Encouraging people to review my client's business on google places
-
Hello mozzers,
I would like to encourage visitors that come to my site's client to review their google places listings. In order to do so, I need the Google places badge or seal (if it exists) to place it on their website. Does anyone know if it is available or not?
If it sn't available what should i do to encourage Google places reviews?
Thanks
-
Sure thing!
-
Thanks I will definitely take a look at that!!
-
You are very welcome, Taysir. I care about this topic of user reviews quite a bit, and have written a couple of articles on in the last few weeks that you just might like to peruse if you're looking for further reading on this topic:
http://www.solaswebdesign.net/wordpress/?p=1273
http://www.solaswebdesign.net/wordpress/?p=1278
Thought you might enjoy those.
-
Thanks for you responses!! That is really helpful
-
Hi Taysir,
As Robert has mentioned, Google-based reviews are no longer coming through Places, but rather, Google+. Places still exists to a certain extent (and it remains in all of the help doc language because Google is on the fence about updating it, apparently) but now, users must be signed into a + account to leave your business a review. There has never been a badge. I have seen some website do a little graphic of the Google logo amongst others on an About or Contact page asking for a Google review.
It's important to go about review solicitation according to Google's guidelines. Definitely read these:
http://support.google.com/places/bin/answer.py?hl=en&topic=1656880&answer=187622
And I would further suggest that you read Mike Blumenthal's recent post on the topic of review solicitation:
http://blumenthals.com/blog/2012/09/24/asking-for-reviews-post-apocalypse/
Every review site has its own guidelines. In the Local SEO community, the census of opinion seems to be that it is okay to ask your customers to leave you a review, but it is not okay to ask them to leave you a positive review. That is the distinction most commonly arrived at from a study of the guidelines as well as Google employee comments on this topic.
Be advised that Google has ramped up their filtering of reviews in recent months. Another consensus of opinion is that it is safer to get reviews a little bit at a time, rather than in large blocks all at once, to avoid review take downs.
When it comes to encouraging reviews, methodology is dependent in part on your business model. If, for example, you are running a dental office, you might want to hold a staff meeting with your receptionists to educate them about the importance of gaining reviews over time. Then, you might make it company policy for the receptionists to mention to customers that you would appreciate a review, or, in taking care of billing at the time of service, they might include a little card encouraging the patient to leave a review. Another effort could involve acquiring the email addresses of customers and sending pre-qualified satisfied ones a follow-up email, after the time of service, requesting that they leave feedback about their experience. Be creative about this and come up with a way to encourage awareness of your appreciation of customer feedback without being pushy.
And, don't just focus on Google. I firmly believe it is better to put your eggs in many baskets on this. With Google and Yelp both having the ability to severely filter reviews that come it, it's important to have good words about your business in a variety of places on the web.
-
Taysir,
Google Places does not exist. I believe the effective date of the change was June 1. So, as to a badge or seal, there is none (for either).
As to encouraging traffic to the Google + for business for your client. For us, we set up ways for our clients to ask their customers to place reviews for them. An issue here is that if you are getting too many or you try to do the reviews via proxy, they will be removed.
I think you would be better served to put G+, FB like/share, Twitter, etc. buttons on the page in a conspicuous place and, possibly, put a slight amount of text or an image below asking them to click if they love you.
Hope it helps,
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
-
why google never shows Coursera or Udemy videos in the SERP?
I work for a website pretty much like Coursera, and google never brings up our videos in the SERP. It has been indexed and Search Console URL Inspection tool identifies it as a video object. is it a technical issue or just google doesn't like to show us in the SERP? Is there any way to fix this?
Image & Video Optimization | | semrtaz0 -
What's better for SEO an Optimized Image URL vs Optimized Image File Name?
I would like to know what is best practice for optimizing images for our website. Is it better to give an Image an optimized filename Or an optimized URL for SEO? Or is it better to do both? Would there be any harm in doing both if they are identical in their format? Any help would be greatly appreciated. With thanks, Kate
Image & Video Optimization | | K_borg0 -
Should I create a Google Places listing for an online only store?
We currently run an e-commerce store that is online only. We do have an office address that I could list for Google Places, but it is not open to visitors so I am not sure if this would contravene the TOS. At the moment we are in the process of trying to build reviews and Google's revamped 'Places for Businesses' looks like it would be a great tool for monitoring and responding to reviews. From what I can see, though, it is only available to those with a Google Places listing. I am also looking into independent review services, but typically these cost £100 per month minimum, whereas Places for Business would be free. Is there a way that we can use Google Places to build reviews, given that we do not have an actual shopfront? If not, does anyone have any advice on how an online only store can build reviews in the same manner using Google's own tools?
Image & Video Optimization | | pugh0 -
Google+ Local Listing - No Physical Address
Hi everyone, I have a client who won't be renewing his lease for where he conducts his business. Instead he will be working from home. That being said, he does not wish to have his personal address details showing within his local listing. Is there any other way to still show for Google Local without a personal or business address? Is a PO box possible, other there any other alternatives? Thanks in advance. Leo
Image & Video Optimization | | nimbleo0 -
Google Local pulling incorrect business name
A client mistakenly put her business name in one of the directories with "In" after the name for" incorporated". She wants to remove the "In" because it just looks weird, but we cannot figure out how, its showing up in google local too now. She did update her infousa listing but that didn't help.
Image & Video Optimization | | handsun0 -
What's the best way to host video for SEO purposes?
Hello SEOmoz folks, I'm curious as to whether it will be more beneficial for a website to host a video on the site itself or to host it on YouTube and then embed the code on your site. The options so far, as it seems, are: 1.) Host the video on YouTube or Vimeo or wherever else, then embed the YouTube code into your own website's HTML. 2.) Host the video on your own website by itself. 3.) Host the video on your own website AND YouTube AND Vimeo. I'm wondering which option is best. And if hosting your video on your own website is a good way to go, whether to go that route solely or in addition to hosting on YouTube, what is the best way to go about that? Do I have to embed a player AND the video info into the HTML of my website? What player is best for this? Flash, or something else? And once I get the video on my site one way or the other, how do I write the code to make sure the video thumbnail shows up next to my search results in Google to maximize the SEO potential for the video clip? Sorry for the long question, but I've been searching everywhere for this and I'd love just a direct answer on it. Thanks for your help! Cheers, Dani
Image & Video Optimization | | MountainMedia0 -
Physicall business in GMaps
Hi, how are you? I'm working with the SEO of a hotel. I completed the Google Places profile, but i'm having a problem: when you go to the map in google maps near the hotel, it shows all the hotels around like in the picture i'm attaching, with little icons like a fork for restaurants, a bed for hotels, a bag for shopping malls. Do you know what reasons could cause that my hotel isn´t appearing like that, with those icons? I'll be really grateful if you can help me with this. Thanks! Ariel
Image & Video Optimization | | arielbortz0 -
How do I get Google Places to pick up my reviews from other sites?
I have reviews on Yelp, Insiderpages.com, and Citysearch. All of my contact information matches up, but Google does not seem to be finding them and adding them to my Google Places page. Is there anything I need to do to make this happen?
Image & Video Optimization | | vinnyb20000