New York City Locksmiths – A Map Spammer’s Guide

Update: MyMapInfo, the SEO who was working on Artie’s site, commented on Will’s post that I had mistaken him for a spammer when he has been trying to get his client to rank well after the client was the victim of map spammers.  I’ll take him at his word and apologize for impugning his reputation on these hallowed pages.  That said, I do think MyMapInfo could have avoided this public flogging by not linking to his client’s site from the comment section of Will’s post which gave him the appearance of a comment spammer. And just to show him that my heart is in the right place if you need a 24 hour locksmith in New York I recommend Artie’s!

But read the post anyway – I think it’s pretty good.

Mike Blumenthal has written extensively about how locksmith spam has taken over Google Maps.  If they gave out Pulitzers for search bloggers, Mike would surely be in the running for this series.

Tonight I heard from Will Scott at Search Influence that his post “1000 Locksmiths in New York City” had attracted a genuine Locksmith spammer to the comments section.  I thought you all might enjoy observing a map spammer in the wild.  See if you can spot just how many different ways he is spamming Google all in the name of Artie’s Hardware & Locksmiths New York, NY.

The first indication is that Artie’s has 84 reviews in Google Maps.  Now I love my locksmith as much as the next guy, but I can barely remember his name, let alone write a review for him.  You’ve got to love this reviewer – for some reason the guy felt compelled to write reviews of six locksmiths, including reviews of two different locations for Artie’s.  Then again maybe this guy is not a spammer – perhaps he just has a penchant, or more likely a fetish, for locking himself out.  Wash your hands after you work on that guy’s doorknob Artie.

Will’s post can be found here.

Click on the MyMapInfo link or search for “locksmith nyc” in Google and you’ll see what I mean.  Maybe you spammers out there might learn something from this guy.

I particularly liked the above image from their website.  Don’t you hate it when scantily-clad attractive women get locked out of their apartment?