Customer Reviews
-
Is it OK to only get reviews on Google and not on other citation directories?
Should I focus on Google+ or Google Places?
-
Hi Bob,
I like Chris' answer, and will add to this. The naturalness of an overall review profile is important to think about. Additionally, a big reason I would not recommend getting only Google Places/+ reviews is that this product has been plagued time and again with massive review loss for years. The Google And Your Business Forum is swimming in reports of business owners having lost many or all of their reviews. If this happens and they don't happen to have any reviews any place else, then they are suddenly in a review-less state with absolutely no record of their good service.
So, while Google Places/+ Local is likely to be one of the most important sites to earn reviews on, it is definitely not the only site and a diverse review profile is good insurance against massive review loss. I recommend that businesses let their customers pick their own favorite review sites. You can steer some clients, if you like, but in the end, if a customer only likes to use Angie's List, by all means, thank her for reviewing the company there. Don't ever insist that she only use Google Places/+.
-
Bob,
Real reviews will happen as a result of people's interaction your company and they will inevitably put them where they think best. Note that, in order to write a review on a company's Google+ page, the reviewing customer must also have a G+ account - just having a gmail account isn't enough anymore. Those without a G+ account will have to writer their reviews elsewhere.
Reviews aren't the same as citations. Citations typically refer to your name, address, and phone number and those you really need to get from a wide variety of sources to strengthen your G+ Local business page visibility. You can started finding out about and populating those sources at getlisted.org.
Here's a good article by Mike Blumenthal on encouraging customer reviews and for good measure, here's what Google says about making sure your reviews on G+ are useful, honest, and written by real people.
-
Google Places is now Google+ Local, so the two are identical.
I don't know why you would only focus on reviews for G+, you should try to get good reviews on whatever prominent directories your site is featured on, such as Yelp.
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
-
Looking to hire an SEO for a Technical Review of my site
Hi I am new to SEO. I am the photographer and blogger behind the photography blog ShootTokyo. I am looking to make sure my site is optimized the best it can be for SEO. My site is a hobby for me but has really grown. I am looking make sure I have best practices implemented. I am not looking for quick fixes or try to cheat the system but to make sure I have a good solid foundation in place for SEO. I don't have a lot of experience nor a lot of free time so I want to make sure whatever free time I spend on this is really productive. I am looking to initially hire someone to do a technical assessment of my site and identify any fundamental issues I should address first. Once I have the assessment I am looking for advice on putting together a work plan on what I need to do and the best way to approach it. How can I best use the tools Moz is offering me? Which things are higher value that I should work on first, specific to my site? For more technical things I might hire this person to implement them or teach me how to implement them. If this is your business can you please let me know what your qualifications, experience, a link to your site and give me a range of what you might charge for something like this (you can email me details if you don't want to post here). If this isn't your business but have a recommendation I would love one. I am Tokyo based so ideally someone either in Asia, Europe or West Coast of US as it makes it easier to connect live if needed. Thanks Dave
Image & Video Optimization | | ShootTokyo0 -
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 -
Google maps places - 3rd party review site's link not showing up
An example: https://plus.google.com/103109773317419974914/about?gl=us&hl=en This doctors place shows up with reviews from yahoo.com, citysearch.com and local.com. Our business has reviews from yelp, citysearch.com and couple of other places. What am I missing and how I can make sure those links show up? Thanks RYWwZZk
Image & Video Optimization | | nashk0 -
Google Review requirements
I'm considering asking some of our clients to leave a Google review on places page. Currently we've focused more on LinkedIn recommendations but this has not impact on local search results. So my questions is what do our clients require to leave a Google review? Do they need a Google + profile? Do they need a Google + business page? Or would a personal gmail account suffice? Appreciate any feedback you have!
Image & Video Optimization | | Nick_Johansson0 -
Genuine Reciprocal Google Places Reviews, is that OK?
I have a client who works with other businesses, is it OK to have reciprocal reviews going on, they would be genuine reviews both both sides as they work for each other. Is that OK? Is it best for my client to use the Google Account that holds their Google Places page for doing the reviews? Or should they have a separate account for writing reviews, not associated with their business? I would appreciate your thoughts on this please? Many thanks Leo
Image & Video Optimization | | Rosewood0 -
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 3rd Party Reviews...
I have a client in the wedding industry who has quite a few awesome reviews on WeddingWire and a few other wedding resources. I've looked at the competition on Google Places, and Google counts their WeddingWire reviews. However, Google is not showing or counting my client's WeddingWire reviews, when in fact my client has better ratings and more reviews. Any ideas on why this might be or how I can get Google to include these reviews for my client? Thanks so much!!
Image & Video Optimization | | Linwright0 -
Multiple Businesses in One Location + In One Google Places Account Under Review
HI, My Problem: Multiple businesses in one location, under one Google Places account, one being reviewed. My Question: see very bottom of this post Background: I am trying to help a client get both of his businesses ranking in Google Places. The problem is the office building has multiple doctors/practices in the same building and gave no business suite numbers to doctors that rent office space. Here is the list of the other businesses in the office: http://www.fullcirclefamilycare.com/health_care.htm. The problem escalates because the doctor I am trying to help has a chiropractic business & a spinal decompression business, both legal entities, both different registered company names, different phone numbers, and websites, but both located in this office building. He rents two offices (they should be suites) in the building. The problem escalates even more because the doctor has registered both locations (see below) in his Google Places account: Westchester Spinal Decompression Center
Image & Video Optimization | | WebBizIdeas
1241 Mamaroneck Avenue, White Plains, NY 10605 (914) 421-1502 Joint Effort Chiropractic
1241 Mamaroneck Ave., White Plains, NY 10605 (914) 368-7668
jointeffortchiro.com The first (spinal decompression) was registered a long time ago and ranks #1 for "spinal decompression white plains NY." The second he just confirmed the Google Post card a few weeks ago and has been under review since. More research so you can help me better: The "The Shop for Holistic Health / The Shop at Full Circle", a businesses location in the same office building has verified their account and ranks #1 for "women's health care white plains NY" and "midwife white plains NY." Another business,in the same office building "Keras-Donaghy Melissa S", has not claimed their listing and ranks #1 for "Women’s Health physical Therapist white plains NY" Another business, "Kuhl Josephine MD," has not claimed their listing ranks in the top 10 for "Adolescent Psychiatrist white plains NY." My Question: What do I do, wait it out and see if Google will remove the "under review" under his current Google Places account or do I add a suite number now and see if Google will send another post card? Or do I create a new account, add the business, add a suite number this time, and see if they will confirm it. I don't want to do this because the doctor already has 12 reviews on this Google Places account. If I do do this, what do I do with the Google Places account under review?0