Google Stopped Displaying Rich Snippets Stars
-
Background
- Google stopped displaying stars next to the website "szallas.hu" in the SERPs, eg: http://goo.gl/RXSS58
- Google used to display the stars
- there is no technical problem, since I can see the stars in the Rich Snippet Testing Tool: http://goo.gl/bQUSNr
Why did Google stop showing the stars? What can I do? I already filled in a form at https://support.google.com/webmasters/contact/rich_snippets_feedback.
-
It could just be Google re-shuffling things and fine-tuning who gets stars and who doesn't. Here are a few things that have helped in my experience:
- Don't go crazy with the schema markup, especially for stars. I see people adding ratings to blog posts just to get stars, and those are all gone now. Add them where they make sense and are conventionally used (e.g. on product/place pages, not on category/type pages).
- Avoid re-using the same aggregate ratings or reviews that go into aggregate ratings on multiple pages.
- Make sure you've nested the right tags in the right orders according to the latest rules - they change sometimes. Sometimes the snippet tool will say something's correct when it's really out of order.
- Tag entities, not keywords. E.g. don't tag the entity as "The Marriottt Inn, Resort, and Spa in City, State" - tag it as "Marriott" or "Marriott Hotel" and list the location separately.
If you're doing all these things it might just be a matter of weak entity association, borderline user metrics, or insufficient site trust.
-
If you check the SERP I've provided, you can see, that all the competitors actually have the stars. Some kind of quality issue may be the cause, but can't think of any valid reason.
What could cause the removal of the stars? Because szallas.hu is the biggest player in the field (in hungary), all the reviews are real without any manipulation, spam or whatsoever.
Maybe too many reviews for a few hotels? But that's ridiculous, since what can I do if we have that much reviews for popular hotels? And what about the thousands of hotels with just 1 or 2 reviews?
Can't wrap my head around this issue, I really have no idea what could make Google think that there is some spamming going on.
-
Google has been planning to scale back on the frequency of rich snippets. Matt Cutts mentioned this to an extent at PubCon in October (link). Google has also recently begun going after those that have spammed and/or manipulated rich snippets in a deceptive manner (link). Your stars disappearing may just be part of the changes in the works.
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
-
Do Google's mobile friendly updates effect visibility on desktop results pages?
Google say that their quest to make websites more mobile friendly impacts mobile search results - https://webmasters.googleblog.com/2016/03/continuing-to-make-web-more-mobile.html But I am wondering if having a website that is less mobile friendly effects desktop SERPs as well? We require Adobe Flash as a tool for people to upload their images to us but not on the landing pages we're trying to rank. So our landing pages are not as mobile friendly as they could be (which we're looking to improve) but am worried this is effecting desktop search results even though Google do not claim they do.
On-Page Optimization | | KerryK1 -
Why am I ranking on both Bing and Yahoo and yet the rankings are declining on Google
I'm seeing ranking go up on both Bing and Yahoo and yet they are going down on Google. I did see a bunch of spammy links show up about a month ago but have managed to get all those taken down although did not get any warnings from Google in Webmaster tools about them was more of a preemptive measure. The site in question. http://www.gocitrusnow.com
On-Page Optimization | | mwaters19790 -
Why is this site 1st in Google??
Hello The site www.woodensigns.net is 1st in google for the keyword "wooden Signs". All seo indicators are poor except keyword in url; wich, i thought, was not a + for google anymore. Could someone help me to understand here? Thank you Emmanuel
On-Page Optimization | | manu450 -
Does Google Bias Against Homepages for Search Queries that are a Question?
If you are trying to rank for a keyword phrase that is a question (e.g. how to ___) does it matter if your page is the home page of your site or an article on your site? I suspect that Google would treat question search queries differently and would show preference for articles over a home page in most cases. An article would be more likely to satisfy the searcher by providing the answer to their question, whereas the home page usually doesn't provide specific answers. I looked at one keyword phrase that is a question and only 1 of the first 20 results was a home page. Any thoughts or experience with this?
On-Page Optimization | | Charlessipe0 -
Why does Google show old title?
I made some changes to title tags on a clients site over a month ago. Google has since crawled all the pages that the changes were made to. Here's the problem. For some of the pages, the old title is still showing in search results. Why does Google do this? 2) What can I do about it?
On-Page Optimization | | eli.boda0 -
Site: command and intitle: command in Google changed?
Hi Mozzers, I'm seeing some changes in Google when using certain commands I've used for ages. I'm trying to spot cananical issues by using this search site:www.mysite.com intitle:"keyword" This used to list all pages in the index on a certain site with the keyword in the title. Now I'm getting weird results and sometimes results from other sites - not the one specified in the site: command. Anyone else seeing this? Thanks B
On-Page Optimization | | Bush_JSM0 -
Hi Moz peeps, google said that we should have two site maps...
Hi Moz peeps, google said that we should have two site maps... one for google and one for people. Now i know having a site map to submit to google for the first time is important for SEO, but is having a site map for people visitng the site help at all in terms of google's bots crawling your site? I know it might actually help human people navigate through your site, I just want to know if by not having it or having it affects on page SEO at all, thanks guys
On-Page Optimization | | david3051 -
Where does Google say this?
Just came across this article: http://www.searchmarketingstandard.com/tips-for-avoiding-thin-content And, it states, "Google says that it will ignore pages with less than 200 words of body text " I submitted a comment to the author, but was wondering in the meantime if anyone knows where Google says this?
On-Page Optimization | | nicole.healthline0