Mike Blumenthal

I have recently returned from LocalSMX and hope to blog on the event, incredible people and our research relating to Maps over the next week. But I wanted to touch on one of the keynotes delivered Frazier Miller of Yahoo (summarized here by Greg Sterling). Frazier noted that growth in local queries at Yahoo experienced …

I frequently check my own record for Web Hosting Olean NY in Google Maps and when it popped up with this one box result my eyebrows raised a tad to see a new web hosting firm located at Vidhyapati St in Olean. Olean, while it may have a number of Asian and Indian residents, typically …

Google has recently added a new feature (hats off to Martijn for the heads up on this) to the Local Business Center allowing a business to receive more communication from Google. Of particular interest is the option to “Receive notifications when changes are made to your business listings.” These preferences can be changed at any …

Today in the Google Maps for Business Group, Maps Guide Jen provided public instructions on filing a Mapspam report:   ========== TOPIC: Report Spam on Google Maps  ================ == 1 of 1 == Date: Thurs, Jul 10 2008 12:00 pm From: Maps Guide Jen To file a spam report with the Google Maps team, please …

Update 7/10/08: Google has now removed the Earthlink listings. As of 6:29 pm EST, the Australian Locksmith Mapspam in still in place. Update 7/10/08:As of 10:00 EST the Australian Locksmith Mapspam has been removed. In early May, Imamnotadoctor.com reported that there was widespread mapspsam from Earthlink in Google Maps. Maps Guide Jen noted on his blog …

Google has handled Mapspam reporting in an ad hoc fashion since it was first identified as a problem in Maps almost a year ago. Despite Google’s recent efforts at tightening up the LBC interface, reports of large scale Mapspam seem to keep coming in. There has never been a formal reporting form on Google’s site …

Google Maps recently introduced a new user interface for the Local Business Center. There were some issues with the upgrade and Carter Maslan, Google’s Director of Product Management for Local, agreed to answer some of my questions about the process in a phone conversation. MB: What was the goal of the upgrade? What prompted the …

Throughout May and early June there were reports of high volume bulk upload Mapspam for Earthlink, BigLocal and Computer Assistant. These listings were national in scope and often noted that the listing was Not a physical Location. Google apparently pulled down the publicly reported Mapspam. A reader though, has pointed out that similar Mapspam is …

Google has been fixing many of the broken bits in Maps and responding positively to user input in the Maps Groups (thanks to Martijn for the alert). One problem with the recent update was the inability to move a map marker after the LBC record had been updated. Today Maps Guide Jen noted: Hi! Thanks …