So here's an update on my company SEO nightmare - Local.com IS in partnership with Yext, which I already knew was not a company I would ever EVER deal with. I had, of course asked that question when I first interviewed local.com. They lied and said local.com had nothing to do with Yext. Now they are sharing documents and reporting that they are, in fact, partner businesses.
Well no wonder things went south fast!
To add to the joys, one of my clients unwittingly had his business' profile taken hostage. It seems to trace back to eLocalProfiles.com. They created a landing page and YouTube video, unauthorized, went live with it, then started creating profiles all over the web with it...basically forcing him to pay eLocal/ elocalprofiles to get any ownership of the content, leads, etc. They have yet to ever respond.
Other companies are doing similar programs, each with a pay-per-call program. Thus, instead of driving traffic to his website and/or getting free calls to his company based on solid SEO and/or directory listings, he is having to pay random companies for leads on phone numbers he never authorized.
Now, I've just found that another company has taken over his Google Business Places web link and profile.
The web is not a friendly place these days.
If you, too, need to write "clear" notes to some offenders that we are dealing with, here are a few contact names and addresses. I find that contacting the "General Counsel" is usually effective.
LocalSplash.com
3540 Howard Way | Costa Mesa, CA 92626
RelevantAds
3540 Howard Way | Costa Mesa, CA 92626
eLocal Listing
28765 Single Oak Drive, Suite 250 | Temecula, CA 92590
Local Corporation
7555 Irvine Center Drive | Irvine, CA 92618
Yext Office
75 9th Ave, 8th Fl | New York, NY 10011
