Hello LGs,
On March 22, 2025, at 5:30 PM IST, I had the privilege of hosting a virtual meet-up alongside my co-host, @TusharSuradkar, and over 25 passionate local guides attended this meet-up to discuss the most important issue on Google Maps: spam.
Here is the list of attendees:
@ModNomad @Gurukrishnapriya mam @K.K.Sharma @KetanChhaniyara @MadhurG @MerlinThomas @ShreyaMusings @Ssiddharth2000 @NituSingh @Ptrivedi @PrasadVR @PrinceKumar @rahulkr8873 @Raj_Tayade @RosyKohli @SarathUpendran @Sagarkanherkar @Kumaarsantosh @Shrut19 @Supriyadevkar @Tejal @TravellerG sir @TusharSuradkar @VijendraPatidar, and @Gvipin
The session focused on the negative effects of fraudulent activities such as fake reviews, misleading business details, and duplicate listings, which not only mislead users but also harm the credibility of businesses.
We started the discussion by defining spam and its various forms, such as fake reviews, irrelevant photos, keyword stuffing, and location manipulation. These practices dampen user trust and put Google Maps’ reliability in question. Many attendees shared their respective eye-opening stories, such as @Kumaarsantosh shared about the fraudulent helicopter ticket listings during the Vaishno Devi Yatra, which left many tourists stranded and exploited.
@KetanChhaniyara provided more insights about advanced spam techniques such as “geographic scooping” (placing fake businesses in high-traffic areas) and “business hijacking” (manipulating legitimate business details to redirect customers). @Tejal Ben emphasized the misuse of the Q&A section, in which scammers post fake contact information , and urged local guides to report such violations through Google’s support channels.
The meet-up also emphasized best practices for combating spam:
- Reporting fake reviews and misleading edits using Google’s “Suggest an Edit” tool.
- Verifying business information before trusting listings, especially for emergency services.
- When contributing to Google Maps, do not include promotional or copied content.
- Encourage ethical community contributions to ensure the platform’s integrity.
We also discussed the broader impact of spam, which can damage business reputations and undermine user trust in Google Maps as a reliable tool. The session emphasized the ethical responsibility of local guides to protect the platform and ensure its accuracy.
At the end of the session, we played a quiz on the same topic, and guess what? We had nine winners for the day!
Merlin Thomas, Santosh Kumar, Ketan Chhaniyara, Tushar Suradkar, Vipin K. Gupta, ShrutN M, Deepak B. Modgekar, S. Siddharth, and K. K. Sharma demonstrated their expertise and knowledge by being the winners!
Once again, a big thank you to all the attendees who made this session insightful and impactful, including:
Deepak B. Modgekar and Guru Krishna Priya Sreenath, K. K. Sharma, Ketan Chhaniyara, Madhur Gupta, Merlin Thomas, Mohita S. Siddharth, Nitu Singh, Pranav Trivedi, Prasad VR, Prince Kumar, Rahul Kumar, Raj Tayade, Rosy Kohli, S. Siddharth, Sarath Upendran, Sagar Kanherkar, Santosh Kumar, ShrutN M, Supriya Devkar, Tejal Chhaya, TravellerG, Tushar Suradkar, Vijendra Patidar, and Vipin K. Gupta
Cheers!
