How I Recovered a Google Business Profile Damaged by a Previous Agency

Some SEO projects start from zero. The harder ones start below zero.

In May 2026 I took over Local SEO for Lovik Mirzaeian DDS, a general, cosmetic and implant dentist in Clovis, California. A previous agency had used click-through manipulation on the practice's Google Business Profile: fake searches and clicks meant to trick Google into ranking it higher. Tactics like that can work for a while, but once Google stops trusting the signals, the profile gets held back.

On top of that, the website had real problems and the practice's address was wrong across the web. This is how I approached the recovery.

What I found in the audit

• The profile was suppressed after the manipulation.
• The website sat at Domain Rating 9. Most of its search traffic came from general dental-health articles, not the treatment pages that bring in patients.
• 87 URLs were competing with each other. Several pages targeted the same service, so Google didn't know which to rank.
• Directories listed an old address, and two of them showed the practice as closed.
• A credential error appeared on six pages: the dentist's school was listed as the University of San Francisco instead of UCSF.

Step 1: Stop the damage and rebuild trust

The first rule of recovery is to stop anything risky. No more manipulation, no shortcuts. Then I rebuilt the profile properly:

• A new, natural business description
• Correct primary and secondary categories
• 20 services and 8 product cards
• Fresh photos
• A steady posting schedule, including a 15-post series in August at three posts a week

I also replied to every patient review with natural, local wording, starting with 30+ replies in the first month.

The business name now includes "Clovis Dentist", added in a way that follows Google's guidelines, and Google rates the profile as complete.

Step 2: Report competitor spam, carefully

I ran a spam check across 70 Maps searches and 31 competitor profiles. Some competitors had stuffed keywords into their business names, which Google doesn't allow.

I only reported the cases I could prove from the competitors' own branding: their signs, websites and social profiles. Reporting weak cases wastes time and credibility. Reporting clear ones levels the playing field.

Step 3: Fix the technical base

A strong profile can't fully perform if the website behind it is broken. I fixed:

• 89 broken links
• Full HTTPS across the site
• A clean XML sitemap
• Dentist schema with the correct name, address and phone number
• Three menu links that were causing about 917 redirects across the site

I also disavowed low-quality backlinks in Search Console.

Step 4: Merge competing pages into clean clusters

With 87 URLs competing, Google was splitting its attention. I merged them into clear clusters for implants, sedation and orthodontics/Invisalign, with 301 redirects and updated internal links. I explain the method in detail in my post on keyword cannibalization.

I also added visible FAQ sections with FAQ schema to 11 service pages, 105 questions in total, each one matching the visible text word for word.

Step 5: Make it easier to book

Rankings mean nothing if visitors leave. So I improved the parts of the site that turn visits into appointments:

• A one-tap Call and Directions bar on mobile
• A working map on the contact page
• Live Google reviews on the site
• A main menu cut from 32 items to 22

Step 6: Fix the wrong address at the source

This was the most interesting problem. Correcting directories one by one kept failing because they were pulling the old address from somewhere.

I traced it back to the practice's NPI record, the US national provider registry, which hadn't been updated since 2012. Many health directories copy their data from it. After that, I corrected US News Health, MapQuest duplicates and the BBB listing.

Takeaway for any US healthcare business: if the wrong address keeps coming back, check your NPI record first.

Step 7: Report everything in one place

I built a live Looker Studio report that combines the Business Profile, Search Console and GA4, so the practice can check every number themselves at any time.

Results so far

This project is ongoing, and recovery takes patience. Rankings here are moving steadily rather than jumping:

• Average map rank improved on all five tracked keywords between May 6 and June 24, 2026. "best dentist clovis" moved from 9.37 to 6.45 and started reaching the Top 3 in part of the grid.
• Google reviews grew from 290 to 332 by September 24, 2026, and the rating is still 5.0.
• In the three months to July 2026, the website earned 3,280 clicks on 472,000 impressions from Google.

The biggest remaining gap is review volume compared with the three practices ranked above it, so that's the current focus.

The lesson

Shortcuts cost more than they save. The previous agency's tactics made the practice harder to rank, not easier. Recovery came from doing the fundamentals properly: a complete profile, a clean website, accurate listings and honest reporting.

If your business was hurt by a past SEO provider, contact me for a free audit. I'll tell you honestly what can be fixed and how long it's likely to take.