Is Google Places Becoming A Farce?

Since Google started blending in local business listings into Google's search results I see more and more SEO companies stuffing targeted keyword phrases into the Google Places' Business Name field. Yet, Google states in their guidelines...

Business Name: Represent your business exactly as it appears in the offline world.

• Do not include marketing taglines in your business name.
• Do not include phone numbers or URLs in the business name field, unless they are part of your business name.
• Do not attempt to manipulate search results by adding extraneous keywords or a description of your business in the business name field.

Google also states: Google reserves the right to suspend access to Google Places or other Google Services to individuals or businesses that violate these guidelines...

See: http://www.google.com/support/places/bin/answer.py?answer=107528

For example, if I had a client with the business name "XYZ Carpet One" listed their Google Place business name as: "Chicago Carpet & Laminate Flooring Stores" this would get them much higher rankings in the search results when a shopper was looking for a Chicago laminate flooring store, but would be a direct violation of Google Places' guidelines. It should get the business the wrath of Google, similar to what happened to J.C. Penny recently for buying links.

So why do I see so many business listings stuffed full of geo-targeted keyword + a product group keyword phrase? Why doesn't Google do what they say in their Google Place guidelines? Should the rest of us start to do the same thing and ignore Google's guidelines to improve our clients' SERPs?

Bottom line: Local businesses today are beginning to recognize they need to be on page #1 for the most relevant keyword phrases used by their targeted audience. Competition is heating up between businesses and their SEO firms to be one of the lucky local ones. Google needs to either begin to enforce their rules and guidelines and remove the violators or change their rules..