Companies spamming Google Local
I’ve written before about some of the many ways that local businesses spam the yellow pages.
Google Maps has now ‘arrived’. Local businesses are now spamming Google Local (Maps). Surprisingly, many of the techniques that are being used to spam Google, have been used for many years to spam the Yellow Pages.
Mike Blumenthal has several great examples, including my favorite example: 0 & 0 24 Hr Locksmith (and their 1699) listings for a locksmith in Philadelphia (why does the locksmith profession attract spammers?).
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Hi Dave-
2 minor points:
1)Some mapspammers are getting much more sophisticated
2)There are three possible reasons for locksmiths to be so spammy (I am not sure sure which one it is):
-Potential $ from fraud and theft
-Hope of potential $ from sales
or
-they are actually making $ at this
Mike B
Great points. At Judy’s Book, I noticed that ’emergency home services’ (locksmiths, pest control, plumbing, etc.) were very frequent Yellow Page spammers. I think that the ‘need it right now’ somehow plays into spam.
Nice work!
Dave,
“Locksmiths” aren’t spammy, fake, criminal locksmiths are spammy. Please see the webpage noted above for just the tip of the iceberg on what is going on in the locksmith world.
ALL of the companies you make note of are unlicensed, not-bonded, not insured, foriegn nationals on educational visas working for pennies on the dollar on behalf of a single multi-million dollar Israeli corporation based in the Bronx. They use a bazillion different names, and spam not only the online listings, but the actual physical directories as well. Trust me, they are ALL the same company.
The main coporations behind this are Basad, Inc, Priceline Locksmith, Superb Solutions, Dependable Locksmith, etc. They are, however, the same company.
They are being pursued criminally, or under actual indictment in 14 different states. These are the folks who quote $55 no matter what the job is, then drll out locks rather than pick, and hand homeowners bills for $700. They really like women alone, and seniors.
Makes “real” locksmiths, like us, that much harder to find, and it completely destroying the reputation of the busiess as a whole.
Quite a bit of info can be found here:
http://www.sandiegolockandsafe.com/locksmithscams.html
Please see the above page of our site.
Thanks in advance,
Kim Stagg
Owner
San Diego Lock & Safe
p.s. They were encouraged to do this, from a post originally at “Extreme Local Search Optimization Tactics” by Chris Smith of SuperPages.com
http://www.naturalsearchblog.com/archives/2007/01/11/extreme-local-search-optimization-tactics/
I tried to comment on that post as well, but oddly my comment never appeared… Pfft!
You posted about this above blog here: http://davenaff.wpcomstaging.com/2007/01/17/how-to-spam-the-yellow-pages/
Dave,
Another great post and thanks for all the pointers to the resources around the web. I think emergency services spam listings because people get locked out, open up a phone book and call the first number they see. I think your “I need it right now” is spot on.
Rahul
PS: Mike – great blog. I owe Dave for the pointer.
Kim,
You’re totally right – I mis characterized locksmiths in general. It
is unfortunate when a few bad apples make business hard for the
legitimate practioners.
You had several good resources on your website. I’d recommend adding
a page along the lines of “10 questions to ask your locksmith”. I
don’t think most customers know how to evaluate locksmiths over the
phone…
Best,
Dave
Kim,
Great comments. I stand corrected too.
Rahul