2022
Do you ever realise that once you've successfully marked a place as spam, somehow more spam listings start to appear around it, or it comes back with a vengeance? It is synonymous to a hydra, where if you cut one head off it grows multiple heads. As long as the body, environment and platform is ripe enough, spam listings will continue to flourish as Google My Business owners revert names back to their regular spamming ways, with no penalty and the freedom to offend once again.
From Rodrigo's post "How to identity and report spam on Google Maps" we are given plenty of examples and situations where it is necessary to report spam. As I had written, shouldn't the easiest way to correct such listings if it's just about keyword stuffing is just to edit the name, address and such? It's common, basic sense which should not have to jump through all these hoops of reporting and such, but clearly an alternative approach was taken. I would like to think that I am a prolific spam hunter, and that I do my best to help correct and report those that violate the Google My Business guidelines, as well as the Local Guides guidelines regarding spam.
Clearly, that is not happening.
From Joy Hawkins' article "Is Google really keeping fake listings off Google Maps?" there are plenty of issues in which she identifies, that local guides here have identified again and again and again. None of that is new, as it was then so it stands here now, and while Google might have steadily made improvements to the process, there is still a very centralised archaic protocol in which spam is dealt with by the team. Google My Business remains the platform in which businesses that defy and represent themselves contrary to the guidelines for their own selfish and unfairly advantageous benefit, because of how unenforced these so-called guidelines are and how misled Google's support team is in identifying and dealing with spammy listings.
Google My Business isn't only the one at fault. We understand that the moderation process since the cessation of Google Map Maker has been anything but peachy, and human reviewers that look at our suggestions for edits are undoubtedly untrained, poorly streamlined with the guidelines and unfamiliar with standards all around the world. I can list example after example that these reviewers incredibly fathom to understand, and so I critically call upon an overhaul of the current moderation system.
What we need to consider is that spam should not have it's place on Google Maps, and businesses need to be penalised, clearly informed and suspended indefinitely if necessary if they fail to adhere with the guidelines.
- As Google My Business is the primary platform where edits and conventions can go unmonitored for eons, there needs to be a system where if they have been reported and Google decides to change their name to meet the guidelines (which seldom happens), the business owner if they attempt to update it must go through a moderation process since they will most likely revert back to the spammy keyword stuffing name. Google cannot lose control of its moderation on this platform because the product must reserve and execute its right to make any amendments.
- Bulk keyword removals, filters, capitalisation and algorithmic filters need to be refined to a crisp. These should clearly be accepted by the system if it is detailing and trained with the information regarding the guidelines, because even the algorithm won't follow its own guidelines which is a shame.
- And don't get me started with photos. What sort of "specialist" wants to be careful in only removing content that is in violation with its policies. Simply put, if the photo is inaccurate, it violates the policy. There is an extreme lenience in the idiom "live and let live" that I strongly question Google, the algorithms and their team in systematically believe, and the lack of precision, diligence and focus for such a massive company who reigns on the laurels of innovation is astoundingly evident, as I have described in the outcome of a recent investigation, which I have reported almost all of the photos that a local guide has taken irrelevant to a place and they have only removed just one.
- There is a sheer disconnect in the understanding between local guides, the Google team, top contributors and the product specialists about these guidelines. Where one believes that the location descriptor is simply not acceptable, another believes that it's completely okay that you can even put the street in the name (e.g. Boots Pharmacy - Oxford Street)
- Based on how previous reports have been dealt with as I keep links of countless spam reports and profiles publicly posted before a Google moderator redacts the information for so-called "privacy reasons", I am unfortunately very concerned with how many of these have been dealt with. Many of them are half-assed and not even dealt with in a sufficient manner, and many of these profiles still have all their spam photos, reviews or contributions intact. These reports are not observed and dealt with in the standard of which local guides expect these to be addressed and because of the fact that "we'll never be able to share the specialists' decision as we respect everyone's privacy". You do not have to respect the privacy of a spammer, just name and shame them because most of the time they aren't even real or serious.
- Furthermore, I don't think the tools that you are equipped with are optimal to be able to just easily revert information to a previous time, or to bulk delete photos/reviews or reverse the contributions made by a questionable local guide. Now I don't know what the interface might be like for your team, but there is an inefficiency that needs to be addressed on all sides.
There is an extremely poor form in the moderation process, as well as the battle against spam. I am in excessive skepticism of Google's ability to distinguish and eliminate spam. As what Sergey has written: "...the issue isn't How to identify spam, not even How to report spam, but When will our voice be heard?" And as Joy concludes in her article: "...until they (Google) decide to invest more in training and educating their support staff on spam, it seems that the users who attempt to report the spam that the algorithms missed will continue to feel like they are talking to a brick wall."
Don't write about how to report spam if you cannot respond to it properly.
@SergeySud, @NFN, @wishmasterf, @LucioV, @Osaka78forTRUMP, @NVD, @OStr.
For passionate mapping enthusiasts as yourselves, you might appreciate this post above. Or not, it's kinda serious. Also for comedic purposes, I am going to include four disgusting name edits in the last month that were even considered as pending by the algorithms to be reviewable by humans, rather than all the legitimate edits that I've been getting not applied with.
@Briggs wrote:
Do you ever realise that once you've successfully marked a place as spam, somehow more spam listings start to appear around it, or it comes back with a vengeance? It is synonymous to a hydra, where if you cut one head off it grows multiple heads. As long as the body, environment and platform is ripe enough, spam listings will continue to flourish as Google My Business owners revert names back to their regular spamming ways, with no penalty and the freedom to offend once again.
From Rodrigo's post "How to identity and report spam on Google Maps" we are given plenty of examples and situations where it is necessary to report spam. As I had written, shouldn't the easiest way to correct such listings if it's just about keyword stuffing is just to edit the name, address and such? It's common, basic sense which should not have to jump through all these hoops of reporting and such, but clearly an alternative approach was taken. I would like to think that I am a prolific spam hunter, and that I do my best to help correct and report those that violate the Google My Business guidelines, as well as the Local Guides guidelines regarding spam.
Clearly, that is not happening.
From Joy Hawkins' article "Is Google really keeping fake listings off Google Maps?" there are plenty of issues in which she identifies, that local guides here have identified again and again and again. None of that is new, as it was then so it stands here now, and while Google might have steadily made improvements to the process, there is still a very centralised archaic protocol in which spam is dealt with by the team. Google My Business remains the platform in which businesses that defy and represent themselves contrary to the guidelines for their own selfish and unfairly advantageous benefit, because of how unenforced these so-called guidelines are and how misled Google's support team is in identifying and dealing with spammy listings.
Google My Business isn't only the one at fault. We understand that the moderation process since the cessation of Google Map Maker has been anything but peachy, and human reviewers that look at our suggestions for edits are undoubtedly untrained, poorly streamlined with the guidelines and unfamiliar with standards all around the world. I can list example after example that these reviewers incredibly fathom to understand, and so I critically call upon an overhaul of the current moderation system.
What we need to consider is that spam should not have it's place on Google Maps, and businesses need to be penalised, clearly informed and suspended indefinitely if necessary if they fail to adhere with the guidelines.
- As Google My Business is the primary platform where edits and conventions can go unmonitored for eons, there needs to be a system where if they have been reported and Google decides to change their name to meet the guidelines (which seldom happens), the business owner if they attempt to update it must go through a moderation process since they will most likely revert back to the spammy keyword stuffing name. Google cannot lose control of its moderation on this platform because the product must reserve and execute its right to make any amendments.
- Bulk keyword removals, filters, capitalisation and algorithmic filters need to be refined to a crisp. These should clearly be accepted by the system if it is detailing and trained with the information regarding the guidelines, because even the algorithm won't follow its own guidelines which is a shame.
- And don't get me started with photos. What sort of "specialist" wants to be careful in only removing content that is in violation with its policies. Simply put, if the photo is inaccurate, it violates the policy. There is an extreme lenience in the idiom "live and let live" that I strongly question Google, the algorithms and their team in systematically believe, and the lack of precision, diligence and focus for such a massive company who reigns on the laurels of innovation is astoundingly evident, as I have described in the outcome of a recent investigation, which I have reported almost all of the photos that a local guide has taken irrelevant to a place and they have only removed just one.
- There is a sheer disconnect in the understanding between local guides, the Google team, top contributors and the product specialists about these guidelines. Where one believes that the location descriptor is simply not acceptable, another believes that it's completely okay that you can even put the street in the name (e.g. Boots Pharmacy - Oxford Street)
- Based on how previous reports have been dealt with as I keep links of countless spam reports and profiles publicly posted before a Google moderator redacts the information for so-called "privacy reasons", I am unfortunately very concerned with how many of these have been dealt with. Many of them are half-assed and not even dealt with in a sufficient manner, and many of these profiles still have all their spam photos, reviews or contributions intact. These reports are not observed and dealt with in the standard of which local guides expect these to be addressed and because of the fact that "we'll never be able to share the specialists' decision as we respect everyone's privacy". You do not have to respect the privacy of a spammer, just name and shame them because most of the time they aren't even real or serious.
- Furthermore, I don't think the tools that you are equipped with are optimal to be able to just easily revert information to a previous time, or to bulk delete photos/reviews or reverse the contributions made by a questionable local guide. Now I don't know what the interface might be like for your team, but there is an inefficiency that needs to be addressed on all sides.
There is an extremely poor form in the moderation process, as well as the battle against spam. I am in excessive skepticism of Google's ability to distinguish and eliminate spam. As what Sergey has written: "...the issue isn't How to identify spam, not even How to report spam, but When will our voice be heard?" And as Joy concludes in her article: "...until they (Google) decide to invest more in training and educating their support staff on spam, it seems that the users who attempt to report the spam that the algorithms missed will continue to feel like they are talking to a brick wall."
Don't write about how to report spam if you cannot respond to it properly.
Beautifully written.....and probably be moved again by a bot mod😂😂
Search boat Angel in Google maps
Biggest spammer there is. I find this little **####**s fotos everywhere across the globe. All good reviews are fake accounts created by this super spammer.
I even made my own fake account to throw spam pics right back at it in total frustration! None was added to the fake listing, but my pics where uploaded....cant even spam a spammer....
How do spammers do it? And get away with it😠
Hi @Briggs I own a GMB entry since the beginning of the program, and I can ensure you that I've received more than one phone call requiring to change my entry when was not compliant (i.e. adding some details as Google Street View Trusted Photographer). And sometimes also I've got some suggestions from the crowd.
I think it's good to have the opportunity to review suggestions and not accept; I'm pretty sure that if a GMB owner doesn't enter the console for some amount of time the updates are automatically accepted.
On the other side I have to report that some update requests I've don as Local Guides, on claimed business, when owner abused of name, were applied in few days!
