Competition leaving bad reviews on our places page, what to do?
-
I have flagged the reviews as not useful from multiple IPs. I have attempted reporting the review as well. Google does nothing. It's very obvious that the review(s) are fake. Often all the other reviews of the person's profile are for different cities and all 5 stars for businesses that they are most likely doing SEO work for. Are (blackhat) SEOs using bad reviews as a technique to keep the competition out in your business/market? What did you do about it?
-
In all my years doing local search marketing the only bad reviews I have been able to get removed on Google are those that include profanity or "inappropriate content" and even those have required many email exchanges with Google.
Have you read this: http://www.google.com/support/places/bin/answer.py?hl=en&answer=187622
Also remember to make it easy for your clients to post review by placing you places link on email campaigns and social media profile pages.
Good luck!
-
Thanks! we figured as much, and already have a positive review since this bad one. I was just wondering if there was an easier fix
-
Thanks! we figured as much, and already have a positive review since this bad one. I was just wondering if there was an easier fix
-
The best way to fight evil is with good. Focus your energy and efforts on getting / encouraging your clients to leave positive reviews for your company.
-
Sorrry, I got it worng, than. No idea about google places
-
Zsolt, I believe the reviews are being left on the Google Places page, not on the website itself.
-
Maybe you can try restricting those people from leaving review with a htaccess. If they are clever they can still get arounf the restriction but the have got a harder time to do so. I don' know how it can be done technically but maybe you can restrict someone with a given mac address, so that a given computer will never be able to access your page again. Ban profiles and forbid e-mail addresses in the cms. I haven't got any better advices, these are machine algorythms so they do not see the face of the commenter. They can ve identified due to their ip, computer or e-mail.
Got a burning SEO question?
Subscribe to Moz Pro to gain full access to Q&A, answer questions, and ask your own.
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
-
On-page Local SEO
I'm wondering how to pull it off on-page local SEO for a financial institution website with 70 locations. However, they are broken in down in regions, which would make it easier to get our hands around. Would a viable solution be setting up regional pages? I don't know about our CMS capability, but it seems like it would be beneficial to have on each regional page aggregate local-centric press releases (example: a volunteer event or recognition) and local announcements such as paper shred days. Thoughts? Anyone else posed with a similar challenge?
Image & Video Optimization | | SSFCU0 -
Google Places: "We currently do not support the location"
Does anybody know what is going on with this message? Instead of our Google Places page, we get the above message. 😞 To be mentioned that Google representatives called our business to verify this listing 2 times this week... Anybody got the same problem? Thanks!
Image & Video Optimization | | echo10 -
Reviews not showing up in Google Places
We have had several clients tell us their customers are giving them reviews on Google Places, but the reviews are either not showing up at all, or they show up for one day and then disappear. Has anyone else seen this happening with their clients, or with their own website? What can we do to get Google to post the reviews or find out why the reviews are not appearing on the places listing? Thanks for any help.
Image & Video Optimization | | GregWalt0 -
Google Places: "this place is permanently closed" what next?
All, I'm working on a duplicate Google places listing issue. One of the listings is accurate, verified and has been reviewed by quite a few customers. However, we have a problem with an old address that still shows up in Google maps and seems to be the cause of poor performance for the accurate listing. The old address listing was deleted but may not have been removed using best practices based on what I've been able to read here at SEO Moz. The old address listing has been flagged by Google with a notation: “this place is permanently closed.” My question is what happens next? Do listings that have been flagged as permanently closed eventually drop out of the search results Or do I need to take additional action? It appears that once a listing has been flagged as permanently close you can no longer report a problem so that route seems to be unavailable.
Image & Video Optimization | | JSOC0 -
What are the best practices for Google Places for a manufacturer?
A manufacturing client has distributors around the world. Can I add these distributors to my client's Google Places account through the bulk upload feature? Is there a better way to ensure that people searching in the company's various territories see a Google Places entry for the appropriate distributor?
Image & Video Optimization | | joshfialkoff-778630 -
Google Places Local Submission
Hello We're going to upload a bulklisting to Google Places for multiple locations. However, there are existing Google places listings for these locations. The bulklisting is being used to undertake a refresh of all the existing data. How do we go about updating the existing data i.e. do we have to delete the existing information prior to submitting the bulkload, or does a new submission over write the existing data. In addition, how does Google Places verify a bulkload submission i.e. do they make contact with the designated business owner. How long does such a process actually take (roughly!). I know some of this is touched on in the Goolge Places help section, but it is not clear and I don't want to get this wrong for obvious reasons. Thanks in advance for your assistance. Rgds Neil
Image & Video Optimization | | mccormackmorrison0 -
Local SEO: What is the largest Google Places bulk upload you have ever done?
Hi All, One of my clients recently requested my team at our agency to do a bulk up load of business locations. We did the bulk upload and it came to around 652 or so locations in the form. I have done some serious bulk uploads in the past around 500 locations but never this high. My question is to SEO moz what is the largest bulk upload or single upload you have done on Google Places?
Image & Video Optimization | | JamesNorquay0 -
How should I resolve duplicate Google Places listings?
I am doing work for a local business who has duplicate Google Places listings. I would like some input from those with experience in this as to how I should go about consolidating these listings. Listing 1 created ~3 years ago by someone in the local business. They don't have the login/password info for this listing. listing has inaccurate info, including the wrong url (it points to their old website which is no longer active, but redirects to the new site) 124 reviews associated with this listing listing is on 3rd page of Local Business results Listing 2 one year old All listing info is current and accurate and I have the login info 18 reviews associated with this listing listing is on 6th page of Local Business results Up until a week or two ago Listing 2 was ranked between 1-3 in the local business results along side the map. Listing 1 was ranked around #6. I assume that the duplicate listings with their conflicting info (different url's associated with each) hit some tripwire in Google and they have now been penalized. Does this sound correct? What is the best method for consolidating the two listings and reestablishing the ranking? Here are my thoughts, please let me know if there is a better way... gain access to Listing 1 by having the business claim/verify the listing update all info in Listing 1 so that it is current and accurate deactivate and/or delete Listing 2 Is this the best course of action? Thanks!
Image & Video Optimization | | fastestmanalive0
