Mike Blumenthal

9/25/08 9:30 pm Google has removed the deceptive listing and returned Kalman Belli Florist to the 10 Pack. This was reported into Google Groups earlier today by the owner. 9/24/08 10:00 pm Google has yet to remove this hijacked listing and restore the original florist to their position in the Local 10-Pack. 9/21/08- Remnants of …

The only guarantee against having a business listing hijacked in Google Maps has been for a listing owner to control their listing in the Local Business Center. The only way to be ranked well in Maps is for that same business to control their listing in the Local Business Center. The many blogs covering local …

In response to the many changes that Google has made of late in Maps, Google is once again surveying some Map users (Survey URL) with questions as to speed of the service, quality of data and customer service level satisfaction. If the survey is unavailable at the link above you can view this PDF of …

Last week, Google announced that they were switching over Google Maps data from NavTeq to TeleAtlas. At the time they noted that “there may also be some cases where the data may not be optimal”. With Google’s rapid switch over to TeleAtlas and Google’s high visibility these reports of missing streets are likely to increase …

Google has often made their technology available to encourage and support voting. In that vein, it seems likely that Google Maps will soon provide a new Google created mapplet with comprehensive voter information. The site, currently visible at the url: http://maps.google.com/vote, will provide voting location, registration information and more. Apparently the data set is not …

In honor o’ Pirate’s Day, the ever snarly, gnarly uber pirate, Maps Guide Jen is publicly making someone walk the banishment plank over in groups. She gave the fellow until sun up on Monday to comply: ================================== TOPIC: where is my listing please??????????????????????? =================================== == 1 of 1 == Date: Fri, Sep 19 2008 4:21 …

Lisa Barone of Bruce Clay picked up my reporting of the new Google Maps Business Listing Guidelines . She commented: Blumenthals doesn’t seem completely satisfied with the guidelines set out by Google because they leave too much wiggle room….. He’s right in that there really could be a lot more explanation to what Google will and will not …

Google Maps has now switched their map data provision completely over to TeleAtlas from Navteq. Now the google Maps, the Google API and the Google Maps for Mobile all use the same underlying data. This switch was only a matter of time given Nokia aquisition of Navteq. Here is the announcement from Google’s Maps Guide …

I am very excited to say that I have been invited to speak at this year’s SMX-East. It is running from October 6-8 in NYC. I will be speaking in the Monday morning session: What’s New With Local Search Marketing – What’s new and exciting in terms of tactics for showing up in local search …