Information Checklist
- Ensure business name, address, and phone number (NAP) are identical across all platforms.
- Keep your Google Business Profile and Bing Places listing up to date.
- Use a single, official business address — no false or virtual locations.
- Regularly audit third-party directory listings for accuracy.
- Remove outdated or duplicate listings promptly.
- Maintain transparency about your services and service areas.