Help me Google!  I submitted photos and a business description which
appears to be working properly on Google Maps.  At least at first
blush.

But, if you follow this link

http://maps.google.com/maps?hl=en&ie=UTF8&q=insurance+agent&near=Pike...

you will see that two insurance agencies on this page have a link to
automotive.com

One of those agencies is mine.  Is this some sort of undisclosed
sponsored link?

This phenom is happening on many insurance agency descriptions, not
just mine.

If this is "sponsored ads" they appear to be put forward by
automotive.com, calculateme.com ( a reappearing and disappearing
link), trucktrend.com and automobilemag.com.

My understanding is Google identifies sponsored links.  I do not
understand what is happening.

I have posted on the local business center/maps help link but no
response.  I faxed a note to Google a few days back but no response.

Can someone please explain?

Where is Matt Cutts when you need him?

First - I'm not speaking for Google, but this is how I see it.  Both
companies are listed on the automotive.com directory for Pikeville
which is almost certainly why there is a link.  They aren't sponsored
links; I've got a free directory site and I find all sorts of search
sites, from local pages, yell.com and Google giving my url as a link.
Obviously, I'm pretty happy about that, but I don't pay anyone
anything for the links to me.

Becky

On Sep 26, 6:21 pm, kysmallbiz wrote:

My point is this is a competitor who sells the same products I do.

Why would the description I have submitted on local business maps by
Google be replaced with someone else's inserted description?  This is
harmful for us in two arenas, they are redirecting what are my
potential clients to their site plus by having these links they are
conceivably increasing their own page rank.

Yes, if I were in the directory business like you and I found a way to
garner hundreds of links, sure I would be happy.  But I am not, I am a
local business owner trying to protect my brand.

If I had not gone to the trouble of creating a google local map
listing, I could understand some assimulation.  Wouldn't like it much,
but I could understand.

Now, given that I have made an effort to provide accurate information
and it is being replaced by a competitor link...no I am not happy nor
do I understand.

I am seeking understanding from the Google Gods.  Is anyone on the
throne?  Giggle

On Sep 26, 1:59 pm, beckysharpe wrote:

Hi kysmallbiz--

Becky is correct; these links are chosen algorithmically, they're not
ads or sponsored links. If Google finds information online that it
deems relevant to your business, we may display that information in
our search results. The automotive.com page mentions your business and
is thus being considered as a relevant page.

However, I agree that the automotive.com snippet doesn't seem to add
much value to this particular search result (a user review would
probably be more useful, like the one shown under result "I" on the
search results page you linked to), so I've passed your feedback along
to the Google Local team to have a look at.

Thank you.  I have contacted a multitude of "so called" directories
who mention our business and asked them to remove all mention of us;
especially ones that sell the same product we do. Automotive.com is
supposed to be removing us.

Now that makes me wonder, if I have all these mentions deleted won't
my own site loose relevancy and page rank?

It's such a confusing matter.

On Sep 27, 4:16 pm, Susan Moskwa wrote:

Ultimately it's up to you to decide what tradeoff is most advantageous
to you. If other sites mention your site, a user who's browsing their
site may see you address and think, "Hey, they're right down the
street from me!" and bring you their business. But, as you've seen, it
could also result in a link to their site being displayed near your
local business search result. On the other hand, if you ask them to
remove the listing it will eventually drop out of our search results,
but that also means that a user who goes to their site for information
will see the names of other local businesses but not yours. It's up to
you to decide how tightly you want to try to control mentions of your
business name, and which scenarios will most benefit your business.