Google has published a new set of guidelines for local businesses using the Local Business Center — guidelines that continue to get more specific to counter the very specific ways small businesses spammers try to bend or completely get around the rules. In a nutshell, there are three completely new guidelines that deal with spam/attempts to take advantage of the LBC system: The business name on Google Maps must be your full legal business name. PO Boxes do not count as physical locations. A property for rent is not considered a place of business. Please create one listing for the central office that processes the rentals. I went into more detail on the changes in this Search Engine Land post . There’s also some great discussion in the comments on Mike Blumenthal’s post about the new guidelines. Advertisement: Improve your website rankings and traffic in just 15 mins/day! LotusJump will show you how to do your own professional-grade SEO. Find Out How Today! This is a post from Matt McGee’s blog, Small Business Search Marketing . New Google Local Listing Guidelines Related posts: Google Lays Down the Law for Google Maps Business Listings The Joy (& Frustration) of Updating a Bing Local Listing

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