At about 1 am this morning, Danielle Kraft of Studio Kraft in NJ sent along this comment:
Hi Mike, Oddly, this evening I received an email that was detailed for a “Google Local Business Center Updates for Maaco Collision Repair & Auto Painting.” I’ve received this type of email before for a business we have claimed, however, in this instance, UNDER NO CIRCUMSTANCES, have I ever claimed a business related to Maaco. This is not totally incorrect. Glitch perhaps in their system? Very strange. The email header checked out, doesn’t appear to be spam. Sender =”localbusinesscenter@google.com” Has anyone experienced this before? Thanks, Danielle
At about 3 am I received my monthly update from the Google Local Business Center for Kurlon Mattress Dealers, Home, Office, School Furniture Shop : Tk trading a company (with a very long name, hmmm) that is most definitely NOT in my LBC:
Well, Danielle, it does appear to be a fairly massive “glitch”. I am sure that you in NJ and I in upsate NY are not the only ones to get their monthly stats in this way. The only question is did every report go out to the wrong recipient?
If any of you got mine, would you let me know?
Yes, I received stats for a business I have no connection with.
It was followed up two hours later by an apology email from Google that explained:
“We recently sent you a version of your monthly Local Business Centre newsletter that may have contained some incorrect business listing statistics — our apologies. Shortly after sending out the email, we realized that there was a human error when putting together the content. We’re sorry about this mistake. Here you’ll find the updated, accurate statistics for your business.”
Comment by James ward (2 comments) — January 7, 2010 @ 9:20 am
Google Local Business Center Results Emailed to Random Business Leaders?…
At 9:25 PM CST tonight I received the following highly surprising email from Google Local Business Center (I have covered the numbers to protect the web site traffic data and subject matter of Google’s apparent privacy victim). Boscos Local Busin…
Trackback by Online Marketing Management Strategy — January 7, 2010 @ 10:47 am
Happened to me as well. I guess the Google calendar thinks its April.
Comment by Jeff Howard (4 comments) — January 7, 2010 @ 11:14 am
Looking through some of my accounts, I received the correct email for one of my clients, but I believe that the data is inaccurate with 476 impressions and 412 actions in November 2009. The same data is reflected in the LBC, but then I view December and have 197 impressions and 268 actions. At least November’s information is at least possible!
Comment by Taylor Cimala (19 comments) — January 7, 2010 @ 11:43 am
@James
Yours is the first “explanation” to have been seen…perhaps because of your european residency?
@Jeff
If the email that James receive3d is right, it sounds more like an underpaid (or perhaps unpaid) intern
@Taylor
It could be that just the first few batches were affected. At the Online Marketing Management post above, he saw it last night.
Comment by Mike (2500 comments) — January 7, 2010 @ 11:51 am
@Mike – Sure, just wanted to extend the conversation to other details of inaccuracies with the emails, but incorrect data being displayed in the LBC is nothing new.
Comment by Taylor Cimala (19 comments) — January 7, 2010 @ 12:33 pm
[...] Glitch Sends Wrong Info from Google LBC By Greg Sterling Mike Blumenthal posted on a fairly significant error that happened last night and early this morning. Google reportedly [...]
Pingback by Big Glitch Sends Wrong Info from Google LBC « Screenwerk — January 7, 2010 @ 12:35 pm
@Taylor
Yes, there are enough errors in the reporting to diminish their value and the confidence that one would have in them…its too bad.
Comment by Mike (2500 comments) — January 7, 2010 @ 12:50 pm
Client of mine (Doctor) in Florida received stats for a limo company!
Followed up after by the apology/correction note.
Comment by Chris Silver Smith (29 comments) — January 7, 2010 @ 1:00 pm
[...] Mike Blumenthal recently made a post about Google sending out the wrong Local Business Center information to some local businesses. I am not sure how this happened, but I have heard it was human error. Luckily none of the information was ’sensitive’. The Local Business Center is a work in progress, and will make mistakes from time-to-time. The followed up with some apologies to businesses that received this incorrect data. [...]
Pingback by Google Local Business Center Glitch Sends Wrong Information | Kyle Kazak — January 7, 2010 @ 1:33 pm
[...] David Dalka received a similar one about 30 minutes after I received mine. Mike Blumenthal also received one, so did Danya Henninger and others, as I reported at the Search Engine [...]
Pingback by Bad Directions: Google Maps Sends Local Listing Reports To Wrong Business Owners — January 7, 2010 @ 2:03 pm
[...] David Dalka received a similar one about 30 minutes after I received mine. Mike Blumenthal also received one, so did Danya Henninger and others, as I reported at the Search Engine [...]
Pingback by OPPS! Bad Directions: Google Maps Sends Local Listing Reports To Wrong Business Owners | InfoKwik Marketing & SEO — January 7, 2010 @ 9:05 pm
Hi Mike, it looks like everyone experienced the same. Yikes! We also received a corrected email for another LBC listing a few days later.
Thanks for the post and the information I was seeking – wasn’t sure if my eyes were deceiving me at first!
DKraft
Comment by Danielle Kraft (3 comments) — January 11, 2010 @ 2:00 pm
@Danielle
Well not everybody…by my calculations only about 300,000 or so worldwide
Comment by Mike Blumenthal (1962 comments) — January 11, 2010 @ 2:07 pm
[...] small business owners were concerned and a little upset. Mike Blumenthal covered the situation, as did search marketer David Dalka, Search Engine Roundtable and The [...]
Pingback by More Trouble In Google’s Local Biz Center | Small Business Trends — January 13, 2010 @ 10:03 am
A web acquaintance of mine recently received analytical type marketing material with stats for my website instead of hers. It was stats on how well my google images were doing in rankings. How they got her contact info I have no clue. Its very strange and very annoying. i don’t know if this is related however since it was NOT google who sent this info but another company who offers tools that use analytics from google to better people’s seo
Comment by ibdreamy (1 comments) — January 14, 2010 @ 2:53 pm
@ibdreamy It sounds like over aggressive marketing on the part of this 3rd prty…
Comment by Mike (2500 comments) — January 14, 2010 @ 3:59 pm
[...] David Dalka received a similar one about 30 minutes after I received mine. Mike Blumenthal also received one, so did Danya Henninger and others, as I reported at the Search Engine [...]
Pingback by Bad Directions: Google Maps Sends Local Listing Reports To Wrong Business Owners | SEO Land - Get Latest News about SEO — January 27, 2010 @ 1:15 am
[...] That morning it was linked to by the following sites: Danny Sullivan’s Search Engine Land: Bad Directions: Google Maps Sends Local Listing Reports To Wrong Business Owners Rustybrick’s Search Engine Roundtable: Google Sends Me & Others Wrong Local Business Center Reports Understanding Google Local Maps and Search: Google Maps LBC Sending Out Monthly Stats to Wrong Businesses? [...]
Pingback by How Breaking Business News Stories Migrate To Mainstream Mass Media | Think Tank Live — February 11, 2010 @ 9:51 pm
[...] one who saw this. There is a report of it in Google Maps Help forum, David Dalka got one, so did Mike Blumenthal and Danya [...]
Pingback by Google reports us Wrong Local Business Center information | Google Local Business Center — February 27, 2010 @ 1:49 am