Today I was searching for a local french drain systems specialist to get a quote to install a drainage system in my backyard to handle the inordinate amounts of rain we have been having lately.
It seems like we have been having more than our fair share of 50 and 100 year downpours this summer.
On top of these once in a lifetime downpours we also had a reported 1 1/2 inches of rain fall in less than 30 minutes at the beginning of August when its typically dry as a bone.
Combined the two types of rain have created problems I didn’t have before because I haven’t owned my house for 50 years nor was was it built 100 years ago.
To save the time and hassle of cracking open one of the five yellow pages directories I receive annually, I thought I would see what information Google’s search results would provide.
To get straight to their local search results more quickly, I searched Google for “Oklahoma French Drain Systems”.
Google Maps Spam Innovation
As expected, Google quickly delivered a set of three local business listings I could look over and then consider clicking or calling.
Nothing new there.
Since the top two listings shared the same great relevant domain – FrenchDrainSystems.com – I excitedly clicked through thinking I would soon be viewing the website of a great French Drain Systems company who could then help me solve my drainage problem.
Nope.
Clicking through to both of the top two results landed me on the same parked page.
FrenchDrainSystems.com
Having seen a variety of spoofs occur on Google Maps particularly within the user content sections of business listings, I assumed this was the case here too.
Nope.
Looks like a local company – although not one in the French Drain Systems business – owns FrenchDrainSystems.com.
Apparently, they claimed their listing with either a previous website and then elected to display the parked page or the claimed their listing while using a parked page.
Either way, whether this was an innocent attempt at claiming some local search real estate with a parked domain or not, I don’t think the search results are what Google Maps had intended for its users to find.
Tags: Google Maps Spam, Local Search, Yellow Pages
Search Marketing Communications 
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