There is this new tool
at stopcraponthemap.com that looks for
suspicious and fake reviews on Google Maps and tells you which one they think
they are. "This tool looks for unnatural review patterns from Google
users. It uses several well tested heuristics to detect irregular
activity," the tool writes. "More patterns will be added in version
1.2. Currently supporting USA and Canada listings only," they added. It is
not clear who built the tool but the local SEO community is having fun using
it.
I ran it on my business
and it found one suspicious review from a reader I
know here, so he will find it funny:
Google Maps has added keyboard based navigation controls to the desktop version of Google Maps. So now you can use your keyboard to pan and zoom within Google Maps, without touching your mouse. You can also use your keyboard to find and learn more about specific places like neighborhoods, transit stations and shops and restaurants.
Google documented how this works on Google+:
- On your keyboard, press Tab to focus the map. An area of the map will be highlighted with a square.
- Below the square, there will be a numbered list of places in that area.
- To move around the map, use the arrow keys. To move the map by one square, hold down Shift while using the arrow keys.
- To zoom in or out of the map, press + or –
- To learn more about a place, press the number associated with the place
Here is a screen shot of it in action:
