Google only posting some reviews?
-
A doctor of mine recently complained that his patient went on to his Google+ Local listing and submitted a review, but it never showed up. The patient can see it on his own page, but it's not viewable publicly.
Any ideas or posts you've seen about this?
Thanks!
Tom
-
Ah! Excellent point. Thanks!
-
My pleasure, Tom! Google reviews are important, for sure - widely considered to be a ranking factor in their algo, but I'd advise the doctor to get reviews in a variety of places, just so that all his eggs aren't in one basket.
-
Thanks Kevin - it's helpful to see where Google stands on the matter.
Miriam - you're amazing. Thank you so much for your help so far on this. I'm going to read those articles. I think they'll get me pointed in the right direction so I can tell my client what's happening.
Thanks again!!
Tom
-
Hi Kevin,
Google's review product has been buggy since day one, but as of the rollout of the new Google+ system, the rise in review issues has been totally astronomical. The Google and Your Business Forum is literally drowning in complaints about this.
Read Mike Blumenthal's quick post: http://blumenthals.com/blog/2012/07/30/google-local-and-review-issues/
And here's another one from Mike that's been widely cited: http://blumenthals.com/blog/2012/09/24/asking-for-reviews-post-apocalypse/
I have seen lots and lots of threads in the Google forum about reviews being visible when logged in, but not in public.
Here's one: http://productforums.google.com/forum/#!topic/business/XQYWVOCFebc
Here's another: http://productforums.google.com/forum/#!searchin/business/review$20only$20visible/business/9ro8W8hzKiM/CALKB8W7vwAJ
I wrote a post here at SEOmoz back in August on the subject of lost reviews:
http://www.seomoz.org/blog/lost-your-google-reviews-take-a-proactive-stance
However, despite the efforts of things like the Mike Blumenthal consolidated thread of lost reviews (referenced in my above blog post) the review system continues to be totally broken. This is a cause of huge frustration, particularly since Google has made it increasingly difficult to even leave a review. When so many of them get filtered out, the appeal of making an effort to review a business is certainly diminished. Google is basically trying to fight spam - which is good - but they are throwing the baby out with the bathwater in too many cases when it comes to reviews.
-
Tom,
From Google (may not answer your question though):
Here are some potential reasons reviews might not post, as outlined in this sticky post.
- Duplicate listings of the business. If we've got more than one page representing a business, reviews may live on one but not the other.- Old reviews. Reviews written before the Google+ Local launch display differently and may be difficult to find. You can upgrade the display of old reviews by trying to write a new review of any place.- Review sort. The default review sort on a page is by Most Helpful. Your recent review is not necessarily the first one to appear. You can change the sorting of reviews to Most Recent using the drop down menu above the first review.- URLs in reviews. We don't allow URLs in reviews. If you edit your review to remove the URL, it should post almost immediately.- Marked as spam. We can't share details about what exactly constitutes as spammy behavior, but the goal is to ensure that users viewing pages see only quality, legitimate information to make informed decisions. We know that sometimes our algorithms may flag and remove legitimate reviews in our effort to combat abuse, but believe that overall, these measures are helping to ensure that the reviews appearing on local Google+ pages are authentic, relevant and useful. Here's our reviews posting guidelines and policy: http://goo.gl/LtFCS
Browse Questions
Explore more categories
-
Moz Tools
Chat with the community about the Moz tools.
-
SEO Tactics
Discuss the SEO process with fellow marketers
-
Community
Discuss industry events, jobs, and news!
-
Digital Marketing
Chat about tactics outside of SEO
-
Research & Trends
Dive into research and trends in the search industry.
-
Support
Connect on product support and feature requests.
Related Questions
-
Google+ Local ranking for company with no website
Hi,
Image & Video Optimization | | Ant71
Im about to start helping a small business who has a facebook account but no website. Has anyone got any experience of getting a business ranking locally without a website? Just wandering if NAP details from a facebook / Google+ account helps with local citation building? Or whether a basic website is required? Antony0 -
How do I improve positioning in Google Images?
Looking around in Webmaster tools today and I noticed we have hundreds of thousands of impressions in Google Images, but a very low CTR. I understand normal SEO, but what about increasing rank in Google Images? It is hard to get links straight to an image, and we already use proper alt tags. Any other ideas?
Image & Video Optimization | | EcommerceSite0 -
Encouraging reviews
Has anyone tried building a page in their website top encourage reviews? I found this company and I really like how they are encouraging reviews without soliciting them, clean, simple, instructions are great: http://fortecommercialcleaning.com/reviews We are thinking of putting our own spin on it without scraping content, being original etc. I don't think it breaks any guideline rules. Thoughts?
Image & Video Optimization | | SEOSponge0 -
Should I be submitting to Google Places AND Google + Local?
I hear there is a merging between Google Places and Google + but I still see a sign up page for Google Places is live? Could anyone tell me if I should be submitting to both Google + Local and Places please?
Image & Video Optimization | | Clicksjim1 -
Google Places "Pending" out of options
I used to enjoy the first place position for google places/local, and 30 reviews in the old pre-google local. I am a painting contractor in Seattle. Then in April 2012 I moved my shop six miles to a new location. My reviews were dropped and places moved to "pending" when I changed my address. I am now in my 8th month pending approval for my google places page: Seattle House painting local page I have drilled down and exhausted every resource; including verification, having all my citations exactly in a row. All my review sites like Yelp and angie's list are address/info accurate. I used Yext to check all my local citations. I am set to do not show my address as Google indicates is best practice. There is nothing I have missed...but I am still "pending". Do I need to hire a David Mihm? I am very frustrated seeing one competitor using multiple addresses and having two listings. Any help or insight greatly appreciated. shearer_painting_places_.png
Image & Video Optimization | | johnshearer0 -
Issues with google places.
Hey there! A few weeks ago I made some changes to my client's "google places page". I am facing two issues there which I could not resolve on my own, they are: After I made changes and updated the page I could not see any activity on the analytics section whereas before I updated the page there was some metrics visible. The client had already claimed his places page before he came to me and entered some information. He just stuffed some keywords in the description section. I made necessary changes to the description based on the best practices for places page and according to Google's guideline for creating a great listing.The problem is the category did not update on the places page that show up in SERPs(it ranks top for four major keywords with geo indicators). However, the changes I made does appear when on the lower left side when I login into my places page. I don't see any link that will let me edit "description". Am I confusing some other section with category? I have tried to be as lucid as possible. I will appreciate any help. Thanks for your time. epMp kPWpf
Image & Video Optimization | | virtualhandshake0 -
Google Places - Different NAP on various directories...
My client's veterinary clinic uses a service called Localvets.com which is a division of Yext.com. This service updates listings and sponsors them across various directories. Since this is a referral service (they get paid for new clients) they use a custom phone number and custom website address for these listings. Question: Is this hurting the SEO potential of the Google Places listing since the N.A.P. are not the same? Thoughts?
Image & Video Optimization | | PMC-3120870 -
Ranking Penalty in Google Places for Primary Cell Phone Number?
Say a business runs out of a home (so, technically, the address of the business has a land line). But the business owner works outdoors all day long and so really runs his business off his cell phone. Is it OK in Google Places to list the mobile phone as the primary contant number, and list the home phone as a secondary number? Or will Google penalize the business's ranking in local search results for using a cell number as the main number?
Image & Video Optimization | | keethgee0