Google+Local Reviews have gone? Any ideas?
-
Hi
Since Google switched places to Google+ Local lots of the reviews that were on the listing are no longer showing?
A customer of mine brought up the point when visiting the store today, when they are logged into Google they can see their review under Your Activity, however when they are logged out the only review is listed under 1 Review from everyone and the review is no longer being shown?
Any ideas on what is going on?
Also with local search / places optimisation has the best practice guidelines changed now that is transformed into Google+ Local?
If so it would be great to share any links on getting the most out of this new + local service
-
Hi Ocelot,
If the review you mention, above, is new, it could show up eventually. If not, it may have been filtered out. I believe Google is stepping up review filtering, in which case it will not show up because it has been filtered. I'm going to excerpt some data here for you from Mike Blumenthal's Q&A roundup about review changes relating to Google+ Local. Here is the full post:
http://blumenthals.com/blog/2012/05/31/google-local-qs-and-some-as/
If a user just has a gmail account will they be able to write a review or must they also sign up for Google+?
They will need to sign up for Google +
So our customers are not able to leave reviews unless they are on Google+?
Yep, you need a Google+ account to write a review. See the help page.
Can reviewers leave anonymous reviews?
No. At this point it is real names only.
Is there any way to choose a nickname like we had in Places reviews?
No
Why am I not seeing the “Leave a Review” button?
These had been removed from the Places page in anticipation of this move and put on the new Google+Local page. If you are still not seeing the review button it is because you have landed on the old Place page which is still accesible.
**Why would Google make my re-publish old reviews while I’m trying to publish a NEW review for a different business? **
Why it happens at that point in the process was an intentional design decision. It is a one time process needed since Google is moving from anonymous and nicknamed reviews to full, real identity reviews . This necessitated some sort of user approval process to explicitly allow your user name to be seen or to choose to make the review private.
Oh Google, you are driving me CRAZY! Can you please tell me how a dentist can have a Zagat review rating on their places page?
In this case it will be a single number indicating quality on the 0-30 scale.
Best practices are roughly the same, but an increase in social engagement is definitely the direction things are going. I highly recommend that you read Mike Blumenthal's post on adjusting to the changes:
http://blumenthals.com/blog/2012/0/08/google-for-business-places-forums-wrapup/
-
Hi
There were two listings created for the same address, and it seems as though one has gone, which I can see why, because why have two versions.
Tthe question still remaining is why have all the reviews gone apart from one under Review from everyone
and all of the previous reviews from customers now only show under 'Your Activity' for that user when they are logged into Google?
Any ideas?
-
Did you have two listings under the same address?
We operate a number of websites from the same physical address and when I tried to put 2 of them on Google Places/Local under the same address they started crossing over and eventually both listings were removed.
Big pain, especially as one of the businesses had a number of very old, very good reviews.
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 random listings effect Google Local Rankings?
So my clients business name is "Photojennette Photography" and while researching citations to correct I have found a completely random issue. There's an actress named Jennette McCardy that apparently has a ton of photos on the internet and with that are page titles like "Brand New Photo : Jennette McCardy" and "Look at this Photo Jennette McCardy" My question is, would Google be sending my listing down because of this? It's completely random and has nothing to do with the business. Thanks in advance.
Image & Video Optimization | | jonnyholt0 -
Once you start fixing Local citations with correct NAP, is it normal for your rankings to plunge at first?
I strongly believe that I have received the most solid Local advice I could from these forums and have started (in just a few days) to make the needed corrections. At the same time I'm somewhat excited and optimistic that it will be a long journey but that it's a learning process. About 5 days ago, I set my website up with "City landing pages" and I started plundering through google, fixing and claiming and correcting as many citations as I could with correct NAP. The journey still continues today as I just got my Bing Local card in the mail and verified. I went to check my rankings on Google Maps, just to see if anything had changed and sure enough it had. My listing had been holding strong at page 10 (which drives me nuts) and now after 5 days of solid work its on page 18. I have to assume that because I'm stirring the dust perhaps Google is confused and maybe in a month or so things might start moving the other way? Thoughts?
Image & Video Optimization | | jonnyholt0 -
Use Google Places or Google +Local?
Hello everyone, My name is Zachary Russell, and I run a Philadelphia based WordPress Development and SEO firm, ProTech Internet Group. I have been doing work lately, and have been neglecting the fact that my own site needs work, I have now changed that. I have done a complete redesign and started repurposting content to have a well-rounded content strategy that can appeal the the widest possible audience. My issue I'm having now is this: I have both a Google Places page and a Google +Local page for my business , Obviously duplicate listings are a problem, but I don't know which one to get rid of. They both have 0 reviews and limited +1s, I just don't know which one I should delete, and which one I should push to get more reviews moving forward. Also, moving forward, would it make sense for me to have a Google +Business and a Google +Local page?I don't know if this would cause any conflicts either. Thanks for your help and have a happy new year! Zach Russell President, ProTech Internet Group
Image & Video Optimization | | Zachary_Russell0 -
Google Place Result taking over Organic Search Result
Hey there, One of our client contacted as stating that their Google ranking dropped. It was originally listed No.2 on the organic search result, but now it shows up only as Google Place instead, and the ranking is lower than before. Apparently it happens in Japan quite often nowadays, does it happen in your country too? Especially on Google.com? Is it becoming a trend?
Image & Video Optimization | | YukiTokuda0 -
Local SEO
To date local SEO seems to be the weak part of my SEO efforts. Are there any good references for local SEO?
Image & Video Optimization | | casper4340 -
How can I segment traffic in GA referred by my google places listing?
Apart from using a parameter in my url, how can i segment the traffic that comes from my google places listing from the google serp (not google maps). It'd be nice if you can specify a display url and destination url in places profiles like you can with adwords. cheers! marc
Image & Video Optimization | | lexnex0 -
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 -
Are centralized local information management services like Unified Business Listings a helpful tool or unreliable?
As we work with more local businesses, I'm looking for an efficient way to manage their information across all of the different local databases. site is www.ubl.org
Image & Video Optimization | | ScottFasser590