Local Hotel Reviews/Citations and the ISP address
-
Happy New Year Mozzers,
If a hotel guest signs into the free wireless provider that is provided by the hotel and writes a review of the hotel while logged in, by chance will Google perceive this as hotel staff writing phony reviews to hype the hotel? I ask this because I wonder if Google will view the ISP address as the hotel ISP and not differentiate a hotel guest versus the hotel staff.
Thanks everyone!
-
Hi Hawktv1, So glad to know you've found some helpful guidance on this topic. You asked a very good question! Miriam
-
Thanks for the answers! Sheesh, it never even occurred to me to think of sites like Trip and Yelp.
Very helpful, as always the decision rests with the client, I can only provide as much insight as possible.
-
Hello Hawkvt1!
Thanks for coming to Q&A with your question. I'm the Local SEO Associate here in the forum and will do my best to give you some helpful feedback.
Thumbs up for Ross for remembering the slight stir created a few weeks ago regarding this very topic. Mike Blumenthal wrote a good piece on this here:
http://blumenthals.com/blog/2011/12/06/google-places-onsite-review-stations-aok-with-google/
Read the whole article. And definitely read the comments that follow it, too. This should give you a good summary of the issue.
Like Mike, I felt that Google's encouragement of this practice was a poor choice because of the wide door it is opening for abuse. This practice has never been viewed in the past as appropriate by any review index, and there has been some evidence that some review entities were using signals of this as a way to weed out spam. I am not actually recommending this practice to my own clients at this point, but according to Google, it's okay.
You will need to make a judgement call on this. If you feel the benefits are substantial, you can go forward with Google's apparent sanction, but I remain wary. Hope my thoughts help!
Miriam
-
This is something I read back in early December, though I have no hard data on this... so consider it hearsay for now.
Google are apparently trying to make the places system more robust by introducing a real places support team and are rolling it out slowly. These "technical reps" started in Kansas City and recently answered a few questions including yours.
_Google is going to begin advocating to businesses that they set up computers/workstations where clients can post live reviews in their place of business. There is no penalty for "same IP address" moving forward, assuming a "reasonable number". The technical Places sales rep indicated 10 or less per would be acceptable, and more if the business type warranted it. _
There algorithm will flag more than 10 a day.
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
-
I have duplicate content but // are causing them
I have 3 pages duplicated just by a / Example: https://intercallsystems.com/intercall-nurse-call-systems**//**
Technical SEO | | Renalynd
https://intercallsystems.com/intercall-nurse-call-systems**/** What would cause this?? And how would I fix it? Thanks! Rena0 -
Hi! I'm wondering whether for keyword SEO - a url should be www.salshoes.com/shoes/mens/day-wear (so with a few parent categories) or www.salshoes.com/shoes-mens-day-wear is ok for on page optimization?
Hi! I'm wondering whether for keyword SEO - a url should be www.salshoes.com/shoes/mens/day-wear (so with a few parent categories) or www.salshoes.com/shoes-mens-day-wear is ok for on page optimization? Hi! I'm wondering whether for keyword SEO - a url should be www.salshoes.com/shoes/mens/day-wear (so with a few parent categories) or www.salshoes.com/shoes-mens-day-wear is ok for on page optimization?
Technical SEO | | SalSantaCruz0 -
Businesses That Have 2 Trading Addresses
Hi, I have a quick question regarding Local SEO. We have a building company that operates from 2 addresses, about 70 miles apart. When we changed the address in the footer of our website to a different registered office the rankings for that local area bombed. What I would like to know is if there is a way I can properly mark up the site so that Google recognizes the same business works from 2 locations. Thanks
Technical SEO | | denismilton0 -
Targeting by IP Address... SEO Issues?
I'm setting up a site to display a different site header graphic depending on which U.S. State the IP address is coming from. In theory we may end up doing 50 different images, although we'll probably start with 4 or 5 and then the other states will get a "default". How will the SE's treat this... if it's just an image change, but the text on the page is the same, will it affect anything? Any best practice advice out there? thanks!
Technical SEO | | JMagary0 -
Double Slash // in URL
My client is using double forward slahes in URL like this "//" is this affecting SEO?
Technical SEO | | yanaiguana1110 -
Url rewrites / shortcuts - Are they considered duplicate content?
When creating a url rewrite or shortcut, does this create duplicate content issues? split your rankings / authority with google/search engines? Scenario 1 wwwlwhatthehellisahoneybooboo.com/dqotd/ -> www.whatthehellisahoneybooboo.com/08/12/2012/deep-questions-of-the-day.html Scenario 2 bitly.com/hbb -> www.whatthehellisahoneybooboo.com/08/12/2012/deep-questions-of-the-day.html (or to make it more compicated...directs to the above mentioned scenario 1 url rewrite) www.whatthehellisahoneybooboo.com/dqotd/ *note well- there's no server side access so mentions of optimizing .htacess are useless in this situation. To be clear, I'm only referring to rewrites, not redirects...just trying to understand the implications of rewrites. Thanks!
Technical SEO | | seosquared0 -
Search/Search Results Page & Duplicate Content
If you have a page whose only purpose is to allow searches and the search results can be generated by any keyword entered, should all those search result urls be no index or rel canonical? Thanks.
Technical SEO | | cakelady0 -
What's the website that analyzes all local business submissions?
I was recently looking at a blog post here or a webinar and it showed a website where you could see all of the local sites (yelp, Google places) where your business has been submitted. It was an automated tool. Does anyone remember the name of the site?
Technical SEO | | beeneeb0