[james roffey]

I would be interested to know what you think of the practice of using  friends or family's adresses to boost your presence on google maps.
Its not something i do myself, but i have discussed the practice with the people that do my site and they have suggested that it could be risky as google may penalise those sites at some stage, for misleading the public into thinking that a particular person lives somewhere they dont, i imagine some will say that second or third address is part of my business but with all due respect in most cases that is rubbish :
I am also assuming that friends or familys addresses are used, it could be just any address i have no idea how it is done, although i have my own i dont know what google does to ensure the details are correct, the reason i ask is if we all did this then it would surely lead to chaos where would it end, or is it a case of do unto others before they do unto you.
For what its worth i have no intention of doing this but i know others do.

[Adam P]

i am yet to fully understand google maps. you say use friends etc address but then i too often see the top google map spot given to a random address in the centre of the town when i know for sure they aren't there. i also often will say type in carpet cleaner guidlford and get people from woking, or i type carpet cleaner in farnham as i know i have an address there so will assume this is shown, to then get my address for guildford. not sure if it's worth the bother of having more then one.

[Peter White]

I think it's unethical, people soon find out where you live when you call them or when you are doing the job and you're having a chat with the customer.  They will then consider you to be dishonest.

If I went out of my way to choose a local business, which a lot of people do, I'd be irritated if it turned out they weren't and they were just pretending to be local to get the job. 

[Warren Aldridge]

There was a company on google maps in my area, on looking into it they had about 160 houses registered as the business address. then one day they all disappeared. They must have lost a lot of business.

If Google dont catch you, your competitors will... and once reported you are only doing yourself a disservice.

Best thing to do with Google is keep it white hat and above board.

[james roffey]

I agree with you guys white hat all the way, i think it is short sighted to try and trick people not sure i would report one though    but i find it irritating that i am playing fair, perhaps i am naive.

[Jim_77]

Isn't it just the same as having a phone number with a local area code for a town where you don't live?

I have a local number for an area which is about 12 miles away that I work in.  When asked by my customers about it, I explain it's just on a divert and I use the number for their area.  Nobody has ever called it in to question when I say that although I don't live in the town I probably do half of my work in the area.

You have to live somewhere, people like to call a local number to make sure they aren't getting through to a call centre or someone from miles away.  It isn't dishonest, it just helps gather business.

[Geoff Jewkes]

Check out how many addresses that competent cleaners have, I can tell you now that they only have one.............a unit in Ellesmere port

[will_turton]

 its unethical and there scum bags, its like pierre video

[Neil Williams]

If I went out of my way to choose a local business, which a lot of people do, I'd be irritated if it turned out they weren't and they were just pretending to be local to get the job. 

Same thoughts here.
My area is littered with out of area people advertising. One is from Portsmouth with a domestic property listed just down the road (I presume has a friend who allows him to 'use' that address). The next is from Aldershot way who uses an office address in the town centre (I presume this is some mail address forwarding system) and the worst of the lot apparently has an address actually in the North Hants Hospital  Just how does that work???

[james roffey]

When i look for a tradesman i want to use someone local thats what i use google maps for and what it is designed for, if everyone did it it would have a detrimental affect on the effectiveness of google and render it useless, sorry to be blunt but it is lying to the public in that you are telling them you are the local carpet cleaner when you are not, and in the process taking the genuine local carpet cleaners business.
If we all behaved in this selfish way, it would be chaos and the general public would be poorly served by us supposed professionals.

[Geoff Jewkes]

http://www.competentcleaners.com/

They say that theyre voted no 1 by good housekeeping etc which is bull

[james roffey]

I found a local guy on google maps with a google maps address in an area i know he does not live, as you would expect its a fairly affluent area and the picture of the address is a charity shop with a to let sign above, he also has a differerent tel number.
When you google this area i dont appear on google maps but a lot of my customers are in this area because i target it, which cost me a lot of money, more fool me i hear you say

[Warren Aldridge]

Isn't it just the same as having a phone number with a local area code for a town where you don't live?

I have a local number for an area which is about 12 miles away that I work in.  When asouked by my customers about it, I explain it's just on a divert and I use the number for their area.  Nobody has ever called it in to question when I say that although I don't live in the town I probably do half of my work in the area.

You have to live somewhere, people like to call a local number to make sure they aren't getting through to a call centre or someone from miles away.  It isn't dishonest, it just helps gather business.

A local number and a google map placement are not the same at all. It may be the same concept to the customer as in you are lying about your location but to the carpet cleaners that are legitimately located in that area its unfair because there are only X amount of spots available

If my business gets bumped to number 2 or out the list in my own neighbourhood because of some crafty character 12 miles away then that's not cricket

The whole point to Google is to give the most accurate and relevant answer to the request because its a free service.

If you want wide areas, use adwords, yell and other pay directories

Anyway I learnt the hard way when I first started my site, Google booted me out totally. Unless you actually typed the URL you would find me anywhere. Since then I've been behaving myself

[Warren Aldridge]

I found a local guy on google maps with a google maps address in an area i know he does not live, as you would expect its a fairly affluent area and the picture of the address is a charity shop with a to let sign above, he also has a differerent tel number.
When you google this area i dont appear on google maps but a lot of my customers are in this area because i target it, which cost me a lot of money, more fool me i hear you say

Hi

Do you know who your host is?  i.e are their servers located in the UK
Its probably too late now but changing you localisation to CO.UK will benefit you

Rule of thumb is if the servers are in the US or other than you need the co.uk domain
If they're in the UK you should be okay with .com

[james roffey]

The biggest irony is that i would not report them to Google because that would be detrimental to their business, but they are taking customers from me and pushing me down the rankings, i have to find alternative ways of marketing in an area i do not live and this costs me money.  Whatever happened to integrity or am i being old fashioned

[Glynn]

Is this a serious question ?.

[Neil Williams]

Is this a serious question ?.

I know where James is coming from because I don't think he's been going that many years, and most of us start off thinking it should be an even playing service.
I've been going long enough now to realise you don't have many friends in business and it is everyone for themselves. Having said that I have enough people (carpet cleaners)on my mobile phone who I classify as friends and I wouldn't do the do the dirty on them.

I don't classify people fishing in my pond when their own pond is big enough as friends.

[james roffey]

Glyn what criteria do you use when you employ a tradesman, i do not think i am alone in looking for someone local to me, not someone pretending he lives around the corner obviously i am living in the stone age, i should get in my car in the morning and look for empty shops to place on google maps as being my place of business, the point i was trying to make was if we all behaved as selfishly, then any benefit would be redered nul and void.

[peter maybury]

This is something that,  like getting tel no,s is not unethical it is called marketing. For sombody like myself who has 5 std codes within a 6 mile radious of my location. It is not unethical for me to take on other numbers in order to generate more work within the std s  that do not apply to my own std. Simuarly we have mailing addresses in other towns where, in order to generate work in other areas. Do you guys really think that other people have no right to look for work in your locality. I think that that is a little small minded.
Businesses are not restricted to using just one address and this is something that has been about for a long time, it used to be mainly used by p.o. box numbers but obviously niow people are suspicious of p.o. box numbers and like to see a proper address. There are a lot of different ways of getting mailing addresses and there is nothing underhanded or illeagal about it. It is probably a little fascist to think that you own your pond. We live in a free world live and let live.
Peter
www.carpetcleanercardiff.com

[james roffey]

Neil i have been going in carpet cleaning about 16 months and am doing fine but like many new starters my marketing costs are high and this is an irritation and no more.
I leaflet in areas other carpet cleaners live,  i advertise in local papers where local carpet cleaners live some i consider friends, one i do not,but if any of them claimed they were living in the same street as me to gain business that in my view is wrong, the principal is the same, in my view
I hope google catches up with him

I think google maps thing is a step further than area codes it shows a ficticious address claiming to be the business address of the company in question but thats just my opinion, leaflets coming through my door etc thats marketing, i am not saying i am right its just my viewpoint, if i am wrong where does it stop where do you draw the line to get a job, make up a story about the local competition having a criminal record and a danger to the community an exaggeration i know but the point is, is when do you decide that ethics prevent you from lying to get a job.