Google Rolls Out AdWords Express Coupons

Tom Crandall — Fri, 18 Nov 2011 02:42:27 +0000

“Growing your business just got easier: Here’s $100 to try AdWords Express”

Google is sending out $100 AdWords Express Coupons, further undercutting their distribution partners like Yodle and ReachLocal:

How Do Businesses Get To The Top Of Google? An Online Marketing Case Study

Tom Crandall — Tue, 15 Nov 2011 15:16:09 +0000

The question, “How do businesses get to the top of Google” is the most common question I am asked.

Nobody can guarantee top placement in the “FREE” sections (Google local business listings and natural search results) for ALL of your targeted keyword sets, but a professional search engine marketing consultant or agency that lives and breathes search engine marketing will make a pronounced impact on your online marketing initiatives and ensure an attractive return on investment.

Let’s take a look at what constitutes a high-impact search engine marketing campaign for businesses with a local business model–The Golden Triangle.

The Golden Triangle Of Search

The Golden Triangle is your goal–to rank #1 in the Google Local Business Listings, #1 in Google’s natural search engine results, and #1 in Google’s pay-per-click ads. For the Google search “tuxedo rental Houston TX,” Al’s Formal Wear blows away their competition in each section, taking the lion share of click-throughs and dominating the formal wear market in Houston.

1. Google Local Business Listings

Google Local Business Listings have made and broken small businesses in recent years. Our clients report, on average and depending on the industry, a 20% to 40% increase in new business generated by Google business listings we have optimized for targeted keyword sets–considering we do not charge ongoing fees for this service it is an area of opportunity you do not want to miss out on.

Your ability to to get prominent search engine visibility, and ultimately, click-throughs in this section, is paramount to to a successful online marketing campaign.

Let’s say you run a Handyman Service in Tempe AZ. Some of the top keyword sets you are targeting include:

“handyman service”
“handyman service 85281″
“handyman service tempe”
“handyman service tempe az”
“home repair service”
“home repair service 85281“
“home repair service tempe az”
“kitchen remodeling tempe az“
“tile installation tempe az“
“handyman coupons tempe az“

Let’s say you run a Handyman Service in Gilbert AZ. Some of the top keyword sets you are targeting include:

“handyman service”
“handyman service 85297″
“handyman service gilbert”
“handyman service gilbert az”
“home repair service”
“home repair service 85297″
“home repair service gilbert az“
“kitchen remodeling gilbert az“
“bathroom tile installation gilbert az“
“handyman coupons gilbert az“

You get the point!

Our experts will provide you with the most frequently searched keywords in your niche and cross-reference them with all of your local geo-modifiers, including cities, state, and zip codes.

We will use this research to optimize your local business listing(s) through a handful of techniques that will increase your rankings, click-throughs, and most importantly, generate additional customers/clients.

2. Google’s Natural Search Engine Results

Google’s natural search engine results have lost some steam in recent years due to the prominence of Google’s Local Business Listings, but still play a pivotal role in generating new business online.

Not only will our team of experts optimize all of the on-page and off-page elements to rank your web pages on the top of Google for targeted keywords sets, we also will provide you with marketing copy, calls-to-action, and conversion recommendations to make the most of the traffic you are generating.

Unlike Google’s Local Business Listings, natural search engine visibility may require an ongoing commitment to link building for those of you in highly competitive markets.

3. Google’s Pay-per-click (PPC) Ads

Widely admired for the ability to garner premium search engine visibility instantaneously, Google pay-per-click (PPC) campaigns offer you the unique ability to generate business in a flash.

The only downside to to pay-per-click is customer/client acquisition costs. You can dramatically lower those costs by creating the Golden Triangle–optimizing your Google Local Business Listings and natural search listings to maximize your online marketing budget.

There are three (3) areas of opportunity in the search engine results–two of them are FREE, meaning search engines like Google, Yahoo, and Bing do not levy fees for your prominent placement, and the last opportunity assesses a small fee every time a search engine user clicks on your listing for targeted keyword searches. There are no marketing strategies as effective as search–SEARCH IS ON DEMAND ADVERTISING!

Whereas television, radio, and print advertising are known as “Push Marketing” vehicles because they broadcast a message to a passive audience, search engine advertising is rightly defined as a “Pull Marketing” strategy because the prospect is actively engaged in a real-time search for your products and services. Will your message convert them into a sale?

*******************************************************************

Download my white paper: Geotargeting: Local Seach Best Practices For Brands

*******************************************************************

Google: Sucks = Reviews

Tom Crandall — Thu, 10 Nov 2011 01:32:41 +0000

Google uses a system of categorizing terms that are identified as synonymous or frequently associated with each other to interpret the meaning of content.

This system is called Latent Semantic Indexing and this part of the algorithm assigns a “relevancy score” to a web page’s content, and as such, is a major factor in determining Google search results for any given query.

Google highlights terms in bold which have been tagged as synonymous or frequently associated to the terms in your search string.

For example, the term “auto” is synonymous with the term “car,” therefore, in Google’s algorithm, auto = car in terms of relevancy. Note the emboldened term “car” in the Google search results for the phrase “Esurance auto insurance” below:

Google has determined, based on extensive analysis of search behavior, that the term “sucks” has a relevant home in the American Lexicon. Check out the results for the Google search “Mystic Lake Casino sucks:”

For Google, Sucks = Reviews.

The Truth About Hyperlocal Advertising

Tom Crandall — Sat, 25 Jun 2011 17:08:50 +0000

Hyperlocal advertising was conceived as the next logical step for local businesses to connect with the residents and other small business owners in neighborhood communities.

The explosion of social media has intersected with the steady upward growth of local online marketing, and the ensuing convergence has positioned hyperlocal marketing as the next “megatrend” online.

Television news websites like KFOR.com channel 4 (top five NBC affiliate) in Oklahoma City present you the option to select your local community front and center. If you do not select a community in your first few visits it automatically selects one for you through IP address targeting.

Once a community is selected, hyperlocal news stories are presented, driving traffic directly to the community website subdomain.

Community websites are also found in the search engines, creating another stream of highly targeted traffic to community businesses.

The community websites offer local businesses the extraordinary opportunity to engage with their target audience, and commence with a strategy to connect with, share relevant information with, and maintain an ongoing relationship with local residents through Facebook, Twitter and other emerging social media apps.

This provides the local business owner with a seamless touch point that the major brands are beginning to master.

For example, depending on the business, the proprietor may offer the customer a 50% OFF coupon on the next visit if the customer “likes” the businesses Facebook page.

As part of the hyperlocal marketing service on KFOR, small businesses can get a Facebook page set up for free with a feed directly from the business’ profile page on KFOR.com.

Business profile pages also appear in the search engines and often outrank the company’s own website and Facebook page:

Major print and television news websites have struggled in past years with monetizing sections of their content categories. Back in 2005 I was told by an SVP at Tribune Companies that some divisions could barely keep the lights on.

One very unique and attractive asset local news entities have that competing publishers, directories, and search engines don’t is T-R-U-S-T.

People trust their local news websites more than they trust company websites and blogs (especially small business websites), classifieds like Craigslist and BackPage, directories like SuperPages and Citysearch, as well as search engines.

Incidentally, small businesses are getting skewered in the wild-west world of local business reviews on directories and search engines, where rogue competitors and employees account for a major percentage of contrived reviews.

Partnering with a local TV news website gives the small business owner instant credibility and prestige. Hyperlocal media websites make it easy for small businesses to leverage trust and credibility in multiple ways to out-market direct and in-direct competitors.

The truth is, hyperlocal advertising is a recommended strategy for small businesses that want to form a credible impression and long-term relationship with members of their neighborhood communities.

It is going to be very exciting to see what the future holds for ancillary web apps that mash social media with local online marketing campaigns.

Google Sitelink & Location Extensions: A Brand’s BFF

Tom Crandall — Tue, 07 Sep 2010 15:30:56 +0000

For brand management, PPC (pay-per-click) advertising in Google is no longer a consideration, it is a mandatory practice for two reasons:

To capture high-converting search traffic looking specifically for your company’s products, services, locations, and coupons/promotions
To stop branded searches from being redirected to the web assets of direct and indirect competitors

The Best Practice? Google Sitelink Extensions!

In the past we have protected the branded traffic of certain clients in Google search by violating Google’s PPC policy. You see, Google only allows an entity to have one AdWords account, thus, only allowing the entity to run one ad for any given search query. To circumvent Google’s power play we would create multiple unique AdWords accounts to effectively engage branded searches that have different search intent.

We would use multiple landing pages, each with a unique trademarked domain. For example, let’s say an individual submitted a Google search for “HP.” We know the majority of searchers are looking for “HP computers,” “HP printers,” “HP drivers,” or “HP notebooks.” As a result we would create multiple ads on multiple accounts with targeted content on landing pages like:

HPcomputers.com
HPprinters.com
HPnotebooks.com

Six years later Google has finally figured out there is a better way to serve their most important clients and came up with Google Sitelink Extensions. From Google:

Ad Sitelinks allow you to extend the value of your existing AdWords ads by providing additional links to specific, relevant content deeper within your sitemap. Rather than sending all users to the same landing page, Ad Sitelinks will display up to four additional Destination URLs for users to choose from.

Ad Sitelinks are designed to appear when an ad provides the “best” result for a search query, and they are most likely to appear for searches for unique brand terms for top-ranked ads with higher quality scores.

Let’s look at two national carpet cleaning brands to understand the importance of protecting your branded search traffic. The first example, Stanley Steemer, is taking advantage of the Google Sitelinks Extensions product:

As you can see, the premium search space features the Stanley Steemer ad with Sitelink Extensions–four links to Stanley Steemer’s trademark services:

Tile and Grout Cleaning

Carpet Cleaning

Furniture Cleaning

Area Rug Cleaning

The next example features Sears Carpet Cleaning:

Conversely, Sears Carpet Cleaning is ceding premium search result space to direct competitors.

Kevin Lange of SMG Search gets it in his iMedia article last year when he stated the following:

“Controlling the prime real-estate in the center of the search results page may be the single most effective tool in the brand marketers’ arsenal. Google’s algorithm currently favors official brand sites for the No. 1 position on branded keywords in both paid and natural search, so why not take advantage of it?

One of our clients saw a 35 percent lift in brand search click volume in a highly competitive market by bidding to the No. 1 position in paid search while already ranking first in natural search.

Nearly 80 percent of these paid search clicks were incremental to what natural search drove alone. These clicks would otherwise have been lost to one of the many third parties, or to competitors also bidding on our client’s brand keywords.”

Let’s take a look at another set of examples with an added twist, featuring H&R Block and Jackson Hewitt tax preparation brands. First Jackson Hewitt:

Jackson Hewitt yields premium search space to direct competitor Liberty Tax by not protecting branded search traffic with Google Sitelink Extensions.

The screenshot below displays H&R Block going a step further with their Google ad by adding Location Ad Extensions to their Sitelink Extensions:

When you click on the Location Ad Extension link, a map pops up with the address and phone number of the closest H&R Block location:

The benefits of this winning strategy? Higher conversions and Google does not charge you for Location Ad Extension link click-throughs!

*******************************************************************

Download our white paper: Geotargeting: Local Seach Best Practices For Brands

*******************************************************************

Our consulting and agency services are designed for global, national, and regional brands:

Accounting & Consulting
Earnst & Young, KPMG, PricewaterhouseCoopers, Grant Thornton LLP, Accenture

Automotive
AAA, Just Brakes, Midas, Meineke, Big O Tires, Discount Tire, Sears Auto Center, Monro, Brakes Plus, CarX, Jiffy Lube, Aamco, Firestone Complete Auto Care, Tuffy, Brake Masters, Advanced Auto Parts, Tires Plus, Auto Zone, Pep Boys, Carquest, Napa Auto Parts, Checker Auto Parts, O’Reilly Auto Parts, Kragen Auto Parts, Batteries Plus, National Tire & Battery, Precision Tune, Maaco, Goodyear Auto Service Center, Glass Doctor, Tint World, Safelite, Speedy Glass, Harmon AutoGlass, NOVUS Auto Glass Repair & Replacement

Banking
Wells Fargo, Chase, Bank of America, Wachovia, US Bank, Union Bank, BBVA Compass, TCF, Citibank

Car& Truck Rental
U-Haul, Budget Car Rental, Budget Truck Rental, National, Avis, Hertz, Enterprise, Thrifty, Alamo, Payless, Discount, Fox, Ryder Truck Rental, Penske Truck Rental

Car Sales
Chevy dealers, Chrysler dealers, Ford dealers, GM dealers, Dodge dealers, Jeep dealers, Lincoln dealers, Mercury dealers, Cadillac dealers, Mercedes-Benz dealers, Kia dealers, BMW dealers, Audi dealers, Volvo dealers, Volkswagon dealers, Porsche dealers, Jaguar dealers, Toyota dealers, Nissan dealers, Hyundai dealers, Honda dealers

Carpet Cleaners
Stanley Steemer, Chem-Dry, Sears Carpet Cleaning, Coit, ServiceMaster Clean, Rug Doctor, Heaven’s Best, Steamatic

Courier Services
DHL, UPS, USPS, Fedex

Dry Cleaners
One Hour Martinizing, Pilgrim Dry Cleaners, Clean’n’Press, Comet Cleaners

Employment Agencies
Apple One, Kelly Services, Adecco, Manpower, Spherion, Labor Ready, OfficeTeam, Aerotek, Accountemps, Snelling, Staffmark, Volt, Westaff, Randstad, Labor Finders, Kforce, Olsten, Prostaff, Manpower, Express Pros, SOS Staffing Services, Corestaff, Robert Half International, Select Staffing
Eye Care Centers
Pearle Vision, For Eyes Optical, LensCrafters, EyeMasters, Sears Optical, America’s Best Contacts & Eyeglasses, Eyeglass World, JCPenney Optical, Visionworks, Walmart Vision Center, Cohen’s Fashion Optical, United Optical
Fast Food & Beverage
A&W Restaurants, Arby’s, Au Bon Pain, Blimpie, Boston, Market, Burger King, California Pizza Kitchen, Checkers, Chick-fil-A, Chipotle Mexican Grill, Church’s Chicken, Dairy Queen, Del Taco, Dixy Chicken, Dunkin’ Donuts, Hardee’s, Hesburger, Hungry Howie’s Pizza, Jack in the Box, Jamba Juice, Jimmy Johns, Jollibee, KUT, Krispy Kreme, Krystal, Long John Silver’s, Lotteria, Marco’s Pizza, Maui Tacos, McDonald’s, Mighty Taco, Mister Donut, Moe’s Southwest, Grill, Mr. Hero, Nando’s, New York Fries, Noble Roman’s, Pal’s, Panda Express, Panera bread, Pizza Hut, Pollo Tropical, Popeyes Chicken & Biscuits, Qdoba Mexican Grill, Quiznos, Rally’s, Red Rooster, Shakey’s Pizza, Starbucks, Steak n Shake, Sonic Drive-In, Subway, Taco Bell, Taco Bueno, Taco Cabana, Taco del Mar, Taco Tico, Taco Time, TCBY, The Pizza Company, Tim Hortons, White Castle, Wendy’s, Whataburger, Wimpy

Fitness Centers
LA Fitness, 24 Hour Fitness, Bally Total Fitness, YMCA, Life Time Fitness, Curves, Planet Fitness, Anytime Fitness, World Gym, Pure Fitness Clubs, Snap Fitness 24/7, XSport Fitness, Crunch, Gold’s Gym, Powerhouse Gym

Hair Salons
Great Clips, Supercuts, Fantastic Sams, Sport Clips, Hair Cuttery, Cost Cutters, Regis Salons, SmartStyle, Pro-Cuts, MasterCuts, Snip-its, Floyd’s 99 Barbershop

Home Mortgage Companies
Wells Fargo Home Mortgage, Wells Fargo Financial, GMAC Mortgage, Wachovia Home Mortgage, Chase Home Mortgage, CitiMortgage, US Bank Home Mortgage, Bank of America Home Mortgage, SunTrust Mortgage

Home Security
Protection One, ADT, Brinks Home Security, Broadview Security

House Cleaning Service
Molly Maid, Maid Brigade, Merry Maids, Maid Pro, The Maids

Insurance Companies
AIG, Allstate, American Automobile Association, American Family Insurance, American Income Life, American National Insurance Company, Amica, Aon Corporation, Assurant Employee Benefits, Auto-Owners Insurance, AXA, Equitable Life Insurance Company, AXIS Capital, CapitalOne, CNA Financial, Colonial Life, Conseco, Country Financial, Chubb Corporation, Encompass, Erie Insurance Group, GEICO, General Re, Genworth, GMAC Insurance, Hanover Insurance, The Hartford, Infinity Auto Insurance Company, Jackson National Life, John Hancock Insurance, Liberty Mutual, Merchants Insurance Group, Metropolitan Life Insurance Company, Mutual of America Life Insurance Company, Mutual of Omaha, Nationwide Insurance, New York Life Insurance, Pemco, Penn Mutual Life, Principal Financial Group, Progressive, Protective Life Insurance, Prudential Financial, Reliance Insurance Company, Safe Auto Insurance Company, Safeco, Standard Insurance Company, State Farm, Mutual Automobile Insurance Company, The Travelers Companies, Inc., TIAA-CREF, Unitrin Direct Auto Insurance, USAA, Wells Fargo, Westfield Insurance, West Coast Life Insurance

Investment
Schwab, Prudential Securities

Massage Therapy
Massage Heights, Massage Envy, Hand & Stone Massage, Red Door Spas

Movers
Allied Van Lines, Mayflower, United

Payday Loans
ACE Cash Express, Advance America, Check `n Go Payday Loan, Money Mart & Loan Mart, Cash America, Allied Cash Advance, Speedy Cash

Pest Control
Terminix, Orkin, Truly Nolen Pest Control, Western Extermintor Company, Clark Pest Control, Cook’s Pest Control

Pet Grooming
PetSmart, Petco

Photo Processing
Ritz Camera, Wolf Camera, Walgreens Digital Photo Printing, CVS Pharmacy Photo & Pictures, WalMart Photo Center, Costco Photo Center

Physical Therapy
Novacare, Select Physical Therapy, Accelerated Rehabilitation Centers, OccuSport Physical Therapy, Athletico Physical Therapy, Physiotherapy Associates

Portrait Photography
JCPenney Portrait Studios, Picture People, Target Portrait Studio, Olan Mills Portrait Studio

Preschools
Kindercare, TutorTime, Childtime Learning Centers, Goddard Schools, Kiddie Academy International

Printing/Photocopying
Sir Speedy, Alphagraphics, Fedex Office, Mail Boxes Etc., Staples, The UPS Store, Office Depot, Kwik Kopy Printing Centers, OfficeMax

Realtors
CENTURY 21, Long & Foster Realtors, Coldwell Banker, RE/MAX, Keller Williams Realty, Weichert, Zip Realty, Realty Executives International, Prudential Real Estate Professionals

Restaurants
Red Lobster Seafood Restaurants, Olive Garden, Chili’s Grill & Bar Restaurant, Romano’s Macaroni Grill, Carrabba’s Italian Grill, Pizza Hut, Domino’s Pizza, Papa Kohn’s, Little Caesars, Outback Steakhouse, Carino’s Italian Restaurant, Red Robin® Gourmet Burgers, Ruby Tuesday, Applebees, Maggiano’s Little Italy, Buca di Beppo, Smokey Bones, Famous Dave’s BBQ, T.G.I. Friday’s, Panera Bread, P.F. Chang’s China Bistro, Texas Roadhouse, IHOP, Denny’s, Perkins, Cracker Barrel, O’Charley’s, LongHorn Steakhouse, Logan’s Roadhouse, Lone Star Steakhouse, The Cheesecake Factory, Hooters, Joe’s Crab Shack, Golden Corral, Mimis Cafe, Buffalo Wild Wings, The Melting Pot, Uno Chicago Grill, Fazoli’s, Marie Callender’s, Bahama Breeze, BJ’s Restaurants, Old Chicago, Rock Bottom Restaurants, Fuddruckers

Self Storage
Public Storage, U-Haul Storage, U-Store-It, Extra Space Storage, Uncle Bob’s Self Storage, A-American Self Storage

Senior Care
Home Instead Senior Care, Visiting Angels Senior Home Care, Interim Healthcare, Senior Helpers, Comfort Keepers, Right At Home

Tanning Salons
Planet Beach, Image Sun, The Tan Company

Tax Preparation
H&R Block, Jackson Hewitt, Liberty Tax Service

Virtual Offices
Regus, HQ, Alliance Business Centers, Premier Business Centers

Weight Loss Centers
L. A. Weight Loss, Jenny Craig, Physicians Weight Loss Centers

Miscellaneous
Culligan, Kinetico, Rainsoft, New Horizons Computer Learning Centers, Whole Foods Market, Pop-A-Lock, It’s Just Lunch, American Express Travel Offices, AAA Travel Office

Is Google Legally Liable For Defamatory Reviews In Google Maps Business Listings?

Tom Crandall — Thu, 02 Sep 2010 16:31:09 +0000

All types of shenanigans take place in the Reviews Sections of Google business listings, aka, Google Places pages. The example below will likely shock the leadership and management of brands with a local business model.

Google has avoided legal culpability for occurrences of calumny, slander, libel, copyright infringement and trademark abuse in their main search engine results because their application simply indexes and organizes the web pages of others on the world wide web–kind of like a library indexing and organizing the books of unaffiliated authors and publishers.

I mention this because I hear from companies and individuals all the time telling me they are going to sue Google for this or that displayed in Google’s SERP’s (search engine results pages). How much do they make?

In the past, Google has not been held responsible

Over and over, and over again, international courts have held that Google is not responsible for the content of others displayed in their search engine results, Google simply organizes and displays the content of others for reference.

If the owner(s) of a website does not want Google to display their content, they have the option to insert code (no index, no follow tags) into the web pages which will keep them out of Google’s index.

Because the courts have found that Google is not an “active participant” in the creation or publication of the content of other websites, plaintiffs must go directly after the websites hosting the questionable content.

Is Google responsible for the content created by Google users on a Google-published and hosted web page?

While doing research for an upcoming white paper regarding local business reviews, one of my staff members uncovered several alarming patterns taking place in the Reviews Sections of Google business listings.

One of these patterns includes the creation of multiple negative reviews; all featuring the exact same rating and content, all created on the same date, and published on multiple Places pages (different store locations) related to the same brand in a given market.

Let me expound upon this observation with the first screenshot, below:

The highlighted review, DO NOT GO TO MIDAS, was published on April 14th, 2009. To see all of this user’s reviews, we click on the user name, Shell. Here is what you will find:

There are nineteen reviews featuring the exact same content, written on the same date, and published on nineteen different Chicagoland Midas locations.

Are we to believe this customer visited nineteen different Midas locations on the same day and had the exact same experience at each location? Assuming it is a real customer, we know that this happened at only one location and the reviewer has created fraudulent reviews on the other eighteen locations.

Do these actions not libel the Midas International brand and cause injury? The cost for a company to build a brand is a massive expense—don’t the corporate stakeholders have the right to protect the Midas brand and police defamatory actions on Google-published and hosted web pages?

The expert’s take

I reached out to international digital forensic and internet litigation support expert Michael Roberts of Rexxfield, which is essentially an anonymous internet user bounty hunting firm based in USA, Finland, Malaysia and Australia.

Me: Michael, do the fake reviews I have highlighted damage the Midas brand, legally speaking?

Michael Roberts: Keep in mind that I am not an attorney, and therefore no one should act or refrain from acting on anything I say without first consulting a suitably qualified, and more importantly, experienced lawyer.

Midas is probably a copy book example of a company whose most valuable balance sheet assets are the brands and trademarks. I’m sure they have plenty of bricks and mortar, plant and machinery and other tangible assets, but all of these items can be insured. Whereas, goodwill, trademarks, and brand equity generally cannot be insured although they can be destroyed as thoroughly as a building fire by a relentless brand defamation campaign.

It would stand to reason that such a high-ranking search results, containing so many negative reviews will seriously impact Midas’ ability to obtain new business while retaining existing business customers who might stumble across these reviews. A discerning reader, in most cases, will probably call shenanigans on the basis of this obvious case of rant-spamming. Unfortunately, the millions of people who believe everything Oprah says, and everything they read on the Internet might not be so forgiving; and their money is as green as the discerning folk. Although impossible to measure, there is no question that this malicious and vindictive individual has already cost Midas sales, and is continuing to affect business and revenues. It would probably be a relatively simple case to positively identify the individual who would then, no doubt, be liable for defamation.

Me: Does Google have any liability here?

Michael Roberts: This question never goes away! I don’t think there are any cases in the USA where Google or any other search engine has been found liable for this type of situation; at least in the legal sense. This is due to the Internet libel subsidy afforded by the U.S. Congress to Internet service providers who republish defamatory material. I call it a subsidy because if we were to transfer the exact circumstances to a different medium, such as a newspaper, then that publication would certainly be liable for defamation. Either way, from an ethical and moral perspective, I would submit that Google could be found to be deficient in its social responsibilities.

“Don’t be evil” is the informal corporate motto of Google. Legend says that it was originally suggested by Google employees Paul Buchheit and Amit Patel at a meeting. At face value, Google’s motto is noble. However, the boldness of such a sweeping philosophical motto, uttered by such an influential global corporate citizen demands a test, and more importantly a verdict in order to determine the disposition of Google’s original intent. Indeed, history offers some excellent benchmarks for such a test; one such benchmark is mentioned by name in the very law that immunizes Google from legal liability, namely “the Good Samaritan”.

Section 230(C). of the communications decency act (”CDA”) includes the following verbiage:

1. Treatment of publisher or speaker
No provider or user of an interactive computer service shall be treated as the publisher or speaker of any information provided by another information content provider.

2. Civil liability
No provider or user of an interactive computer service shall be held liable on account of—

(A) any action voluntarily taken in good faith to restrict access to or availability of material that the provider or user considers to be obscene, lewd, lascivious, filthy, excessively violent, harassing, or otherwise objectionable, whether or not such material is constitutionally protected; or

(B) any action taken to enable or make available to information content providers or others the technical means to restrict access to material described in paragraph (1).

I have a few innovative ideas as to how defamation attorneys could approach this Federal immunity issue; I’m sure that rabid, absolute free speech activists will try and shoot me down in flames, and the ideas I have are, by my own admission, quite grandiose. Notwithstanding, something’s got to give as people are literally committing suicide over this 21st Century pandemic.

It should be pointed out that the U.S. Congress added emphasis to the term “Good Samaritan” by framing the term with “inverted commas”; this is a clear indicator of the Law’s intent, particularly when the term is followed by the words “blocking and screening”. Congressional intent notwithstanding, Google has two options available with respect to intercessory relief for a victim who requests removal of defamation which is republished by Google, or indexed on their search engine. These two options are:

Google’s first option:

(a) Specifically provided for in §230(c)2.(A), which in plain English means that Google can remove the offensive materials at their discretion, even if such materials are permitted forms of free speech, without any fear of the author suing Google for interfering with his or her free speech privileges, or;

Google’s other option:

(b) Specifically § 230(c)2.(B), which in plain English means that Google can turn a blind eye to the pain, anguish, and injuries being caused to genuine victims of online defamation and leave that material on any Google services such as blogspot, YouTube etc; and more significantly their search index. This provision removes Google’s fear of the victims suing them for defamation as they could otherwise do and prevail, with any other form of mass media.

The tone of my words probably betrays my position on these issues; notwithstanding, my humility filter will not permit me to declare my views to be consistent as you would with consensus, the law, or common decency. This would be best left to each reader to determine for himself or herself. With that caveat out of the way I would respectfully submit the following:

Consensus: My presumption is that the average six-year-old and average discerning adult would apply the common meaning of the words used to outline the United States Congress’ intent for the matters outlined in the CDA. In doing so consensus would indicate that Google should err on the side of caution and charity when an allegedly defamatory publication is propagated through their services. Ergo, as a corporate Good Samaritan Google should “[take] action voluntarily taken in good faith to restrict access to or availability of [the] [libelous] material [that is causing harm to the individual who is challenging the assertions published by the speaker/author]”

The Law: There are probably now hundreds of lawsuits in which Google and other Internet service providers have been given a get out of jail free card because of the libel subsidy and Congressional immunity afforded by §230(C). As I stated previously, I am not an attorney and I make no excuses for my un-artful layman’s legal assessment; respectful comments and criticisms are welcome. Notwithstanding, a common sense reading of this law led me to the conclusion that many attorneys are not earning their fees. My conclusion hinges on the use of the word “information” in CDA § 230(c)1. There are several definitions of the word but in this context I would submit that the following Webster’s dictionary definition applies:

“The attribute inherent in and communicated by one of two or more alternative sequences or arrangements of something that produce specific effects”

In a nutshell and in the context of § 230(c)1 I believe “information” means a series of alphabetical and numerical characters, which when viewed in their entirety and in the full context of the original author’s work, convey certain meanings, facts and in most instances conclusions. Whereas, when a victim of defamation has a tiny part of the information sampled by the Google search engine and displayed in position three of page one of search engine results for his or her name, no reasonable person would argue that this “Google snippet” is the same information as the original work because it is completely out of context.

Although it would be a tough battle, particularly against Google’s huge war chest and legal team, if I were an attorney for a client who has been demolished by Google’s ambivalence and refusal to remove libelous materials, then I would be arguing that Google is in fact the author and creator of NEW information about the victim and therefore liable for defamation. Allow me to now bring in to the mix the scenario where a potential customer is searching for a specific vendor, who has been defamed. He or she is presented with numerous alternative vendors in the form of Google AdWords from which Google derives huge revenue streams. I believe that a talented litigation team could argue that this is in fact a “scheme” as defined by Title 18’s RICO racketeering provisions; i.e. Google, enters into a scheme with the victim’s competitor who buys keywords related to the victim’s business; and the two of them enter into a scheme with a third-party website administrator who displays the Google AdWords on the page that defames and injures the victim. In doing so, Google, the competitor, and the web administrator all benefit financially at the expense and burden of the victim of said libel. This is a stretch I know, but I think it is worth arguing nonetheless. And one should not forget that Congress asked for RICO to be liberally construed, while it gave no such admonition in the case of the CDA. Furthermore, an interesting provision in §230 is 230(e). That part specifically exempts Title 18 (Federal criminal laws) from the restrictions of the rest of §230, including the exemption from liability for third party hosts (re-publishers) of Internet libel.

Furthermore, if Google was ordered to produce all the data (and information) they have collected with respect to user experiences within their search engine portal, I posit that there would be a significant indication that Google Snippets containing defamatory material will often cause users to seek out alternative vendors or consultants as a direct result of the said negative results. I believe that my hypothesis would be validated by the certain fact that Google has received thousands, if not hundreds of thousands of requests from individuals who have been injured by malicious Internet defamation in the billions of Google WebPages and search results. If true, then Google’s obligation and duty of care to individuals in the community grows exponentially. In fact, in some common law jurisdictions this might open up an ancient legal count of “Scienter”; the root being “science” as in knowledge, specifically prior knowledge. Scienter refers to intent or knowledge of wrongdoing. This means that an offending party, in this case Google, has knowledge of the “wrongness” of an act or event prior to committing it. In this case I submit that it is an act of omission on Google’s part as opposed to an act of commission. I.e. doing nothing to ease the emotional, financial, and social anguish of a defamed individual when thousands of similar complaints have been received is intrinsically evil. Scienter could be argued further if my theories on Google’s Humility Algorithm are accurate; in fact, this would take Google from an act of omission to an act of commission, but that is a discussion for another day.

Common Decency: The standard has been set time and time again — the law of charity is written in our hearts and I do not believe that Congress chose Jesus’ analogy of the Good Samaritan by coincidence. Which one of us will walk by if we see somebody lying bleeding in the gutter without helping him or her? Why then should Google not do the same? After all, defamation is considered by the law to be a personal injury. So much so that malicious libel is still a criminal act in 17 US States and most of Europe and Asia, just as it is for a victim of a hit-and-run.

Me: What options does the leadership of Midas have to protect their brand?

Michael Roberts: This is above my pay grade because I am not a brand management expert or search engine optimization practitioner; but common sense would dictate that Midas should at least:

Contact Google and point out the obvious shenanigans with respect to these reviews. The obvious first response would be to flag all of the comments as inappropriate. Google has provided for this with a simple link within Google business listings, but I would also follow through with direct contact with their legal compliance team as these postings violate Google’s Terms of Service.
Encourage happy customers to post reviews in the Google maps and street view databases;
Monitor their brand and trademarks online with tools like Cymfony, Trackur and Google Alerts (google.com/alerts) to watch out for these types of threats;
Engage Rexxfield to positively identify their antagonist in the full light of day (tongue in cheek shameless plug). In the past we have been able to obtain temporary restraining orders (“TRO”) compelling antagonists to remove similar postings, and I give kudos to Google for honoring those same orders as if they were specifically named therein, even if the antagonist does not comply.
Ask Midas’ general counsel (attorney) to earn their keep and act on this threat.

Me: Thank you, Michael!

Defamatory local business reviews are a rapidly growing issue online. Interactive business listings that allow visitors to publish reviews in the search engines, interactive directories (like Yelp and Citysearch), and IYP’s (internet yellow pages) affect the reputation and market share of brands with a local business model.

Brands need to embrace local business review management; Monitoring, Taking Action/Responding To, and proactively Generating local business reviews.

Learn more in my industry article on iMedia, “How to protect your brand from bad business reviews.”

*******************************************************************

Download our white paper: Geotargeting: Local Seach Best Practices For Brands

*******************************************************************

Our consulting and agency services are designed for global, national, and regional brands:

Accounting & Consulting
Earnst & Young, KPMG, PricewaterhouseCoopers, Grant Thornton LLP, Accenture

Banking
Wells Fargo, Chase, Bank of America, Wachovia, US Bank, Union Bank, BBVA Compass, TCF, Citibank

Car& Truck Rental
U-Haul, Budget Car Rental, Budget Truck Rental, National, Avis, Hertz, Enterprise, Thrifty, Alamo, Payless, Discount, Fox, Ryder Truck Rental, Penske Truck Rental

Carpet Cleaners
Stanley Steemer, Chem-Dry, Sears Carpet Cleaning, Coit, ServiceMaster Clean, Rug Doctor, Heaven’s Best, Steamatic

Courier Services
DHL, UPS, USPS, Fedex

Dry Cleaners
One Hour Martinizing, Pilgrim Dry Cleaners, Clean’n’Press, Comet Cleaners

Eye Care Centers
Pearle Vision, For Eyes Optical, LensCrafters, EyeMasters, Sears Optical, America’s Best Contacts & Eyeglasses, Eyeglass World

Fast Food & Beverage
A&W Restaurants, Arby’s, Au Bon Pain, Blimpie, Boston, Market, Burger King, California Pizza Kitchen, Checkers, Chick-fil-A, Chipotle Mexican Grill, Church’s Chicken, Dairy Queen, Del Taco, Dixy Chicken, Dunkin’ Donuts, Hardee’s, Hesburger, Hungry Howie’s Pizza, Jack in the Box, Jamba Juice, Jimmy Johns, Jollibee, KUT, Krispy Kreme, Krystal, Long John Silver’s, Lotteria, Marco’s Pizza, Maui Tacos, McDonald’s, Mighty Taco, Mister Donut, Moe’s Southwest, Grill, Mr. Hero, Nando’s, New York Fries, Noble Roman’s, Pal’s, Panda Express, Panera bread, Pizza Hut, Pollo Tropical, Popeyes Chicken & Biscuits, Qdoba Mexican Grill, Quiznos, Rally’s, Red Rooster, Shakey’s Pizza, Starbucks, Steak n Shake, Sonic Drive-In, Subway, Taco Bell, Taco Bueno, Taco Cabana, Taco del Mar, Taco Tico, Taco Time, TCBY, The Pizza Company, Tim Hortons, White Castle, Wendy’s, Whataburger, Wimpy