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
-
And one of the chief difficulties between the local business crowd and Google arises, I believe, from Google's founding mindset of secretiveness. While understandably essential to protecting their mystery algo, it's quite another matter to publish such critical data about real local businesses while keep one hand behind one's back. I don't believe I've ever had a local business owner tell me, "I love Google." They know Google is important, but they don't love them.
-
Google is less clear most likely because they're still mostly stuck in the belief that they shouldn't reveal clarity and expect site owners to figure it out. Which inevitably leads, every year, to more and more "what used to be acceptable isn't" complaints.
Except some tactics never were acceptable and Google's just now getting around to addressing some that they previously never considered or never got a chance to.
My latest effort is all about "does this look natural". That of course, is then filtered through "does this look natural as Google views things in their algorithmic attempt to emulate a human's perspective.
-
I find that Google's review policies are sort of normal, in that they are similar to the policies of others, but Yelp's are sometimes off in a corner by themselves. For example, here's a line from Yelp's TOS:
Violate our Content Guidelines, for example, by writing a fake or defamatory review, trading reviews with other businesses, or compensating someone or being compensated to write or remove a review;
(emphasis mine)
So, Yelp would explicitly frown on the hypothetical strategy Leo has put forward, whereas, Google is less clear on this. Interesting stuff.
-
yeah it's annoying that Yelp specifically states it's against their TOS to actively solicit reviews this way, yet they are perfectly happy if you display their "We Yelp" stickers all over the place.
And oddly, places like the BBB's stand-alone "Trust-Link" reviews site is the exact opposite. They encourage business owners to seek reviews.
-
Thanks for this information.
I have seen "leave a review about your transaction at......." on some of documents that I have received.
Better check the terms of use anytime a person wants to do this.
-
Hey Egol,
If for Google, yes. For others (read Yelp) this is a weird no-no. Nice to see you here today!
-
Hi Leo,
I second Alan's very well-stated concerns on this. Google has this habit of letting things get by them for months or even years, but it's my opinion that they are quick to spot odd looking activity when they actually take the time to look. I believe what you are considering could look odd.
It's perfectly fine for a business owner to use his Places account to leave reviews of businesses with which he has enjoyed transactions, but I, personally, would steer clear of making some sort of organized, reciprocal effort out of this. In Google's dream world (and Yelp's, etc.) reviews are a spontaneous and voluntary action on the part of the customer. They are not the outcome of an organized deal. That being said, I do understand how critical reviews have become, including their number and quality, to the visible reputation and bottom line of so many businesses and it's truly tempting to team up with other business owners who are grappling with this powerful and still-relatively-new monster to give business a boost in a tough economy. In the long run, though, I think the worry probably wouldn't be worth the potential benefits. At least, it wouldn't for me.
Thanks for asking such a good question.
-
Ask customers to do it. Print on receipts, mailings, email footer, etc.
-
The danger of reciprocal reviews is being flagged because they're potentially unnatural. So if there's a one to one parity (every business that reviews another business gets a review by every one of those businesses), that's a serious concern to avoid happening. Same goes for reciprocal reviews that are always the same (4 stars each way, for example). Too easily spotted as suspicious.
Also, if there's a concerted effort and "conspiracy" to get reviews generated (a bunch of companies join a pool of companies to "agree to review each other"), that could lead to unnatural results. So it's a very cautious process to even consider.
The other issue is - if a business that participates only or mostly only reviews other businesses in that group, that's highly suspect. Reviews should be spread out across a wide swath of other businesses NOT in the group, and every participant would need to have their own set of reviews to other outside businesses so no unnatural pattern emerges.
Other than that, it's perfectly valid to review other businesses when you've genuinely done business with them.
It's also perfectly valid for an official business account to review other businesses, since they're business to business transactions. And thus, no need to have a separate account just for the sake of reviews. (All reviews should be from an account that has a holistic profile regarding the activity on the account. It shouldn't be mostly, or all reviews and no other activity).
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
-
Is it still true that when your video is shown in a Google Video Carousel your page is not shown in the normal SERPS?
Hello everybody, I'm trying to decide whether it's worth it to invest time in optimizing my video's to appear in the video carousels on Google. I read that once your video is in the carousel, your normal snippet in the SERPS is removed. Is this still the case? Thank you for helping out!
Image & Video Optimization | | klaver1 -
Can SEO companies be listed on Google Local, Bing Local, and Yahoo Local?
Can anyone confirm if SEO companies can be listed in the local results for Google, Yahoo, and Bing? I'm asking because when you search for most local terms, it will return their local listings. However, that doesn't appear to be the case when searching for SEO or marketing services - or at least none show up when searching from Houston and I'm pretty sure we have quite a few SEO companies here 😉
Image & Video Optimization | | ChaseCameron0 -
Does google places mind listing cities on the home page
Hello, A site in our industry is listing a bunch of cities on their home page and ranking for them. Like "Our dog training facility provides services to dogs in city1,city2,city3,city4,city5,city6 state" where the cities and states are relatively in their area. It's working organically, will this confuse google places? Thanks!
Image & Video Optimization | | BobGW0 -
Issues with google places.
Hey there! A few weeks ago I made some changes to my client's "google places page". I am facing two issues there which I could not resolve on my own, they are: After I made changes and updated the page I could not see any activity on the analytics section whereas before I updated the page there was some metrics visible. The client had already claimed his places page before he came to me and entered some information. He just stuffed some keywords in the description section. I made necessary changes to the description based on the best practices for places page and according to Google's guideline for creating a great listing.The problem is the category did not update on the places page that show up in SERPs(it ranks top for four major keywords with geo indicators). However, the changes I made does appear when on the lower left side when I login into my places page. I don't see any link that will let me edit "description". Am I confusing some other section with category? I have tried to be as lucid as possible. I will appreciate any help. Thanks for your time. epMp kPWpf
Image & Video Optimization | | virtualhandshake0 -
Google Places - Category Question
Hi All. Just wanted to double check something with you folks. I've always been under the impression that you should complete the first category option in Places with a default category from Google's list of options, followed by 4 categories of your choice. However, does the 1st category need to be a default option or can it be any one of the 5? Also, do you think anything is gained in the rankings by adding a category of your own choice as the 1st category? There's nothing in the Quality guidelines that suggests the 1st category needs to be a default option, so I thought I'd throw this out there... http://www.google.com/support/places/bin/answer.py?answer=107528
Image & Video Optimization | | PerchDigital0 -
What impact will Google removing 3rd party citations from listings have on citations being ranking factors?
So now that Google are going to remove 3rd party citations from listings, will they still carry the same weight for local rankings or will this be reduced? If so, how much and when?
Image & Video Optimization | | SteveOllington0 -
Google Images
Hi, I'm setting up a Barcelona guide as a hobby: barcelonacitybreak.com. Naturally I take care to use good alt-tags, checking Google images I see one of the photos I took listed as number one: "hibernian bookstore barcelona". There is no doubt that this is the photo I took myself, but when I place the mouse over the photo the origin is listed as:http://www.auladirectiva.com/. What is even more worrying though is that when I press the image I automatically download this: "Antispy 2011" from http://protectionxpscannermaster.com! Evidently some kind of "anti-virus" program. How is this possible?
Image & Video Optimization | | vibelingo0 -
How should I resolve duplicate Google Places listings?
I am doing work for a local business who has duplicate Google Places listings. I would like some input from those with experience in this as to how I should go about consolidating these listings. Listing 1 created ~3 years ago by someone in the local business. They don't have the login/password info for this listing. listing has inaccurate info, including the wrong url (it points to their old website which is no longer active, but redirects to the new site) 124 reviews associated with this listing listing is on 3rd page of Local Business results Listing 2 one year old All listing info is current and accurate and I have the login info 18 reviews associated with this listing listing is on 6th page of Local Business results Up until a week or two ago Listing 2 was ranked between 1-3 in the local business results along side the map. Listing 1 was ranked around #6. I assume that the duplicate listings with their conflicting info (different url's associated with each) hit some tripwire in Google and they have now been penalized. Does this sound correct? What is the best method for consolidating the two listings and reestablishing the ranking? Here are my thoughts, please let me know if there is a better way... gain access to Listing 1 by having the business claim/verify the listing update all info in Listing 1 so that it is current and accurate deactivate and/or delete Listing 2 Is this the best course of action? Thanks!
Image & Video Optimization | | fastestmanalive0