The Google Maps for Business blog:
== 1 of 1 == Date: Thurs, Aug 2 2007 5:51 pm
From: “Maps Guide Jen”
Hi Bonehead, Mike, Joe, fowen, and other business owners,
Thanks so much for asking about and flagging the unverified listings of TechPros and RentaGeek.
We take the rights of those business owners with legitimate listings very seriously, and we’re working on long-term solutions to prevent situations like this most recent one from occurring again. As the Local Business Center and the number of listings in Google Maps continues to develop and expand, these types of issues may also become more prevalent. We’re glad and grateful that users such as yourselves continue to be honest and vigilant in helping to bring our attention to potential abuses of Google Maps. As always, let me know if you have any questions. Thank you! Jen
(bold is mine)
My response to our beloved (but soon to be very harried) Jen:
Hi Jen
Thanks for your response. I have lots of questions:
1)How soon can we expect to see a technological solution to this problem? Relying on vigilant readers seems to be the proverbial finger in the dam.
2)Is there a clear statement of what is acceptable practice for bulk upload? If so where? I looked but could not find a simple summary of what was acceptable practice and what wasn’t and what the consequences of unacceptable practice would be.
3)Will there be a standardized and more responsive mechanism for reporting abuse than these forums if we can expect these issues to become more prevalent?
Mike Blumenthal
This morning I had a long and interesting conversation with the President & CEO Gabriel Howard of TechPros, one of the companies that was involved in the Bulk Upload issues reported last week. The interview is lengthy and is included at the end of this post in its entirety.
The upshot (as reported by the company):
•They had outsourced their search marketing to a firm in Seattle
•The management team was unaware of the Maps issue until their inbox was bulging with Google Alerts on Monday
•On Monday, they requested that the search firm remove all of the listings.
The interview is a case study in how a good idea can go bad without proper oversight and understanding, how privacy is not possible in the realm of the internet, how small businesses need to understand what they are buying when they buy Search services and ultimately how powerful a marketing tool Google Maps really is.
Here is the interview in full (you should make your own mind up as to TechPro’s responsibilty and fault): (more…)
Today at the Google Maps-For-Business Group another report of bul upload abuse surfaced.
This time the culprit is in the “We Buy Houses” refinance industry. Like the previous case, all of the entires use a common street address (500 Main) and 800 number. Unlike the previous reports, these appear to only be listed in major metro markets (Portland, Vancouver, Buffalo) but not in smaller markets (Jamestown, NY or Olean NY).
It was reported last night (hats of to earlpearl), that Google had removed the previously reported spam. It appears that they have their work cut out for them chasing spammers.
On a related note, I am taking nominations for a succinct phrase to describe this new practice. Spapping? Serial Map abuse? Mapbuse? Let me know.
Update 11:30 8/2- I just completed a phone conversation with the CEO of TechPros who noted that they had the listings removed. The interview will be posted later today.
An alert reader, earlpearl, has noted that as of today at 6:30, Google had removed the offending listings from Google MapsThe event brought several issues with Google Maps into sharper focus. Firstly, it is clear that the bulk upload capability needs some form of verification process. If it can be abused, it will be. However the problem of verifying multiple remote locations is a difficult one. Minimally checking to see that the street address is a real one would be a start, although not much of one.
Secondly, there is legitimate need for many businesses to be listed without a real address. For example the plumber that does house calls but has no street address other than his home.
Thirdly there is the issue of businesses that serve larger geographic areas than Google Maps allows them to display in. For example the urban store that services the burbs or the regional rurul business that services a number of surrounding towns.
And fourthly, is there a meaningful way for large national chains with outsourced services to be equitably represented? Or should they be?
