Recent content by Ben Seidel

Did the video actually upload successfully, then was rejected? Or did the video just fail to upload? Depending on which happened, that will lead you down a different route of solutions. That said, yes, a 5-minute video is too long. Google strongly prefers and states 1-2 minutes. However, we've...

Just a reminder, don't forget to check the social links actually present on your website both physically displayed with the design (e.g. on home page, in footer, etc.) as well as within an organization or LocalBusiness schema via the SameAs property. GBP looks at social links you add directly in...

Thanks for sharing your article. Regarding the above quote, are you referencing my article on who should/should not write Google reviews or a different source? Family members are definitely a grey area in my opinion as they certainly carry a bias but also constitute a tangible experience if...

No problem! Thank you for the research and analysis! And no worries regarding the follow up data question.

@GMBapi.com Here are the two resources we updated based on your data. If you want us to change the attribution or have additional insights, let me know. How Google Business Profile Reviews Are Filtered for Spam - Spam review filtering system updates section Who Can Write a Google Review on a...

@GMBapi.com thanks for letting us know, and an even bigger thank you for putting together this awesome study! We'll definitely share this as well, and I'll add a couple references (with links) to your data from some of our relevant blogs. On a related note, I know you pointed out that employees'...

@Tim Colling @JoyHawkins when reporting the reviews, it says "someone affiliated with the business" under "conflict of interest." This goes back to our earlier discussion from what we noticed about keywords within reviews that could indicate an employee relationship being the reviews that are...

@twatson It's definitely possible to rank in the local pack 10+ miles away. But the further away your physical location is away from the searcher, the more you're fighting against the inherent proximity bias. That said, the actual distance you can rank within the local pack heavily also depends...

Yep, we already did earlier today! It's just fascinating to see which employment oriented words Google's filter is now triggered by in this suspected Google review filter update.

It certainly appears to be their spam filter adjusted for what they "think" is employee reviews like others have said on this thread. I'm sure it'll successfully remove employee reviews, but it's also filtering out some customer reviews too that use select language. For example, we saw two...

Agreed, it's definitely hit or miss. I'm curious though if the success rate for removing employee reviews will increase soon if Google is tweaking their systems for employee reviews based on what @Tim Colling and @TheSearchSherpa are noticing.

It use to be a publicly stated policy with Google too! Reviews from employees actually used to be listed in Google's prohibited content policies for reviews. I wish I took a screenshot back in the day as they eventually removed it. Even after the removal, we've been able to get Google to...

@GMBapi.com I would also love to see that data. The timing of this with Google's updated Fake Engagement policies is likely not a coincidence.

I agree with the responses above. Have a map if it makes sense for the user (meaning where they would seek to know your location and/or get directions. For most sites this means, contact page and location pages. Don't needlessly add it to all pages. Also, if you have a multi-location customer...

@Conor Treacy, you're not alone. We are seeing this as well across multiple, unrelated domains.