Updated:
I have followed up on this post with Instant Websites and Merchant Circle Questionable Practices. Check it out.
This post outlines the finer points of the MerchantCircle issue in much better detail.
Revision
When writing this post I made some assumptions that may not be 100% accurate in the example of Rutt of Los Altos. I do have a personal example where Merchant Circle registered a domain name consisting of the business name submitted to them. I will continue digging on this subject. I have targeted a few other local businesses in my area which also have websites generated by MC. This week I will be contacting them to see if they requested these websites.
Look for another post shortly. I will outline the details of what I have found. Thanks
Original Post – Below
Anyone who plays in local search optimization for very long is familiar with Merchant Circle. They are an SEO powerhouse whose intentions are typically less than 100% pure. Unfortunately this pattern of shady business decision has taken on a new form.
In 2007, Sugarrae wrote a post on how Merchant Circle offered little-to-no value to end users and consumers. Within her post she wrote:
“So, basically, Merchant Circle is doing their best to rank in the search engines with the sole goal being to charge businesses to control their listing, but providing no end experience or value to the user?”
It seems she was more right than she may have known at the time.
Widespread Hijacking of Business Domains
Today while checking on some of my client’s listing I noticed something peculiar. Happening in the SERPS, for example visit this search: Rutt of Los Altos. 
This is not my client, however my client’s site follows the same pattern.
Rutt of Los Altos is a cabinetry business based in Los Altos, California. Their real web site is www.ruttoflosaltos.com. However this site has not been submitted to the Google Local Business Center. So it seems someone has taken it upon themselves to register www.ruttoflosaltos.net and submit it to the Google Local Business Center. This is known as hijacking – when you register a business that isn’t yours in the Local Business Center. Once registered you can point the listing to any domain you wish via the LBC or via a redirect.
Who’s Behind this? – Merchant Circle That’s Who
A quick search of the whois records reveals (to the left) Merchant Circle as the culprit. Now lets take a look at the real web site versus the Merchant Circle Hijacked Domain. (below)
Where is this information coming from?
When you visit the Merchant Circle hijacked domain, you will notice it reflects exactly what is on the Merchant Circle Listing of Rutt of Los Altos. Except for the link to the Main Web site (which would have been nice). Further more all of the links on the site link back to the Merchant Circle Web site Check the comparison pictures below. 
My Web sites? You Mean other Merchant Circle Web sites?
Finally you will notice that Merchant Circle has also listed the Hijacked Domain within “My Web sites” section of the Merchant Circle Listing adding insult to injury. 
Implications from a Local Search Perspective
In the picture above you will see that Rutt of Los Altos is a real business and it has numerous citations on other sites ranging from Internet Yellow Pages to other local San Jose related sites. However, all of these situations have been applied to the Merchant Circle Hijacked Listing. Gives Google enough support to rank the Hijacked Map Listing in the SERPS higher than the real listing because the information has essentially been confirmed as “legitimate.” For more information on how Local Business Citations Work visit David Mihm’s Blog or Mike Blumenthal’s blog. They both are local Search experts and explain how citations work very clearly.
What Does this Mean for the Business Owner?
From my understanding it will be very difficult for the actual business owner to reclaim their listing once the Merchant Circle listing has been confirmed. (I would love to hear your thoughts on this in the comments.) However what is apparent is that Merchant Circle is now in control of many business listings within the Google Local Business Center. How will Merchant Circle use this? This still remains to be seen, however one this is for certain, if past actions are any representation of future actions, local business owners who are affected may have one hell of a time getting their listing back. It wouldn’t shock me if Merchant Circle even tried to charge business owners to access their own listings. I do however wonder how this ties in to the recent “Confirm Your Listing” emails I have been receiving. – More on that Later.
75,000+ Businesses Affected – Cybersquatting?
A quick search of “Powered by Merchant circle ” -”Merchant circle Marketing Advisor” -site:merchantcircle.com reveals there are about 75,700 businesses affected by this. I am not a legal expert nor do I claim to be (in fact I know very little about this subject so feel free to chime in), but from what I understand this is pretty much the definition of CyberSquatting or NameJacking since Merchant Circle is showing ads on the hijacked domain, thus profiting from the domain name. Furthermore there is a high probability that Merchant Circle may charge business owners for future access to these sites. From my perspective it the actions taken by MerchantCircle seem reckless and shortsighted. It is apparent that is move has been made to garner control of more organic search traffic and to boost MerchantCircle’s rankings, allowing them to continue to outrank many business who’s domains they have yet to hijack.
What Can Local Businesses Do to Protect Themselves?
If you own a small-to-medium sized business I highly suggest you register your business with the Google Local Business Center. It takes about 15 minutes if you activate by phone and you will have control of your listing. It would not surprise me if more companies begin to try and monopolize listings within the Google local business center in the near future. Get your business registered before it gets hijacked.
My Experience
Just to reconfirm, I do not work with Rutt of Los Altos, but I do have several listings exhibiting the same issues. In my case I never requested this service nor do I want this service applied to my listings. My listings have been listed with MerchantCircle for over a year now and we originally listed with them because the site pushed some serious link juice along with some additional exposure.
Add Your Thoughts Below
Have you had your listing hijacked? Thoughts on CyberSquatting? Let me know I want to hear what you have to say.
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Power by MerchantCircle includes all the sites that MerchantCircle has built for its users. Given 750,000 free users, it is not unreasonable to expect that alot of sites have been built. MerchantCircle offers an instant website service which is the driver of this.
One of the first 20 listings in your search you attached was my business which merchantcircle created 5 instant websites for. (Well for my search anyway, as you know different people get different results)
If you are an SEO/SEM who uses MerchantCircle, you should reach out and talk to them about some of the tools they offer to help you.
MerchantCircle does not and has never claimed Google Local listings.
I wanted to respond becuase I had a $348 charge on my debit card. I tried to contact MC many times with great difficulty and did receive a call back from a David . The charges to my account were explained to me because I paid for a website for a company called Bit Market. MC had my credit information and also my home address linked to the creation of this web page called New Zealand Authentics. Long and short of the story they did not have my email address which is needed to sign into the account nor did they have my authority. They are fully aware that my credit card was misused. They explained to me that the company that is listed can’t even be contacted because it is a bogus phone number listed on MC and goes to a fax machine. The so called Bit Market is in Kenosha,WI. Anyhow MC representative David was empathetic to my story and is in full awarement that my debit card was misused by this so called company selling electronics. They got my card information because my son tried to by an Apple Touch off a company called GigaDrive which unbelievably is no longer searchable on the web. Hum how interesting. What I don’t understand is why MC would continue to carry the listing for Bit Market if they know it is bogus and maybe they could be a bit more helpful by sending me a letter to turn into my debit card company so maybe I can recoupe the money when I contest the charges with the card company. And Darren I know you have responded to this site and I will cut and paste this onto the other address you listed. Maybe you can talk to David and get my number he has both my home and work and we can get this taken care of. Sadly enough this isn’t money I worked for but was my son’s child support money. If you don’t believe me look up Pennsylvania Eppicard. Thanks so much and Darren hope to verbally hear from you soon.
i had my listing hijacked!!!
how can i fix it back?
what should i do?? i tried everything and it doesn’t work..!!
Great article, you raise some interesting issues. It is disturbing that Merchant Circle list your business with consent or notification.
I was initially put off by the information they placed on the listing of my business, specifically the blog page they posted under my business name. It was not representative of my company brand or our real blog, which seeks to provide relavent information to the public without an annoying sales pitch. The Merchant Circle blog posted under our company name was completely oriented to cheap sales jargon which neither benifitted my business nor any potential client.
I requested that my listing be removed.
However… It quickly became apparrent that my competitors were getting first page ranking of their Merchant Circle lisings so I rethought my position and took control of the listing, adding my own blog posts and coupons. And to be honest, it puts us ahead in many searches.
It is still disturbing that someone can claim so much power over others without consent.
Bill Huntley