Moz Q&A is closed.
After more than 13 years, and tens of thousands of questions, Moz Q&A closed on 12th December 2024. Whilst we’re not completely removing the content - many posts will still be possible to view - we have locked both new posts and new replies. More details here.
Do ratings/reviews show up in Organic Search Results anymore?
-
I read about using schema or h1review to add markup that would get an individual person's review to show up in organic search, but it was from 2013. I did a few queries for keywords in my area, and none of the results had this. Then I did some queries for generic things like "best pizza in Tampa" and "coffee in tampa" and they didn't have it either. So, is this still something that can be done or not?
- I do see it when a review site like yelp comes up or in ads, but I'm specifically talking about organic search results from our website.
Thanks,
Ruben
-
Hi Ruben,
Back in 2014, Google stated that they don't want markup on testimonials on your website. You can read about this here and figure out how you'd like to proceed, given this policy:
This caused quite a bit of talk at the time, and I don't believe all sites are complying, but important to know.
Regarding third party reviews you are republishing on your site, I have not seen individual reviews coming up with stars on them for some time, but this seems to change so frequently. For example, up until recently, I was seeing Facebook listings coming up in Google's SERPs with stars on them. Now, that appears to have changed. So, I'm not sure what, if anything, you could do right now to get individual reviews posted on your website to show up with stars in the SERPs.
If anyone has seen a different pattern, please do share with Ruben!
-
Well we have both on our site. Some are pictures of hand written notes, and others are screenshots of reviews from places like google + and avvo. So, I can do either.
- Ruben
-
Hi Ruben,
Just to clarify, are you talking about testimonials you've collected from clients and have published on your website or are you talking about 3rd party reviews you've collected from other platforms and are re-publishing on your website?
-
I have been seeing review stars more and more for local organic positioning. When I click-through to see how they're getting those reviews, for the most part they are employing some kind of plugin that regenerates their Google Plus reviews (I question how legitimate most of these reviews are [especially for small businesses], but that's neither here nor there), or the reviews from a well-known aggregator (Health Grades or Demand Force, for example).
-
I agree with Josh on this one. There needs to be some reason Google should believe that the ratings on your site are legitimate. I can't be certain that third party sites like Yelp or Google+ are the source of that social proof, but it seems both plausible and fairly easy to detect for Google. It would be a sound place to start.
-
We are collecting reviews using ShopperApproved. When I do searches for many of our product queries the yellow stars and ratings scores appear beside our listings in the organic SERPs. Our listings in the SERPs look great compared to our competitors, and the results since getting those stars to appear have been kickass. If I was in a business like yours I would get in touch with ShopperApproved and ask them to start a service named "Client Approved". I believe that their model could be used to allow accountants, attorneys, etc. to collect reviews on the same platform, but just branding it as "client" instead of "shopper".
ADDED: SA has a widget that you can copy/paste into the code of your website and it will display random reviews, 4/5 star reviews or hand selected reviews. I believe that this social proof from past customers has really increased sales. We are showing random reviews rather than hand-picking.
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 Beneficial to 'Like' My Clients Google Reviews?
I have a client who is insisting that all of us in the office 'like' his positive reviews on Google. My boss & I are fine with doing this, but due to the industry the client works in, my staff is questioning doing this or not because they do not want to be associated with his company outside of work. Is there any SEO benefit to us liking his reviews or is this more for him to feel better that people are reading them? Does my staff have anything to worry about if they do 'like' his reviews?
Reviews and Ratings | | Justine.Hedge3 -
Review Schema Dropped Off A Cliff!?
Hello everyone, I recently implemented some review schema for my website which looked to be successful as my review stars were appearing in organic rankings with no problem! Yay! However... I've just checked in on where we are with these and they have literally dropped off a cliff and I have no idea why. See image attached with the graph that shows our reviews looking great in July/August then dropping off w/c 26th August. I literally have no idea why this has happened. The Schema Markup Tool shows no errors or issues with the markup either. Can anyone advise? 81Rv88Y
Reviews and Ratings | | Virginia-Girtz0 -
Google Removed All Anonymous Reviews from GMB Listings with No Warning
I just saw that Google is no longer accepting anonymous reviews for businesses, and in fact have REMOVED all current anonymous reviews. This just happened in late May, but I'm pretty surprised there hasn't been any talk about this, it's a pretty big deal. Before I knew this I called their "specialists" to ask why we lost so many reviews. I specifically asked if Google had changed their review requirements that would result in old reviews being removed. She said no. She's either not well informed or just lied. https://orthopreneur.com/anonymous-google-reviews-disappeared/ My company just lost 20+ positive reviews. Anyone else hurting from the change and finding solutions?
Reviews and Ratings | | HammerandHand1 -
Google Reviews & Third Party Reviews
Hi We have a third party review provider, but were also looking at increasing our Google reviews. However after more research, should Google reviews only be used on local listings? For organisations which don't have a physical location to buy from - is the solution to use organisation schema, which incorporates 'reviews on other sites' with the hope Google may show your Feefo review count? When checking similar companies - all seem to have the organisation knowledge card and not the local Google My Business listing. Is it worth pursuing extra reviews on Google My Business or not? Thanks!
Reviews and Ratings | | BeckyKey0 -
We have a link we to: Grace Construction, but the company has switched owners, and is not local anymore.
I have a second question to put forward! Probably close to 8 years ago I exchanged a link with a good friend's construction company, Grace Construction. We are a local fence company in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma. They were new home builders and we sometimes would build a fence for their new home owners. They wrote a positive review of our business and I published it on our reviews page: (it's near the very bottom) http://www.a-better-fence-construction.com/fence-reviews.html And, they linked to our website from their website. However, now after 8 years, they no longer build homes and have let their domain name expire and has been repurchased by a construction company in Florida. I had linked to their website from the text and the image of their logo. I am not up to speed on what is best practice. What do you recommend I do? dwhAV
Reviews and Ratings | | SuperNovi0 -
Why does Google return 1 star reviews in local listings as the "most helpful"?
I have a client who has recently received two 1 star reviews on Google local (unhappy customer and unhappy customers boyfriend). This is affecting an otherwise flourishing business as these two 1 star reviews are displayed prominently when you search for the brand in Google. They have since received more positive reviews, however Google insists on displaying, what they term, the "most helpful" reviews first. Why are these 1 star reviews deemed "most helpful"? In all honesty, they aren't even really that helpful, with the latter verging on slanderous. We are in the process of reporting this one as it personally attacks a member of staff, however, whilst we tentatively wait weeks for a response, I wondered if anyone has any idea on how G decides which reviews are "most helpful"? When there is no option for other users to rate these reviews as helpful (such as on play store).
Reviews and Ratings | | Silkstream0 -
Why are certain words formatted as bold in Google+ Reviews?
Hey guys, I noticed that certain words within reviews left on Google+ pages are being shown in bold text. The original reviews do not feature bold text, but when shown in snippets they appear. I attached a photo below for a college's G+ page. Any insight would be great! 0ZHfhnP
Reviews and Ratings | | TomBinga11250 -
Publishing testimonials on your site that are from your Google + (or other review sites page)
Ive got a site with some good Google + Reviews and some other good reviews on other sites that id like to be able to publish on a testimonials page on our website, but im worried about being penalised for duplicate content. Any idea of the best way to get these reviews on to our website, i was thinking about placing the text in as an image, but id prefer to do something semantic if at all possible. (I know that some review sites have javascript widgets you can use to pull in your reviews but for most of the sites we are reviewed on they dont)
Reviews and Ratings | | Sam-P0