Google has been all over the news lately- first their Google Phone released last week and now their threat to withdraw from China over censorship and cyberspying. Aside from those two front-page stories, Google is also at the forefront of small business news. Small Business Trends reports that last week, many small business owners started receiving emails about their local business results from November. In addition to their own results was information about other local businesses that they had no affiliation with.
This information included how many clicks each listing received, how many clicked for “more info”, how many clicked through the website, and how many clicked for directions. Much of this information is critical for small businesses when making advertising decisions- information they would want in the hands of their competitors.
Google addressed the issue calling it a “glitch” and that less than 1% of Google Local Business Center users were affected. Lesson of the Day- Monitor your local listings and report anything that looks suspicious.