Understanding Google My Business & Local Search
MapMaker Bots and What They Do
Google MapMaker has become a tremendous resource for cleaning up listings in G+ Local. While it can be incredibly confusing, it provides a window into the complete cluster data that Google has for a given listing, provides a detailed history of activities vis a vis that listing and allows for direct editing of it. The results typically show back up in the G+Local listing within days if not hours. But the product is buggy and very opaque.
One of the more arcane mysteries in MapMaker revolves around the many Google bots that work their way through the listings, often with disastrous results. The Regional Expert Reviewers at MapMaker, those high level volunteer editors with more power to approve edits, have assembled this GDoc MapMaker Bot List spreadsheet as a reference to the many bots that run wild in the MapMaker world. It’s a great resource for understanding some of the history of the listing and how certain changes came about.
| Current Name & Profile | Old Names | Stats | Date Released | Short Description |
| Anonymous0148 | 1251 days , 16278 edits | 4/13/09 | Possible bot; may not be active anymore | |
| Anonymous5784 | 841 days , 3614717 reviews | 5/28/10 | Approval bot; either approves an edit or adds a tag | |
| Anonymous6288 | 561 days , 7160629 edits | 3/4/11 | Possible bot based on the number of edits | |
| Anonymous6662 | 907 days , 9692721 edits | 3/22/10 | Places Import Bot; imports features from other databases if it’s not in the Map Maker database at the time of editing | |
| Google Automated Deactivated Accounts | Deactivated Map Maker Account(changed Sept 2012), Google Automated Wipeout (changed Aug 2012) | 398 days | 8/14/11 | When a Google account is deactivated, all edits made using that account are attributed to this profile. ** Not Technically a Bot ** |
| Google Automated Address Fixer 1 | 521 days , 1486 edits | 4/13/11 | ||
| Google Automated Bounds Fixer | 77 days | 6/30/12 | ||
| Google Automated Cleaner 2 | 1550 days , 117557 edits | 6/17/08 | ||
| Google Automated Flyover Fixer | 577 days , 207 edits, 2 reviews | 2/16/11 | ||
| Google Automated Reconciler 3 | Map Maker Syncer (changed 8/23/2012) | 64 days | 7/13/12 | |
| Google Automated Reconciler 4 | Map Maker Instant Syncer (changed 8/23/2012) | 24 days | 8/22/12 | |
| Map Buildings | 192 days , 20 edits | 3/7/12 | Adds the height to buildings | |
| Map Maker Revert | 878 days , 7673953 edits | 4/21/10 |
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Comments
3 Comments
So, now we have to worry not only about which Google bots are crawling our own websites, we have to worry about which Google bots are crawling Google?
😉
It’s so hard keeping up with these guys, I just put this out a few short months ago and it’s already ancient history:
http://www.coconutheadphones.com/google-crawling-behavior/
Thanks for writing on this MapMaker stuff, there’s so little available on it so far, and it’s been so little covered by the media and bloggers, any info like this is like gold.
@Ted
I guess we do have to worry about which Google bots are crawling Google. That’s a great way of looking at it.
I suspect as Google moves more towards the knowledge graph (as they have been doing with local) then it may become more so..
MapMaker is both arcane and buggy… most of those that are involved in the community stay in the community and very few seem to overlap with the SEO and marketing folks…. it reminds me more of DMOZ. 🙂
Great list. Frankly we need more interaction with people like
Dan Austin. Its the only way to learn
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