Gogole Maps is now presenting a stronger indication that a previously claimed record can not be claimed by a second party. This new feature was pointed out to me by the folks from the Inn at Tanglewood Hall, a bed and breakfast in York Harbor, ME:
There are a number of ways to get to the Edit button in a business listing and for now at least, this new message is only available when you click on the pin and then on the edit. One presumes that it will soon be the default response across the board.
Hey, isn’t that shiny and new! Good catch, Mike.
Miriam
Comment by MiriamEllis (362 comments) — March 11, 2009 @ 5:37 pm
Well done, Google Maps team. A much-needed and innovative idea to help combat MapSpam.
Comment by David Mihm (96 comments) — March 11, 2009 @ 7:09 pm
good step forward indeed!
Comment by Martijn (77 comments) — March 12, 2009 @ 5:20 pm
Yes, I agree that it is a great move but it is odd that the message is not yet attached to all of the add/edit buttons….it is only accessible via this one very specific pathway…
Mike
Comment by Mike (1029 comments) — March 12, 2009 @ 6:06 pm
This a problem we have never had with UK business listings in google. The business owner is required to register and validate the entry by surface mail, text or fax before the listing goes live.
Perhaps they learnt from the US experience and tightened up the procedure.
One thing I have picked up on in the last couple of weeks is canny persons can influence their business listing in the generic SERP by picking up on keywords and carefully inserting them alongside or instead of the Business Name.
Whether google will slap this remains to be seen but as they always harp on about providing the best and most relevent search results for the user experience (which is happening here) maybe not?
Comment by Katiesp (2 comments) — May 2, 2009 @ 3:22 pm