But I do believe that Google’s/Yahoo’s/Superpages best interest are served by establishing a set of standards that protect the various parties and that they do so prior to intervention.

Mike

Mike

They are not making any less than the Yellow page used to, they are just making it differently.

For Google, from a profit perspective, they need to shift as many costs as they can. They have done so in a number of ways. Either the businesses accept them willingly or not.

I would posit that now is the time to everybody to define which of those costs that have been shifted are acceptable and which are not.

Mike

But remember, this is free advertising that can reach anywhere in the world where there’s an internet connection. Right now, you get what you get.

I have to assume Google Maps will improve. In the meantime, early-ish adopters who are willing to persist against obstacles and navigate through imperfect systems can reap disproportionate rewards. This is what is currently happening in the world of Local Search.

Certainly I believe that most users expect some bad info. They have a certain tolerance for it.

But I have been working with a number of small busnesses that have attempted to do just that but have been thwarted by Google’s non existant customer response.

The business owner can do all of the work but if Google doesn’t implement or if they don’t repsond when problems result or send customers to the wrong location even WHEN the business owner did everything right, the business owner has no recourse.

Mike

If the phone number that’s published online for them is incorrect, then another pizza place will get the call. And if their listing doesn’t give their business hours and another shop’s listing boasts late night hours, then it’s fairly obvious which business is mostly likely to get an order from late night party-ers.

I think the responsibility for the accuracy of local data has to default to the business owner. They’re getting free advertising in the form of business listings all across the web. It’s up to them to claim and verify those listings, rather than expecting someone else to do it for them. The business owners who get that have already gained an advantage over their competitors.

Small business owners are empowered to take control of the information that appears about them online. If they don’t, it’s certainly no one’s fault but their own.

The first time someone dies because they used a mapping product and ended up at a shoe store instead of a hospital will be very interesting indeed.

Mike