A New Google (Maps) Bomb?

[Stefan Somborac]

Whoa. Check this out:

Here's a link to the Maps listing for a lodge in Namibia:
Google Maps

Now, here it is with "Solitaire+Lodge" changed to "Cheese+Lodge":
Google Maps

Notice how the map pin changes to "Cheese Lodge"? If you check the CID you'll find that they are the same listing.
Google Maps

Plus, this doesn't work with any other word! Here's the link as "Pizza+Lodge". Note the map pin is correctly shown as "Solitaire Lodge".
Google Maps

Here's why I've classified this as a Google bomb: search "Cheese Lodge Namibia" and the GMB listing for "Solitaire Lodge" appears on the right!

Do an exact match search for "cheese lodge" in namibia and set filter=0 and you'll find a bunch of Airbnb listings! (They're gone from Airbnb now but they're still in Google's index, for now.) Here's that search string: "cheese lodge" namibia - Google Search

I believe the Airbnb listings have convinced Google that "Solitaire Lodge" is relevant for the search "cheese lodge namibia". Wow!

Am I wrong? Anyone seen this before? @JoyHawkins @Colan Nielsen @Yan Gilbert @Phil Rozek @Tim Colling

 

[Colan Nielsen]

Hey @Stefan Somborac I see the map pin as "Solitaire Lodge" for both searches. Can you share a screenshot?

 

[Phil Rozek]

@Stefan Somborac, my initial impression is that Google seems to consider "Cheese Lodge" a place, as does Airbnb. I don't know one way or another, and can't tell (yet).

If it is a village/city/region/whatever, that should explain some or all of the confusing results.

 

[Yan Gilbert]

The pin name always says Solitaire Lodge for me. But The search Cheese Lodge Nambia does go straight to that listing and in fact brings up a one box in regular Google search.

That first AirBnB link that we see organically brings up an empty page though .. was this a list of places that AirBnB had for Cheese Lodges?

 

[Stefan Somborac]

That first AirBnB link that we see organically brings up an empty page though .. was this a list of places that AirBnB had for Cheese Lodges?

@Yan Gilbert Yes, I get an empty Airbnb page too. I'm assuming the listings have been removed from Airbnb but still exist in the Google index?

 

[Stefan Somborac]

Hey @Stefan Somborac I see the map pin as "Solitaire Lodge" for both searches. Can you hare a screenshot?

Original link is something I picked up from GMB support forums. Maybe that will render a "Cheese Lodge" pin for you.

 

[Yan Gilbert]

That one does not either, but thanks for the screenshot. (That's interesting though..would like to know how to get the name to change on the pin.)

That AirBnB url is not indexed either so it'll be difficult to figure this one out further.

 

[Stefan Somborac]

Shortly after I posted here the original poster, over on the GMB help forums, posted that he got the problem fixed by Google support.

I guess that's good for him. Too bad for me: I wanted to explore this!

Glad I got that screenshot! And too bad you (plural) didn't get a chance to see it in the wild.

This reminds me of Mike Blumenthal's experiment that shows how Google scrapes language from Yelp reviews to find keywords relevant to a business listing. In this case, it appears that Google scraped the business name (or, an alternate name) from Airbnb. Might make for some interesting testing...