My URL hijacked in Google maps business listing

[smokey99]

Hi everyone,
I have a client, who did not register a business listing on Google maps, but their competitor took the time to do it for them, using their own url instead of my clients of course

The listing shows as unverified, but I imagine that could stay that way for months.

You might want to check your Google map business listing to make sure someone hasn't done the same to you.

[BILZ]

Wow, that pretty darn sneaky. What kinda douche would do that.

[smokey99]

Pretty sneaky huh.
LOL, on their site they call themselves Christians, with a Christian Web counter and all.

[login]

You will learn that people that call them self Christians are not better than others.

[smokey99]

I know that, its just the hypocrisy of it.
Christian and Bible study banners everywhere, but we are scumbags

[checksum]

Maybe you could report it to google?

http://www.google.com/contact/spamreport.html

[smokey99]

Good idea, I just reported it.
Thanks

Originally Posted by checksum

Maybe you could report it to google?

http://www.google.com/contact/spamreport.html

[Qryztufre]

My local paper has a section called "Roses & Raspberries" where readers can write in & give a piece of their mind. A story like this would certainly fit the Raspberries section, and a little local publicity about them likely won't hurt...just be sure to word it correctly so that the proper address is listed, as well as the proper name. With out BOTH the risk is ran of the editorial being just an ad for a competitor.
Q

[rustybrick]

I might also post a message at http://groups.google.com/group/Google-Maps

And also read http://maps.google.com/support/bin/a...y?answer=15391

[mblumenthal]

I have seen instances where Google assigned the authoritative web listing to a competitor as part of their local indexing and ranking process (I wrote about this in October at blumenthals.com/blog) Are you sure that a competitor did this? I thought so too at first but when I investigated it was just an overly agressive algorithm.

Mike Blumenthal

[smokey99]

I haven't heard of Local business listings being created by G.
I would doubt that Googles indexing algo, would create the listing with all the right details extracted from the site, then go ahead and list another site as the URL.
I am pretty sure this is a sneaky move by the site in the url

[Maps Guide Jen]

Hi smokey99,

I understand that a competitor’s website is appearing with the business information for one of your clients. Currently, Google Maps for the US compiles information from web search results, data submitted directly by local business owners, and sources such as publicly available Yellow Pages directories.

The algorithms on Google Maps automatically select relevant web pages to appear with each business listing. These algorithms work to link each business listing with the most accurate web page the algorithm can find. However, it sometimes misses the most appropriate site for an individual business. If your client would like to display his URL with his listing, we encourage him to submit this information through the Google Maps Local Business Center at http://www.google.com/local/add

There are detailed instructions at the link that rustybrick provided:
http://maps.google.com/support/bin/answer.py?answer=15391&topic=1481

You might want to note that in order to alter the business details for a listing, you have to have access to that business’ mail or phone. As rustybrick noted, the Google group is a good place to ask questions – I’m on hand to answer many of them. If you have really specific questions about your listing even after reading the Help Center page, you can submit a support ticket at http://maps.google.com/support/bin/request.py. You'll get a faster response too if you include the full name, address and phone number of your client's business in your initial ticket.

Cheers,
Jen

[Your Content]

Originally Posted by login

You will learn that people that call them self Christians are not better than others.

Curiously most people related to religious websites or religious business are involved in mischievous affairs.

I just found the other day a website offering free scripts "in the name of God" but asking you to cover sneaky requirements before proceed to the downloads area.

[smokey99]

Thanks for that info Jen.

The competing business is in Connecticut, and my customers site is in BC Canada. (Bed & Breakfast Inn's) It seems bizarre that G would grab our information from our site (Name, Address & Phone,) and match it to a domain for a B&B in CT with different info.

Do that seem possible or right?

Thanks
Smokey

[mblumenthal]

Smokey

The short answer is yes they could make this mistake with their system.

The long answer? They have a structured database of businesses with addresses, phone etc that they purchased from the many database suppliers and they need to match that information up with their own database of websites and pages. In the absence of owner entered content, they will use their algorithm to do this.

From their patent abstract on this subject of Authoritative document identification:

A system determines documents that are associated with a location, identifies a group of signals associated with each of the documents, and determines authoritativeness of the documents for the location based on the signals. (thanks to Bill Slawski for this)

The method leads to a mostly accurate Google Maps database but my research indicates as of late last year about one error in ten entries. Not all of these are as bad as the one that you found or the one that I wrote of in my blog. I am also seeing with this most recent update a somewhat less aggressive approach on Google's part...

Mike Blumenthal
Understanding Google Maps and Yahoo Local Search
blumenthals.com/blog

[smokey99]

Thanks for the info folks, very educational
Have a good one
Smokey