4 ms·

Interestingly, Google Maps doesn't suffer as much from the issues with Google Search. Maybe because it has those community-driven curation features that PG is t

by _xnmw 5y ago

Interestingly, Google Maps doesn't suffer as much from the issues with Google Search. Maybe because it has those community-driven curation features that PG is talking about? Google Maps is fantastic at finding places to go to (and getting you there). Also, why hasn't Apple built a search engine yet? It baffles me that they chose to go head-to-head with Google on Maps, yet outsourced their search engine. I would've liked it the other way around: Google Maps and Apple Search.

nostromo 5y ago
Apple makes 10+ billion a year from Google by setting It to the default search engine on iPhone. I agree they should make their own search engine. But currently they’re being paid a ton of money not to.
techdragon 5y ago
It’s much harder to get SEO spam style content to maps given the geographic region limits involved… But it happens my favourite example is searching for suppliers of something basic, say structural aluminium extrusions, big and heavy and you ideally don’t want to ship it far so it’s an ideal thing to search for a local supplier of. In Australian results is basically a given that I’ll get results for my city because they will list it as a delivery area they supply to however when you actually try to find them on the map as a pin, nope it’s either not their or just is a sales office not a warehouse or workshop, so they have tricked the system into listing them as local to my area in a way that pollutes my maps search results. But this only works for certain industries. It’s much less common to see this kind of tactic if your searching for say a coffee shop because they sheer number of local results let’s Google be “hyper local” with these kinds of results.
Nextgrid 5y ago
Google Maps is spammed by fake locksmith or other trades that make it look like they're local but all route to the same boiler room (probably right next to the tech support or IRS scammers) from where they dispatch a crooked & most likely unlicensed tradesman that will do a poor job and overcharge you (destroying the lock so they can sell you an overpriced replacement instead of picking it, etc). For licensed trades the solution is to go to your official trade licensing body (for the UK it's the NICEIC for electricians and the Gas Safe Register for gas/HVAC technicians), for unlicensed ones it's more difficult. There are "review" sites that claim to provide good results but their business incentives & vulnerability to spam/fake reviews are unknown.

by _xnmw 5y ago

nostromo 5y ago

Apple makes 10+ billion a year from Google by setting It to the default search engine on iPhone. I agree they should make their own search engine. But currently they’re being paid a ton of money not to.

techdragon 5y ago

It’s much harder to get SEO spam style content to maps given the geographic region limits involved… But it happens my favourite example is searching for suppliers of something basic, say structural aluminium extrusions, big and heavy and you ideally don’t want to ship it far so it’s an ideal thing to search for a local supplier of. In Australian results is basically a given that I’ll get results for my city because they will list it as a delivery area they supply to however when you actually try to find them on the map as a pin, nope it’s either not their or just is a sales office not a warehouse or workshop, so they have tricked the system into listing them as local to my area in a way that pollutes my maps search results. But this only works for certain industries. It’s much less common to see this kind of tactic if your searching for say a coffee shop because they sheer number of local results let’s Google be “hyper local” with these kinds of results.

Nextgrid 5y ago

Google Maps is spammed by fake locksmith or other trades that make it look like they're local but all route to the same boiler room (probably right next to the tech support or IRS scammers) from where they dispatch a crooked & most likely unlicensed tradesman that will do a poor job and overcharge you (destroying the lock so they can sell you an overpriced replacement instead of picking it, etc). For licensed trades the solution is to go to your official trade licensing body (for the UK it's the NICEIC for electricians and the Gas Safe Register for gas/HVAC technicians), for unlicensed ones it's more difficult. There are "review" sites that claim to provide good results but their business incentives & vulnerability to spam/fake reviews are unknown.