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.
-
Hi Stephen,
Yes, this is very much a known problem. If your clients are involved, first step for them is to report their issues to this thread in the Google and Your Business Forum:
http://productforums.google.com/forum/#!msg/business/0f1Cu9yLIzY/J21OJDPL1NUJ[1-25]
This thread was started by Google Forum Top Contributor, Mike Blumenthal, to consolidate all of the complaints into one place for review. So, go there and list each client separately (or have them do it themselves) with documentation of what each is experiencing.
Additionally, here is a blog post on this topic from Joy Hawkins that I think will be helpful to you:
Also, if any of your clients happen to be in the auto dealership industry, be advised that Google appears to be cracking down on reviews in that sector with especial vigor. See:
Hope these resources will help you feel up-to-date on this issue, and maybe even help you resolve your client's troubles.
-
Is this a known ongoing problem? My client still has weeks-old reviews that aren't showing up on his + Places page. I'm under the impression this problem is widespread? I wonder why it affects some businesses while others rake in the ratings?
Thank you,
Stephen
-
Hello Greg,
Thanks for coming to Q&A with your question. I'm the Local SEO Associate here in the forum. As Delive has mentioned, there are a number of common reasons that reviews go missing. In fact, in my recent interview of Google Places Help Forum Top Contributor, Mike Blumenthal (see: http://www.solaswebdesign.net/wordpress/?p=1128) I asked Mike what the most commonly reported issue was and he responded:
Mike: Reviews, Reviews and Review issues.
So, that's how big of a problem this is.
Right at this moment, there is a known shakeup going on. See this thread in the Google Places Help Forum and read Vanessa's response:
http://www.google.com/support/forum/p/Places/thread?tid=30598b3a81e58555&hl=en
Read Mike Blumenthal's Google+ post on this:
So, your clients' vanished reviews may well be part of this work going on. Sit tight. Don't touch anything. Monitor what's going on and keep checking the G. Places Help Forum to see if someone posts an update on this. If, after a few weeks, the reviews have not returned, it will be soon enough to suspect another problem.
Hope this advice and up-to-the-minute news helps!
Miriam
-
Hi Greg,
There are many reasons for reviews not appearing on the google place and it happens to most of the websites.
The link Technical issues with reviews gives a detailed explanation of all the technical issues which are causing for the reviews not to appear.
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
-
Google+ advice
I am in the process of finalizing G+ pages for our financial institution's 70 locations. So far, the only things I see in my control (set-up only) are the basics - address, phone number, website, description, categories, etc. I do have some great information for additional information (drive-through hours, products, services, etc.), but I see that there's not a place for those. So aside from ensuring accuracy, choosing the best categories provided by Google, uploading quality pics, writing an effective/optimized description, and making sure my pins are correct, any other tips for making these the best pages the best I can? The only thing in my scope is page set-up. Our social media coordinator will be mitigating reviews and posting content. Thanks!
Image & Video Optimization | | SSFCU0 -
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?
Image & Video Optimization | | BobGW0 -
Google categories for local limousine service
I manage the Google places page for a SAB (local limousine company). The question is, should I add "taxi" and "airport shuttle service" as categories? I have listed only "limousine" and "car service' for now and I want to play it safe although those 2 are related to limo service. Sometimes people refer to limo service as "taxi service" or they are inquiring about prices for shuttle service to the airport and they end up booking the service quite often. Does Google look to our website to find these words in the content? Google Analytics show lots of people are finding us through those two keywords as well although you cannot find the word “taxi" on our website. The interesting thing is that when searching for "taxi + my zip code" the company shows up 4th on maps results and when searching for "shuttle service + my zip code”, the company shows up 2nd on local results and also 2nd in organic results. Is this enough to make me add these 2 categories? Second question is about the area served, does it make a difference (in rankings) if I choose “Distance from one location"over"List of areas served"? What happens is the red pin would be in a different location. If I choose "Distance from one location" the pin would be right in the center of the city (which I think it shouldn't matter anymore that much since the proximity to the centroid is not a ranking factor anymore). If “list of area” served is selected, (the city name will be chosen) then the pin would be about 5 miles West of the city center. Any thoughts will be appreciated. Thank you!
Image & Video Optimization | | echo10 -
Google local listings question
im working with gutter installation company, and we're ranking for all the top keywords in google. the only thing that we're not ranking for is for the map results, for the keyword "gutter ma" since we're located in Springfield ma, i thing Google considers certain areas from Boston, because its more center of Massachusetts, What can i do to improve my rankings in maps for this keyword, because i know it wont work with PO box since i need to confirm an address? Thanks
Image & Video Optimization | | vladraush990 -
Finding Pages with Youtube Embedded Videos in Google SERP
I'm trying to figure out a process to find specific youtube embed videos using Google search. But a lot of sites are not being returned. For example, I know that the following video (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1MnylRaQC3w) is linked to and embedded on http://gizmodo.com/5898438/watch-how-fender-builds-its-iconic-stratocasters However, I can't figure out a set of search terms to find that in Google. Searching for (1MnylRaQC3w Gizmodo) doesn't return the right page in the results. I'd like to figure this out so I could see everywhere a certain youtube video has been embedded.
Image & Video Optimization | | nixforsix0 -
Why do seomoz rankings not match mine in google for the same keyword?
SEO moz lists my site http://holmesbailbonding.com as listing 2nd for raleigh bail bonds but when I search I am getting different results even with a cleared cache. Just wondering what factors contribute to this and what I need to be doing more of to get my site to rank for Raleigh Bail Bonds in raleigh, nc. Thanks,
Image & Video Optimization | | MaddDogg0 -
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 -
No option to claim listing in Google Places: country-wide issue
Hi, All! We were trying to advise a client about local SEO, and we ran into the issue of - their Google Places pages (yes, they have several, that's a separate issue) are "unclaimable." Meaning - up at the top of the page there is neither a "Edit this page - Business Owner?" heading or a "Edit this listing - Owner-verified listing" heading. When you try to claim it independently using the phone number (all pages have the same phone number, but different addresses), Google gives you "No address found for this phone number" and the option to now add a new page, which is not quite what we're looking for. This is an Israeli location, and this appears to be an issue with a few other random Israeli pages I checked (I saw pages with neither heading option). But a number of the Israeli pages have "Owner-verified listing." How did they get it? Any help would be much appreciated. Thanks! Regards, Aviva
Image & Video Optimization | | debi_zyx0