SeoAlchemist

If spam isn’t an indication of the arrival of an advertising medium (e.g. email spam, search spam) I don’t know what is. Mike Blumenthal, who identified instances of Google mapspam has now investigated non-local businesses trying to fool the local algorithms on Yahoo into thinking they are local.

Blumenthal cites detailed examples of gaming with fake addresses, phone numbers and, in some cases, fake reviews to boost rankings, which give these businesses prominence not only in Yahoo Local but also in general Yahoo search results.