[randombytes6869]

You can probably just check the referrer header and display a giant nag message to people coming from that business listing.

"This website is not associated with company X which have been misrepresenting themselves by linking to my site from their maps listing."

[federicoponzi]

Thanks for the suggestion but:

1. I would need to do that for every referral from google, something which I would avoid.

2. Users might not click on the link and still think we're related.

Also, the very same listing is showing facebook and twitter links on which I cannot do much about.

[nullc]

You could also treat probes from google's address space differently, perhaps if you return 404s they'll automatically delist it.

[rhizome]

It's bad luck to return something different to GoogleBot than what regular people see.

[lovemenot]

Fascinating use of language. Superstition implies belief in fate / deity.

It doesn't surprise to see this written now, even if only ironically. "The algorithm cannot be understood by anyone" - which is a fact. So we summon the fates to describe its expected behaviour.

If this comment seems personal, that wasn't intended. I really don't know how people in SEO tend to communicate. But I just heard this kind of language for the first time. So it's just a sign of the times.

More like this to come. Surely.

[Kye]

Showing different content to Google and visitors is genuinely against Google's webmaster guidelines. It will get you delisted. It's known as cloaking.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cloaking

https://support.google.com/webmasters/answer/66355?hl=en

[lovemenot]

>> It's bad luck to return something different to GoogleBot than what regular people see.

It's [against policy] to return something different to GoogleBot than what regular people see.

The facts are on your side, but GP's language choice remains interesting. Not right now perhaps, but down the road?

[wolco]

Google also sends google-bot without the header. If it notices different content it will take the public version as truth.

So many people are doing this but not getting delisted. Not sure how solid a rule it still is.

[honzzz]

I am vouching for this comment. The choice of words seems interesting to me too. You don't have to agree with it but I do not see any sign of commenting in bad faith - I think this comment should be unflagged.

[wpietri]

I think the mistake was "Superstition implies belief in fate / deity." After reading the whole thing, I guess what they probably meant was dry linguisting commentary, but on first glance it looks like they're saying the person they're replying to is irrational.

[Kye]

This is a mistake I used to make. It's fun to pull apart language, but to the person whose language is being analysed, it often feels like mockery. It's important to make it 100% crystal clear your fun analysis isn't about the person. Make it clear it's an aside by focusing on the point before moving on to the postscript with a clear topic shift.

[rhizome]

It ain't superstition, it's humor. It's how I sometimes say "you don't want to do that."

[edoceo]

If you try to trick Google Bot different, they find it a punish your site.

[raverbashing]

Not really, redirection from Maps might show a different referral than from Search (you have to test that but it should be pretty trivial to do)

Trademarks are a bit more complicated as the issue of brand confusion and geographical areas are involved.

But you could always try to contact a lawyer in the area of that company and ask them to write a strong worded letter directly to the business.

[bhartzer]

You said that it is showing twitter and fb links. Are you sure this is google maps listing and not a knowledge graph entry? Those are two different things.

[federicoponzi]

Yep, it's google maps listing. I think that twitter and fb links are scraped by Google though, but the listing is definitely a google maps entry. The owner of the thing is even answering the reviews.

[bhartzer]

OK, so your best bet is to use the Redressal form, Google has it here: https://support.google.com/business/contact/business_redress...

[spyder]

I just checked and the referrer from the 'Website' button on business listings only sends the google.com top domain with no tracking parameters.