[thelist] Bogus web marketing company - can they have your website deleted from search engines?

[Jeff Hinds]

Hi Nan,

Google Small Business Blog just made an announcement that allows users to
update Google Places listings.
http://googlesmb.blogspot.com/2011/10/faster-updates-to-local-business.html
*
But now, if a user provides new information about a business they know -- or
if our system identifies information from another source on the web that may
be more recent than the data the business owner provided via Google Places
--  the organic listing will automatically be updated and the business owner
will be sent an email notification about the change. Without requiring any
effort on the part of the business owner, we’ll take measures to keep their
listing up-to-date if our system determines that the edit is accurate. Of
course, if the business owner disagrees or has even more recent information,
they can always directly log in to their Google Places account and make
further edits.*

*I would recommend verifying your Google Places listing of her business and
put as much information as possible to help it rank better.
*
There is also a Google Places Help forum where there is a current
discussion.
http://www.google.com/support/forum/p/Places/thread?tid=2398fda22ed9c581&hl=en

Here's a couple of other articles on this news.
http://blumenthals.com/blog/2011/10/14/google-places-now-updating-your-listing-automatically/


http://searchenginewatch.com/article/2117767/Google-Places-Now-Get-Automatic-Updates-from-Users-Crawls




On Mon, Oct 17, 2011 at 6:14 PM, Nan Harbison <nan at nanharbison.com> wrote:

> Hi all,
>
>
>
> I got this email from my sister, who is an acupuncturist in the
> Philadelphia
> area:
>
>
>
>  I got a call from some bozo who said that since I was not verified by
> google that they were going to remove my listing under search engine for
> google for an acupuncturist within 15 mile of my address - so I called back
> and found that the company says they are working for google -which I later
> found out they are not but they still may have the ability to screw around
> with my listing unless I pay them  money-  my only concern is that I need
> people to be able to find me on a google search and they say they will
> remove my listing completely - it will not show up under any conditions - I
> feel it is a scam -what do you think? I figured you knew because you  do
> search engine optimization for a living. I would appreciate any insights
> that you may know.
>
>
>
> Her website is http://www.riveroflifecenter.com/. I do follow SEO stuff,
> not
> for a living however, and I am not sure whether this bozo/company can
> actually ruin her ranking on Google. I did tell her to report them to the
> Better Business Bureau.
>
>
>
> Thanks for any insight you all might have on this topic!
>
> Nan
>
>
>
> --
>
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