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
-
All images suddenly deindexed from google sitemap tab.
All my images de-indexed from google as reported in sitemap tab. There are more then 10k+ images that are earlier indexed but suddenly all image are de-indexed. Is that a GWT bug or we have been penalized by google for doing something wrong.Sharing the screenshot. image-deindexed-issue.PNG
Image & Video Optimization | | RaviM0 -
Google + Business Listing created with lost gmail account
Hi I wondered whether anyone can give me some guidance on how best to tackle this issue. A client of mine has claimed their spot on google Maps and has created a very basic local page on google + but now has forgotten their password for the gmail account. A colleague of mine has tried unsuccessfully to retrieve the password and to claim the listing. Question I have is - would you suggest creating a new gmail account for the client and a completely Google + local and claim the duplicate? I am so wary of local at the moment as the guidelines seem to be constantly shifting. Oh and I am based in New Zealand so all the most recent changes announced for the US haven't meandered their way over as far as here yet! Any responses gratefully received
Image & Video Optimization | | AllieMc0 -
How do I get my site to rank in Google Videos?
I have a site that has quite a few videos. When I do a search from Google video's using keywords for our site, the site is not listed with the video site although it is listed with the html site. So how do I get Google to recognize that the site has all the videos. eg google video search with keywords: social media "damon adachi" website: biztvcanada.com Thanks Janice
Image & Video Optimization | | jwdavis0 -
Google Knowledge Graph - change bio image
I have a client who is a well known personality in a particular niche that I've done some general event and design work for, but he hasn't had interest in SEO or social help until this point. He is very displeased by the image that was chosen for his Google Knowledge Graph result when you search his name. The issue isn't due to a poor photo, but rather due to the site it links through to. Google has chosen to use a bio image for his Knowledge Graph result which links to an "anti-" site. This site is opposed to the organization he leads. If you click on the image, it sends you to an image result page backed by an article which is full of misinformation and overall negativity about this individual. The source is also listed under the image on the Knowledge Graph result, a source he doesn't believe deserves any publicity, especially in conjunction with his name. So, what best practices might you suggest should be employed to go about getting Google to choose a replacement image for his Knowledge Base bio? Optimize his own bio page and bio image on his website? Get an image on his Wikipedia page? Create a G+ page with the bio image? Integrate the rel author syntax into his articles pointing back to his bio page? He doesn't want this to become a public matter, so he's against posting the issue to Google's Help Boards or reporting it in a public fashion. I'm not sure what should be the best first steps and top priorities for him and am hoping the SEOmoz team is starting to see some trends with Knowledge Graph. Let me know your thoughts when you can. Thanks so much! iLqNW iLqNW.png
Image & Video Optimization | | windturbines2 -
Google Places / Map Results CTR vs Top Organic Result
I have a client who is currently ranking close to the top of the Google Places results for a handful of important local keywords. They have a competitor who is pretty consistantly ranking in number #1 and #2 organic positions, above the Places results. Does anyone know the average click through rates for results similar to these? Do the #1 and #2 organic positions still outperform the lower placed Google Places (with side map) results when the search intent is very local? I just wonder if they are possibly in a better position as-is if people are more likely to use the map or places listings on the SERPs page, rather than click through to another site. Thanks 🙂
Image & Video Optimization | | David_ODonnell2 -
Google Maps Reviews Disappearing - So Where is the best place to host them now?
I think a lot of people are having this problem. You spend years receiving great reviews on Google Places only to have the wiped out for no reason. That being the case what 3rd party sites do you all suggest that client reviews be hosted besides your website? Thoughts?
Image & Video Optimization | | webestate0 -
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 -
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