Yes that is a very good possiblity and as of yet there is no real evidence that Google intervened. The m.o. was identical and certainly the firm seems willing to operate on the darker side.

One test will be to see how long Google takes to respond to the case the “we buy houses” report.

Mike

Yes the question of whether Google took them down is an intersting one. I have no reason to not believe Gabriel but it was curious that RentAGeek went down at exactly the same time. I do not have a reason for that yet.

By the sonds of it, it drove lots of business. If Google does not monitor this activity and change procedures there will be many a quick buck made…post 20,000 addresses for 2 weeks then take ‘em down. And has been pointed out it will compromise the value and integrity of Google’s data set.

Mike

1. Per this discussion that strategy works wonders for the business.
2. If the comments are true then G maps desperately needs to expedite its ability to correct abuses of the system. G didn’t cleanse the system, the company itself did.
3. I’m looking at some geek squad capabilities to help my business. I wouldn’t use them. They can’t have quality control on 11,000 contracted people around the country with such a small hq staff.
4. The two examples of bulk advertisng are amazing examples of web advertising and driving business. Since they were both showing up with some kind of brand name…I wonder if they were doing any supplementary advertising to drive people to the brand name…rather than more generic queries like computer repair.

In any case this is a fascinating study of exploiting maps.

Dave