{"id":13574,"date":"2012-09-26T17:19:56","date_gmt":"2012-09-26T21:19:56","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blumenthals.com\/blog\/?p=13574"},"modified":"2012-09-26T17:41:11","modified_gmt":"2012-09-26T21:41:11","slug":"google-plaque-for-excellence-not","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blumenthals.com\/blog\/2012\/09\/26\/google-plaque-for-excellence-not\/","title":{"rendered":"Google Plaque for Excellence: NOT"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"Google<\/a>This afternoon Rocky Agrawal<\/a> tweeted out about this plaque he had noticed hanging in a restaurant. He (and I ) were completely fooled by the plaque and were convinced that it was really from Google. I even thought that perhaps it was an experiment on Google’s part to migrate away from Zagat signage.<\/p>\n

—–<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n
Rakesh Agrawal (@rakeshlobster<\/a>)<\/strong><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
\n
9\/26\/12, 3:34 PM<\/a><\/div>\n
Strange use of Google+ brand in local.\u00a0pic.twitter.com\/yXoN5ZGx<\/a><\/div>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n

—–<\/p>\n

It didn’t take Rocky but a few minutes to figure out that the SMB had paid $300 for this plaque. And you (or your customers) can buy one too from InTheSpotLight.com<\/a>.<\/p>\n

—–<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n
Rakesh Agrawal (@rakeshlobster<\/a>)<\/strong><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
\n
9\/26\/12, 4:03 PM<\/a><\/div>\n
Looks like that plaque I posted was really a $300 ripoff of small businesses.\u00a0inthespotlight.com\/plaques.yahoo.\u2026<\/a>\u00a0This is C+D worthy.<\/div>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n

—–<\/p>\n

I am not sure who I think less of in this situation, the restaurant that was trying to appear more than they really are by leveraging Google’s name and their review product or the company that soaked them $300 for the “privilege”. A restaurant or hotel can order a sign that touts their good standing with just about any review company including Yelp, TripAdvisor, Zagat, Frommers and many more.<\/p>\n

When businesses that are looking for a quick fix deal with companies that are willing to accommodate them, the customer inevitably loses. And in this case so does Google, Yelp, all the other companies whose name can be put on the plaque and every one else in the local space.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

This afternoon Rocky Agrawal tweeted out about this plaque he had noticed hanging in a restaurant. He (and I ) were completely fooled by the plaque and were convinced that it was really from Google. I even thought that perhaps it was an experiment on Google’s part to migrate away from Zagat signage. —– Rakesh …<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":262,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4,16],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-13574","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-google-maps-google-local","category-reviews"],"aioseo_notices":[],"aioseo_head":"\n\t\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t