Eric Gehler SEO Richmond Virginia

Outing a BlackHat Scammer for Google Maps Spam

Looking through some SERPS the other day I was looking into the Gold Niche.  What struck me as odd was a a Google Maps listing a local location here in Richmond Virginia.  The location turned out to be a parking garage adjacent to the VCU Siegal center.  The listing was showing in the 3 Box Location for the SERP result of the keyword term I was investigating.

As I investigated this Black Hat website of  cashgoldjewelry dot com it is a website set up with a Geo Targeted Location Generator script with Doorway pages to many major cities and towns.

Further Investigation I came across Newark result that was a vacant lot A Louisville result that was another parking garage, a Miami result that was a House for sale on the intersection corner, and another parking garage in Wilmington Delaware.

Looking further into the website for SEO factors we see Google has indexed Results 1 – 10 of about 241 from cashgoldjewelry dot com.

This blackhatter is targeting major cities in Alabama Arkansas Delaware District Of Columbia Florida  Georgia Kentucky Louisiana Mississippi  Missouri North Carolina South Carolina Tennessee  Virginia West Virginia with his Google Maps Spam.

I even went so far as to call the phone number on his website.  It lead to a geeky sounding guy’s answering machine asking you to press 1 more information. After I pressed 1, the phone hung up.  I called today and there was no Message this time at all.

So Black Hat scammer used a location generator to create many doorway pages.  Scraped more them likely the Yellow pages for addresses of Parking Garages, Cemeteries, Houses for sale to acquire the physical address city and zip codes. Then created a mass XML file to upload to Google Maps to generate the Google Map’s Listing.   Quite a nice bit of black hat work I must say.

The results, many first position listings via Google Maps, many 4 Box Map SERP Listings and I am sure many click through to his website.

The question is will GOOGLE do anything about it and how long?

The interesting this is I reported several of the locations to see them removed and in 24 hours like a bad episode of Ground Hog Day to return to their full Black Hat Scammy Spammy Spots in the SERPS.

If you see one REPORT IT!!

Will keep you updated on the progress if any Google makes.

Step Son Mitchell Lucord Saves the Day Literally

Over this past Memorial Day weekend was seemed to be a time of rest and recuperation. At least for me anyway. The excitement wasn’t known until Sunday, and the Fan Fare happened today.

My wife and I found out on Sunday that on Saturday of Memorial Day Weekend my step son Mitchell Lucord was swimming down at our neighborhood pool which is actually across the street from our house. Mitch is 9 and an accomplished swimmer and member of the Bon Air Blue Streaks swim team. Mitch jumped in and save a 7 year old child from drowning in the pool. According to witnesses, and Mitch’s recap of the incident, Mitch Noticed from across the pool that a child was in trouble. He saw the child go under and struggling to stay afloat. From across the pool, Mitch dove in and swam to the child’s aid. Mitch was able to pull him to safety. The child was still grasping for air once out of the pool.

Today the local NBC / FOX Richmond Evening News got wind of the story and called my wife to see if they could do a story. Ryan Nobles ( @ryanobles ) came out and covered the story.

We are proud of Mitch for his positive actions and hope he doesn’t get to much of a big head

Mitch ( age 9)  being Interviewed by Ryan Nobles from Richmond Fox/ NBC12 News for show airing tonight 5-27-09 in Richmond Virginia

Update: Video of Fox News Report

And the video from NBC-12 WWBT12

From News Website:

CHESTERFIELD, VA (WWBT) – A 9 year old boy in Chesterfield is being called a hero after his quick actions saved the life of another young man.

It is the kind of story that makes you wonder, how would you react in a similar situation? When Mitchell Lucord saw another boy struggling to stay above the water at his community pool, he didn’t even think- he risked his own life to save someone he had never met.

Swimming is a big part of who Mitchell is.

“I swim about 5 times a week” he said.

He was at his favorite pool on an ordinary day, when he realized something was wrong.

“I saw him, I noticed he was going like this, waving his arms,” said Mitchell.

The little boy was swimming in the middle section of the pool. Mitchell was standing just outside the pool when he heard him get into trouble. He rushed into the pool without even thinking. He grabbed the struggling boy, and pulled him from the water.

Mitchell talks about the event, as if it were just another day.

“I think he could’ve suffocated or something, and that would be bad.”

He may not understand how important it was, but his mother, Margie Gehler believes it is starting to sink in.

“Everyone started saying, whoa, do you realize that you’re a hero?” she said.

Her little man, springing into action. Helping someone, without worrying about himself.

“He was thinking, someone needed him and he just jumped in to get him,” Margie said.

A selfless act, that probably saved a life and at the same time helped a young man learn a valuable lesson.

You are probably wondering about the little boy that Mitchell saved. His family doesn’t actually know who he is. They know that he is okay and that his family is thankful.

They dropped off a gift card to Mitchell on Sunday. A small token of their immense gratitude for his selfless act.

What does Google Really Know About Me?

I have been ranting the past couple of days about Google and their hypocrisy about buying links. It didn’t get their attention. Not that any non delusional mind would think that it would. Today I was going through some of the new features on Google introduced to us by Matt Cutts the unofficial official voice of Google.  Playing around, Google has introduced the “Show Options”

Which leads to Searches based on Videos, Forums, Reviews and also sorts with a Time Line structure.  They all include related searches and a “Wonder Wheel”.

So naturally I had to see what was up with my name. All things looks pretty normal as well as the related searches, but then came the “wonder wheel”.  Interesting indeed.

My Wonder wheel was all about my knee surgery, my knee injury that I made websites about etc, but nothing of value to my SEO Status, my Webmaster Status nothing.  Thanks “Google Wonder Wheel” to reducing me to a mere injury and medical condition I suffered back in 2006 and continue to deal with daily.

What does your Google Wonder Wheel say?