A billboard in Charlotte made me scream at my GPS

I drove through Charlotte last Tuesday for a client meeting and spotted this giant billboard for a local HVAC company that said 'WE RANK #1 IN GOOGLE.' I pulled over to check their site and they weren't even on the first page for 'Charlotte HVAC.' Like, who approved that lie? I get that small shops want to flex, but if a potential customer actually checks, you lose all trust instantly. And I have to wonder if they paid some agency that just slapped a claim together without verifying. I've seen this with three local businesses this quarter, all paying $500+ a month for SEO that does nothing. How do you guys handle telling a client that their competitor's fake ranking claim is actually hurting their own credibility? Or do you just let it slide?

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jamie8041mo ago

I've got a client paying $400 a month for SEO and they called me last week asking why their competitor's billboard saying "#1 Rated" was outranking them on Google. My move is to pull up the competitor's actual review count and show the gap side by side, then tell the client straight up that fake claims eventually bite the owner in the ass when someone clicks around.

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margaretramirez1mo ago

Is it just me, or does every plumber in the south claim they're the best on some random Tuesday? My uncle paid for a "guaranteed top spot" once and they put his name in a blog post nobody read. I guess the real lesson is that billboards and Google don't talk to each other, so the lie just sits there until a customer with a phone ruins the whole thing.

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