I was looking at an overseas SEO, link builder site. A flash animated banner was revolving and one of the frames caught my eye. This is what it said:

Hello all,

In recent months I have been working hard to optimize and fully understand what Google deems most relevant in their map results. Geotargeted marketing must utilize this avenue as part of an overall local based business strategy should it hope to succeed.

However there are problems. I see this being one of a string of future posts on Google Map results as there are many issues to discuss.

First let’s start with basic result quality. Google prides itself in a quality user experience. It will prioritize this in many cases over its interest in making money which is respectable. Other search engines have placed PPC ads in prime real estate and even sold organic placement (i.e. Yahoo!). Further testament to this fact is the very map placement we are discussing is free!

Now why would Google opt to place free information listings in such a prominent location (pushing down the organic results that have taken years in some cases to rank) and compromise on quality of info- in some cases publishing complete garbage listings or those that have absolutely no relevance? Or what about those listings that are considered “map spam” that have manipulated Google’s algorithm? Many of these listings are even black hat seo people who in fact sell their leads since they are so prominently displayed.

Now as I said there will be many posts on Google’s Map results and I am already starting to get off track since there are so many issues here. Quality of results are key as are the rest of Google’s organic results. What we are referring to here when we refer to quality is simply a legitimate result (i.e. a real company who is in fact in business) and that the company is a perfect match to the search query (i.e. able to perform the tasks you are searching for, in your targeted area of course).

There are many searches which result in poor quality listings or just blatantly fake companies looking to redirect or sell leads (try looking for locksmiths!). It appears that Google will be doing a major cleanup in the near future unless they want to be seen as an aggregator of garbage which gets prominent placement. Nothing like scouring the internet in order to prominently display spam!

Next up: Review Sites and their Influence on Map Results