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Marriott, Hertz & Avis Hijacked in Google Maps - Affiliate Mapspam Continues
Searching News Source: http://searchengineland.com
Published: Oct 15, 2008 - 01:15 am
Story Found By: mblumenthal 1215 Days ago
Category: Searching
Google’s community edit feature has become the playground for blackhat local marketers. Any business that has not been claimed and validated is susceptible to hijacking, and the affiliate spammers have hijacked some of the best known national brands in the US.
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Comments

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from andrewsho 1215 Days ago #
Votes: 0

Mike, I think Google should get you on the payroll as the full time Map spam man as it seems like you are better at spotting this stuff than they are!

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from mblumenthal 1215 Days ago #
Votes: 0

AndrewThat’s only because I look every once in a while. :)I would gladly hang up my spurs on this one but every time I think that I can kick back, one worse than the last one shows up.Mike

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from MiriamEllis 1215 Days ago #
Votes: 0

Much needed documentation of a very big problem, Mike. The fact that the florists AND these major corporations are all being used as the playthings of the same spammer is just incredible. Think of the vast quanities of business being lost to its rightful recipients because of this weakness in Google’s system! Makes my head spin.Miriam

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from Chris1 1215 Days ago #
Votes: 0

This is a huge problem that Google needs to addess asap!

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from bbcarter 1215 Days ago #
Votes: 0

Killer story, Mike, good stuff.

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from mblumenthal 1215 Days ago #
Votes: 0

@MiriamThe bedrock of a capitalist society is protection of property. In this case that property is moving from its rightful recipients to those who have done nothing but change a record in Google. Hardly the trust base that is needed for Local to work.@Chris1Yes it is a huge problem and even more puzzling is why these hijackers weren’t shut down after the discovery of the florist hijackings but let to operate by Google...go figure.@ BBThanksMike

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from topfmodel 1214 Days ago #
Votes: 0

YES, We have the same problem with various companies in Leipzig, Germnay! Thats EVIL!

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from christof 1214 Days ago #
Votes: 0

Great post. I’ve been wanting to write on this for months - one of our clients has been hit by local listing hijacking since May. At first we thought it was just an honest mistake, but in the end (after much head scratching and unanswered Google emails) had to call the ’hijacker’ directly at his business and tell him to desist. Of course there was lots of denial, but there’s no doubt he was leveraging our hard work to his own company’s advantage. We can tell because since we called, our listing is back... untouched. Google, please fix this problem!Fast.

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