Darren Brown has been running a pub for 18 months but according to Google, it did not exist until Monday.

The proprietor said he had gone to “every length” to prove to the tech giant that he owns The King William Hotel, formerly the Ambassadors Hotel in the Adelaide CBD, before reaching out to ABC Radio Adelaide.

“People can’t find us on Google,” Mr Brown told ABC Radio Adelaide on Monday morning.

“The broader consumers rely on the platform, and if we’re not on it, and we’re not able to make a mark with it, we’re basically invisible.”

He said a search for the Ambassadors Hotel showed the business was “permanently closed”, while a search for King William Hotel returned several other locations.

“You have to as a business owner question if it’s worthwhile sinking more money into the marketing approach if the first point of call for a consumer is going to be trying to Google you, and then have trouble finding you,” Mr Brown said.

“The impact to business is immeasurable because how do you put a dollar figure on the fact that people haven’t been able to find you or, the worst thing in the world is they are confused an the basis of when they try to search for you.”

The pub owner said he had tried to communicate with Google via its online platform since December but “their responses were automated”.

He said he has tried many ways to fix the problem, including uploading photos and videos to Google to prove the business exist.

“Videos to the extent that I’ve walked from corner of Waymouth [Street] to King William, capturing street signs, capturing neighbouring businesses, down the stairs into the venue, logging into a till and opening a till to prove that that venue is actually our business,” he said.

“If there is a person on the other end doing this, it would be so obvious that this building is here and the business is operational.”

Purpose Digital Marketing director Tilda Ricourt, who lists Mr Brown among her clients, said it was not the first time she had difficulty helping a business set up a Google profile.

“Out of our 40 or so clients, three of them have had this issue, Darren included. This one is definitely the most problematic by far though,” she said.

Ms Ricourt said not having a visible Google profile could be detrimental for businesses because consumers and services like Uber rely on the listings to find and book venues, read menus and view photos.

“It’s very possible he could have lost a lot of money just by not existing on Google,” she said.

She said the automated processes which services like Google use could be problematic for small businesses when something goes awry.

“I think [Google] certainly needs a better process … to speed up the process, or at least tidy up their form submission layers and legal and help link layers,” she said.

Mr Brown said he lodged a dispute with Australian Small Business and Family Enterprise Ombudsman but was “flabbergasted” when the ombudsman told him it was difficult to get a response from Google.

He had also considered legal action or the costly exercise of changing the hotel’s name back to Ambassadors.

After enquiries from ABC News, The King William Hotel could be found on Google by 4pm on Monday, while the Ambassadors Hotel listing was no longer visible.

Mr Brown said the finer details of the new listing were still being finalised with Google late on Monday.

In a statement, a Google spokesperson said the search engine was “aware of this matter and we are investigating”.

If you’re not on Google you don’t exist

Adelaide woman Janice Duffy, who twice won defamation cases against Google, said she also struggled to make contact with the technology company when she had a complaint.

The former SA Health researcher said she spent 13 years battling the tech giant, which was found to have knowingly published derogatory comments about her online, an ordeal she described as “hell”.

She said the only way to hold Google to account was “to get the media involved”.

“I’m absolutely convinced that the only way to hold Google accountable is for the media to take on these stories,” she said.

“Google has the ultimate power, absolute power, businesses live and die by Google.

“If someone is not on Google, then they don’t exist.”