{"id":1145,"date":"2008-10-14T19:25:14","date_gmt":"2008-10-14T23:25:14","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blumenthals.com\/blog\/?p=1145"},"modified":"2008-10-15T05:48:05","modified_gmt":"2008-10-15T09:48:05","slug":"google-maps-hijackers-hit-major-brands","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blumenthals.com\/blog\/2008\/10\/14\/google-maps-hijackers-hit-major-brands\/","title":{"rendered":"Google Maps: Hijackers hit Major Brands"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Searchengineland has published my newest installment in the ongoing series on hijackings at Google Maps:\u00a0<a id=\"post-15087\" href=\"http:\/\/searchengineland.com\/problems-continue-with-google-local-business-listings-15087.php\">Problems Continue With Google Local Business Listings<\/a>. The same hijackers that hit the florist industry hijacked the local listings of major brands like Mariott, Hertz, Avis and Thrifty changing location, url and business name. The change of business name was such that the listings achieved Authoritative OneBox status with searches like:\u00a0<a onclick=\"javascript:pageTracker._trackPageview('\/outbound\/article\/http:\/\/www.google.com\/search?hl=en&amp;client=safari&amp;rls=en&amp;q=orlando+hotels&amp;btnG=Search');\" href=\"http:\/\/www.google.com\/search?hl=en&amp;client=safari&amp;rls=en&amp;q=orlando+hotels&amp;btnG=Search\">Orlando Hotels<\/a>,\u00a0<a onclick=\"javascript:pageTracker._trackPageview('\/outbound\/article\/http:\/\/www.google.com\/search?client=safari&amp;rls=en&amp;q=Miami+Discount+Car+Rental&amp;ie=UTF-8&amp;oe=UTF-8');\" href=\"http:\/\/www.google.com\/search?client=safari&amp;rls=en&amp;q=Miami+Discount+Car+Rental&amp;ie=UTF-8&amp;oe=UTF-8\">Miami Discount Car Rental<\/a>\u00a0&amp;\u00a0<a onclick=\"javascript:pageTracker._trackPageview('\/outbound\/article\/http:\/\/www.google.com\/search?hl=en&amp;client=safari&amp;rls=en&amp;q=dallas+discount+car+Rental&amp;btnG=Search');\" href=\"http:\/\/www.google.com\/search?hl=en&amp;client=safari&amp;rls=en&amp;q=dallas+discount+car+Rental&amp;btnG=Search\">Dallas Discount Car Rental.<\/a><\/p>\n<p>It is an interesting story which leads to as many questions as answers, not the least of which being: Why would Google not shut these spammers down after they had hijacked the florists?<\/p>\n<p>You can Sphinn this story <a href=\"http:\/\/sphinn.com\/story\/78893#\">here<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Searchengineland has published my newest installment in the ongoing series on hijackings at Google Maps:\u00a0Problems Continue With Google Local Business Listings. The same hijackers that hit the florist industry hijacked the local listings of major brands like Mariott, Hertz, Avis and Thrifty changing location, url and business name. The change of business name was such &#8230;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":262,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1145","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-google-maps-google-local"],"aioseo_notices":[],"aioseo_head":"\n\t\t<!-- All in One SEO 4.9.9 - aioseo.com -->\n\t<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Searchengineland has published my newest installment in the ongoing series on hijackings at Google Maps: Problems Continue With Google Local Business Listings. The same hijackers that hit the florist industry hijacked the local listings of major brands like Mariott, Hertz, Avis and Thrifty changing location, url and business name. The change of business name was such\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"max-image-preview:large\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Mike Blumenthal\"\/>\n\t<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/blumenthals.com\/blog\/2008\/10\/14\/google-maps-hijackers-hit-major-brands\/\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"generator\" content=\"All in One SEO (AIOSEO) 4.9.9\" \/>\n\t\t<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n\t\t<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Mike Blumenthal | Developing Knowledge about Local Search\" \/>\n\t\t<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n\t\t<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Google Maps: Hijackers hit Major Brands\" \/>\n\t\t<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Searchengineland has published my newest installment in the ongoing series on hijackings at Google Maps: Problems Continue With Google Local Business Listings. The same hijackers that hit the florist industry hijacked the local listings of major brands like Mariott, Hertz, Avis and Thrifty changing location, url and business name. The change of business name was such\" \/>\n\t\t<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/blumenthals.com\/blog\/2008\/10\/14\/google-maps-hijackers-hit-major-brands\/\" \/>\n\t\t<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2008-10-14T23:25:14+00:00\" \/>\n\t\t<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2008-10-15T09:48:05+00:00\" \/>\n\t\t<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary\" \/>\n\t\t<meta name=\"twitter:title\" content=\"Google Maps: Hijackers hit Major Brands\" \/>\n\t\t<meta name=\"twitter:description\" content=\"Searchengineland has published my newest installment in the ongoing series on hijackings at Google Maps: Problems Continue With Google Local Business Listings. The same hijackers that hit the florist industry hijacked the local listings of major brands like Mariott, Hertz, Avis and Thrifty changing location, url and business name. The change of business name was such\" \/>\n\t\t<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"aioseo-schema\">\n\t\t\t{\"@context\":\"https:\\\/\\\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/blumenthals.com\\\/blog\\\/2008\\\/10\\\/14\\\/google-maps-hijackers-hit-major-brands\\\/#article\",\"name\":\"Google Maps: Hijackers hit Major Brands\",\"headline\":\"Google Maps: Hijackers hit Major Brands\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/blumenthals.com\\\/blog\\\/author\\\/mike-blumenthal\\\/#author\"},\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/blumenthals.com\\\/blog\\\/#organization\"},\"datePublished\":\"2008-10-14T19:25:14-04:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2008-10-15T05:48:05-04:00\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"commentCount\":46,\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/blumenthals.com\\\/blog\\\/2008\\\/10\\\/14\\\/google-maps-hijackers-hit-major-brands\\\/#webpage\"},\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/blumenthals.com\\\/blog\\\/2008\\\/10\\\/14\\\/google-maps-hijackers-hit-major-brands\\\/#webpage\"},\"articleSection\":\"Google Places (Maps &amp; Local)\"},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/blumenthals.com\\\/blog\\\/2008\\\/10\\\/14\\\/google-maps-hijackers-hit-major-brands\\\/#breadcrumblist\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/blumenthals.com\\\/blog#listItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\\\/\\\/blumenthals.com\\\/blog\",\"nextItem\":{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/blumenthals.com\\\/blog\\\/category\\\/google-maps-google-local\\\/#listItem\",\"name\":\"Google Places (Maps &amp; Local)\"}},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/blumenthals.com\\\/blog\\\/category\\\/google-maps-google-local\\\/#listItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Google Places (Maps &amp; Local)\",\"item\":\"https:\\\/\\\/blumenthals.com\\\/blog\\\/category\\\/google-maps-google-local\\\/\",\"nextItem\":{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/blumenthals.com\\\/blog\\\/2008\\\/10\\\/14\\\/google-maps-hijackers-hit-major-brands\\\/#listItem\",\"name\":\"Google Maps: Hijackers hit Major Brands\"},\"previousItem\":{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/blumenthals.com\\\/blog#listItem\",\"name\":\"Home\"}},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/blumenthals.com\\\/blog\\\/2008\\\/10\\\/14\\\/google-maps-hijackers-hit-major-brands\\\/#listItem\",\"position\":3,\"name\":\"Google Maps: Hijackers hit Major Brands\",\"previousItem\":{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/blumenthals.com\\\/blog\\\/category\\\/google-maps-google-local\\\/#listItem\",\"name\":\"Google Places (Maps &amp; Local)\"}}]},{\"@type\":\"Organization\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/blumenthals.com\\\/blog\\\/#organization\",\"name\":\"Mike Blumenthal\",\"description\":\"Developing Knowledge about Local Search\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/blumenthals.com\\\/blog\\\/\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/blumenthals.com\\\/blog\\\/author\\\/mike-blumenthal\\\/#author\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/blumenthals.com\\\/blog\\\/author\\\/mike-blumenthal\\\/\",\"name\":\"Mike Blumenthal\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/blumenthals.com\\\/blog\\\/2008\\\/10\\\/14\\\/google-maps-hijackers-hit-major-brands\\\/#authorImage\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/secure.gravatar.com\\\/avatar\\\/4d8617e019d2d1ac91870df8164089168280ad79e57bb264a9f383abaee26b77?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"width\":96,\"height\":96,\"caption\":\"Mike Blumenthal\"}},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/blumenthals.com\\\/blog\\\/2008\\\/10\\\/14\\\/google-maps-hijackers-hit-major-brands\\\/#webpage\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/blumenthals.com\\\/blog\\\/2008\\\/10\\\/14\\\/google-maps-hijackers-hit-major-brands\\\/\",\"name\":\"Google Maps: Hijackers hit Major Brands\",\"description\":\"Searchengineland has published my newest installment in the ongoing series on hijackings at Google Maps: Problems Continue With Google Local Business Listings. The same hijackers that hit the florist industry hijacked the local listings of major brands like Mariott, Hertz, Avis and Thrifty changing location, url and business name. The change of business name was such\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/blumenthals.com\\\/blog\\\/#website\"},\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/blumenthals.com\\\/blog\\\/2008\\\/10\\\/14\\\/google-maps-hijackers-hit-major-brands\\\/#breadcrumblist\"},\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/blumenthals.com\\\/blog\\\/author\\\/mike-blumenthal\\\/#author\"},\"creator\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/blumenthals.com\\\/blog\\\/author\\\/mike-blumenthal\\\/#author\"},\"datePublished\":\"2008-10-14T19:25:14-04:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2008-10-15T05:48:05-04:00\"},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/blumenthals.com\\\/blog\\\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/blumenthals.com\\\/blog\\\/\",\"name\":\"Mike Blumenthal\",\"description\":\"Developing Knowledge about Local Search\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/blumenthals.com\\\/blog\\\/#organization\"}}]}\n\t\t<\/script>\n\t\t<!-- All in One SEO -->\n\n","aioseo_head_json":{"title":"Google Maps: Hijackers hit Major Brands","description":"Searchengineland has published my newest installment in the ongoing series on hijackings at Google Maps: Problems Continue With Google Local Business Listings. The same hijackers that hit the florist industry hijacked the local listings of major brands like Mariott, Hertz, Avis and Thrifty changing location, url and business name. The change of business name was such","canonical_url":"https:\/\/blumenthals.com\/blog\/2008\/10\/14\/google-maps-hijackers-hit-major-brands\/","robots":"max-image-preview:large","keywords":"","webmasterTools":{"miscellaneous":""},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Article","@id":"https:\/\/blumenthals.com\/blog\/2008\/10\/14\/google-maps-hijackers-hit-major-brands\/#article","name":"Google Maps: Hijackers hit Major Brands","headline":"Google Maps: Hijackers hit Major Brands","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/blumenthals.com\/blog\/author\/mike-blumenthal\/#author"},"publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/blumenthals.com\/blog\/#organization"},"datePublished":"2008-10-14T19:25:14-04:00","dateModified":"2008-10-15T05:48:05-04:00","inLanguage":"en-US","commentCount":46,"mainEntityOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/blumenthals.com\/blog\/2008\/10\/14\/google-maps-hijackers-hit-major-brands\/#webpage"},"isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/blumenthals.com\/blog\/2008\/10\/14\/google-maps-hijackers-hit-major-brands\/#webpage"},"articleSection":"Google Places (Maps &amp; Local)"},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/blumenthals.com\/blog\/2008\/10\/14\/google-maps-hijackers-hit-major-brands\/#breadcrumblist","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","@id":"https:\/\/blumenthals.com\/blog#listItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/blumenthals.com\/blog","nextItem":{"@type":"ListItem","@id":"https:\/\/blumenthals.com\/blog\/category\/google-maps-google-local\/#listItem","name":"Google Places (Maps &amp; Local)"}},{"@type":"ListItem","@id":"https:\/\/blumenthals.com\/blog\/category\/google-maps-google-local\/#listItem","position":2,"name":"Google Places (Maps &amp; Local)","item":"https:\/\/blumenthals.com\/blog\/category\/google-maps-google-local\/","nextItem":{"@type":"ListItem","@id":"https:\/\/blumenthals.com\/blog\/2008\/10\/14\/google-maps-hijackers-hit-major-brands\/#listItem","name":"Google Maps: Hijackers hit Major Brands"},"previousItem":{"@type":"ListItem","@id":"https:\/\/blumenthals.com\/blog#listItem","name":"Home"}},{"@type":"ListItem","@id":"https:\/\/blumenthals.com\/blog\/2008\/10\/14\/google-maps-hijackers-hit-major-brands\/#listItem","position":3,"name":"Google Maps: Hijackers hit Major Brands","previousItem":{"@type":"ListItem","@id":"https:\/\/blumenthals.com\/blog\/category\/google-maps-google-local\/#listItem","name":"Google Places (Maps &amp; Local)"}}]},{"@type":"Organization","@id":"https:\/\/blumenthals.com\/blog\/#organization","name":"Mike Blumenthal","description":"Developing Knowledge about Local Search","url":"https:\/\/blumenthals.com\/blog\/"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/blumenthals.com\/blog\/author\/mike-blumenthal\/#author","url":"https:\/\/blumenthals.com\/blog\/author\/mike-blumenthal\/","name":"Mike Blumenthal","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","@id":"https:\/\/blumenthals.com\/blog\/2008\/10\/14\/google-maps-hijackers-hit-major-brands\/#authorImage","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/4d8617e019d2d1ac91870df8164089168280ad79e57bb264a9f383abaee26b77?s=96&d=mm&r=g","width":96,"height":96,"caption":"Mike Blumenthal"}},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/blumenthals.com\/blog\/2008\/10\/14\/google-maps-hijackers-hit-major-brands\/#webpage","url":"https:\/\/blumenthals.com\/blog\/2008\/10\/14\/google-maps-hijackers-hit-major-brands\/","name":"Google Maps: Hijackers hit Major Brands","description":"Searchengineland has published my newest installment in the ongoing series on hijackings at Google Maps: Problems Continue With Google Local Business Listings. The same hijackers that hit the florist industry hijacked the local listings of major brands like Mariott, Hertz, Avis and Thrifty changing location, url and business name. The change of business name was such","inLanguage":"en-US","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/blumenthals.com\/blog\/#website"},"breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/blumenthals.com\/blog\/2008\/10\/14\/google-maps-hijackers-hit-major-brands\/#breadcrumblist"},"author":{"@id":"https:\/\/blumenthals.com\/blog\/author\/mike-blumenthal\/#author"},"creator":{"@id":"https:\/\/blumenthals.com\/blog\/author\/mike-blumenthal\/#author"},"datePublished":"2008-10-14T19:25:14-04:00","dateModified":"2008-10-15T05:48:05-04:00"},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/blumenthals.com\/blog\/#website","url":"https:\/\/blumenthals.com\/blog\/","name":"Mike Blumenthal","description":"Developing Knowledge about Local Search","inLanguage":"en-US","publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/blumenthals.com\/blog\/#organization"}}]},"og:locale":"en_US","og:site_name":"Mike Blumenthal | Developing Knowledge about Local Search","og:type":"article","og:title":"Google Maps: Hijackers hit Major Brands","og:description":"Searchengineland has published my newest installment in the ongoing series on hijackings at Google Maps: Problems Continue With Google Local Business Listings. The same hijackers that hit the florist industry hijacked the local listings of major brands like Mariott, Hertz, Avis and Thrifty changing location, url and business name. The change of business name was such","og:url":"https:\/\/blumenthals.com\/blog\/2008\/10\/14\/google-maps-hijackers-hit-major-brands\/","article:published_time":"2008-10-14T23:25:14+00:00","article:modified_time":"2008-10-15T09:48:05+00:00","twitter:card":"summary","twitter:title":"Google Maps: Hijackers hit Major Brands","twitter:description":"Searchengineland has published my newest installment in the ongoing series on hijackings at Google Maps: Problems Continue With Google Local Business Listings. The same hijackers that hit the florist industry hijacked the local listings of major brands like Mariott, Hertz, Avis and Thrifty changing location, url and business name. The change of business name was such"},"aioseo_meta_data":{"post_id":"1145","title":null,"description":null,"keywords":null,"keyphrases":null,"primary_term":null,"canonical_url":null,"og_title":null,"og_description":null,"og_object_type":"default","og_image_type":"default","og_image_url":null,"og_image_width":null,"og_image_height":null,"og_image_custom_url":null,"og_image_custom_fields":null,"og_video":null,"og_custom_url":null,"og_article_section":null,"og_article_tags":null,"twitter_use_og":false,"twitter_card":"default","twitter_image_type":"default","twitter_image_url":null,"twitter_image_custom_url":null,"twitter_image_custom_fields":null,"twitter_title":null,"twitter_description":null,"schema":{"blockGraphs":[],"customGraphs":[],"default":{"data":{"Article":[],"Course":[],"Dataset":[],"FAQPage":[],"Movie":[],"Person":[],"Product":[],"ProductReview":[],"Car":[],"Recipe":[],"Service":[],"SoftwareApplication":[],"WebPage":[]},"graphName":"","isEnabled":true},"graphs":[]},"schema_type":null,"schema_type_options":null,"pillar_content":false,"robots_default":true,"robots_noindex":false,"robots_noarchive":false,"robots_nosnippet":false,"robots_nofollow":false,"robots_noimageindex":false,"robots_noodp":false,"robots_notranslate":false,"robots_max_snippet":null,"robots_max_videopreview":null,"robots_max_imagepreview":"large","priority":null,"frequency":null,"local_seo":null,"breadcrumb_settings":null,"limit_modified_date":false,"ai":null,"created":"2021-01-07 20:00:43","updated":"2025-12-03 16:17:04","seo_analyzer_scan_date":null},"aioseo_breadcrumb":"<div class=\"aioseo-breadcrumbs\"><span class=\"aioseo-breadcrumb\">\n\t\t\t<a href=\"https:\/\/blumenthals.com\/blog\" title=\"Home\">Home<\/a>\n\t\t<\/span><span class=\"aioseo-breadcrumb-separator\">&raquo;<\/span><span class=\"aioseo-breadcrumb\">\n\t\t\t<a href=\"https:\/\/blumenthals.com\/blog\/category\/google-maps-google-local\/\" title=\"Google Places (Maps &amp; Local)\">Google Places (Maps &amp; Local)<\/a>\n\t\t<\/span><span class=\"aioseo-breadcrumb-separator\">&raquo;<\/span><span class=\"aioseo-breadcrumb\">\n\t\t\tGoogle Maps: Hijackers hit Major Brands\n\t\t<\/span><\/div>","aioseo_breadcrumb_json":[{"label":"Home","link":"https:\/\/blumenthals.com\/blog"},{"label":"Google Places (Maps &amp; Local)","link":"https:\/\/blumenthals.com\/blog\/category\/google-maps-google-local\/"},{"label":"Google Maps: Hijackers hit Major Brands","link":"https:\/\/blumenthals.com\/blog\/2008\/10\/14\/google-maps-hijackers-hit-major-brands\/"}],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blumenthals.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1145","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blumenthals.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blumenthals.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blumenthals.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/262"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blumenthals.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1145"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/blumenthals.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1145\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1149,"href":"https:\/\/blumenthals.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1145\/revisions\/1149"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blumenthals.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1145"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blumenthals.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1145"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blumenthals.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1145"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}