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.
3rd Party Reviews - Schema Implementation
-
Hi,
Currently my client displaying Ratings & Reviews from a third-party (TripAdvisor) service and only displaying 5 reviews but not showing "Read More Reviews" button to TripAdvisor page. Now I would like to use Rich Snippet schema markup code on these rating & reviews but below are my few concerns, could you please guide me:
1. Can I use Rich Snippet Schema markup code on widget of TripAdvisor Rating & Review.
2. If I apply schema markup code, Do I need to maintain TripAdvisor link for "Read More reviews".
Below are the URLs which contains TripAdvisor rating & reviews after big image:
Please let me know if you have any questions.
Thanks,
Satla
-
Hi @ThompsonPaul,
I've just been reading into this as just about everyone in my field use third party reviews and mark it up with snippets. I'm under the impression that Google is fine with the use of third party reviews.
In the Google guidelines, it says: "Only include critic reviews that have been directly produced by your site, not reviews from third-party sites or syndicated reviews."
I am under the belief if you are not using a critic review then you are safe to use third-party reviews. Refer to the bottom of the guidelines for the Review Snippet Guidelines rather than the Critic Review Guidelines
Especially because our team has experienced Third Party Reviews being approved by Google.When we originally put in the mark up we got a penalty for another reason (Developer incorrectly released on all pages). Google then reviewed our mark up approving the use of third party reviews and removed our penalty.
I'd love to know your thoughts! Let me know

-
Just the fact that a competitor gets away with something isn't a good reason to try the same thing. If Google explicitly says not to do something, it's wise to listen. The competitors may be fine for now, but in upcoming algorithm updates will probably suffer if they are violating Google's guidelines.
Are you sure your competitors are using Schema? I checked the two goo.gl links you provided for the competitors, and although I can see the reviews, the reviews themselves have no Schema markup. The competitors have used other Schemas like Hotel and LocationFeatureSpecification, even AggregateRating - just not Review.
-
Thanks for reply Paul.
but few competitors are still using 3rd party reviews with markup code and coming rich snippets in Google successfully. For example below are the few competitor currently using.
Competitor 1: https://goo.gl/Dq7tMn [1453 reviews - from 3rd party]
Competitor 2: https://goo.gl/YzdK2v [1453 reviews - from 3rd party]
Below is the Google SERP link for this keyword [Eurocalas Aparthotel] and you can see both competitors are coming with Rich Snippet
Google SERP: https://goo.gl/vfvZat [you can see both competitors with rich snippet]
Kindly let me know you feed back on these competitor links.
Thanks,
Satla
-
Google's been quite clear that reviews on our sites from 3rd party review sources must not have review markup, SK. It's grounds for a "manipulative markup" penalty.
Review markup should "Only include critic reviews that have been directly produced by your site, not reviews from third-party sites or syndicated reviews."
Paul
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
-
BazaarVoice Paginated Reviews Not Honoring Canonical & Indexing Multiple Pages
If there are enough reviews on a product page to warrant page 2, 3 etc, BazaarVoice appends the below snippets to each new page of reviews, which are then also indexed, despite BazaarVoice SEO settings that automate a canonical tag (seemingly since the differing reviews on each page are not similar enough to honor the canonical). <cite class="iUh30">?bvstate=pg:2/ct:r</cite> <cite class="iUh30">?bvstate=pg:3/ct:r</cite> It seems Target.com has found a way to hack the BV code to create a dedicated page to view all reviews: https://www.target.com/p/ultra-soft-fitted-sheet-300-thread-count-threshold-153/-/A-13973172?showOnlyReview=true While Ikea.com blocks it in the Robots file (defeats SEO value) - Noindex: */catalog/products/bvroute=Review Noindex: */catalog/products/bvtab Tons of brands apparently have the issue, and you can see more examples if you search "inurl:bvstate=pg" Anyone aware of a solution to this?
Reviews and Ratings | | Eroc2 -
Does anyone use an embeddable Google review widget?
Currently, I use an embeddable Yelp review widget on my site. The widget I use has been helpful, but is no longer actively maintained and I'd prefer to show Google reviews instead. Does anyone have a recommendation for a widget to embed Google reviews?
Reviews and Ratings | | Dions0 -
How many Google reviews can I collect at once?
I work for a University with 10,000+ students and alumni that could submit reviews. But how many reviews should I be collecting at one time? I don't want to overload the reviews and put up a red flag in Google...any insight on how much is too much?
Reviews and Ratings | | GabeGibitz0 -
Do people receive notifications when you respond to their Google reviews?
If someone leaves a review of your business on your Google My Business listing, and you respond to that review, will they receive an email notification of your response to their review? We are working with a client who has unanswered reviews from several years ago, and though it's best practice to respond to all reviews, we didn't want to respond to reviews from 2013 if the person (who has likely forgot about their experience with the business in question) is going to get an email notifying them of our late response to their review. Thank you!
Reviews and Ratings | | BlueCorona1 -
Moving my photography business to another state. Is it possible to transfer Google My Business listing WITHOUT losing my Google Reviews?
A friend of mine is transitioning her photography business to another state. She moved about 5 years ago and consequently lost all of her Google+/Yelp reviews. Having reviews as a photographer is EXTREMELY important for her business reputation. She doesn't want this to happen again. Is it possible to change the location of a Google my Business page and keep the existing reviews? Thanks
Reviews and Ratings | | RosemaryB0 -
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 -
Blocking Reviews by Blocking Words?
A client sent me an email this week, stating that you could block bad reviews on social media sites by "blocking" certain words from comments such as "I", "you", "them", "they"......she heard it at a conference from some other CEO's that had some problems with bad reviews. Essentially these CEO's blocked these words making the pages read only pages so no one could leave a review on social media sites. Now, I have never heard this tactic, nor think this is a good idea in any way shape or form. And I know that you can't block bad reviews from happening (without looking at the bigger picture and encouraging some look at internal processes and customer service). Has any one heard of this tactic? Or better, know of anywhere online that documents this idea of blocking words? I have to get back to her, but I have beaten the drum about how to acquire good reviews so much, I feel I am not getting through! Help! Thanks
Reviews and Ratings | | cschwartzel0 -
Yelp Review From My Customer Removed
Hi, A customer of mine told me she created a yelp account just to give me a review. She's a good customer and wanted to show me her appreciation. I thanked her for taking the trouble. About a week later, I see that her review was marked as "not recommended." This was a legitimate review made by a real customer. I'm angry that it was removed for no reason. I noticed a competitor of mine has 18 yelp reviews and all of them show up just fine. I also noticed that this same competitor is paying for ads from Yelp. A couple of years ago, another customer reviewed me on yelp and it was also labeled as "not recommended." So I now have 2 "not recommended" reviews on Yelp that, if you ask me, imply that my reviews are fake. After Yelp and Yahoo merged, I lost the 14 Yahoo reviews I had obtained from customers over the last six years. I have also noticed over the years, that whenever I need to sign into my Yelp business account to update the data, it's locked until some pushy sales person calls and asks to speak to me in order to try to sell me ads on Yelp. Anyone else hate Yelp? They're obviously not really interested in making sure reviews are "real," they're just interested in selling expensive ads.
Reviews and Ratings | | Ophelia6191