Back to the future for Google with Reviews from around the web

[Priya Chandra]

So it appears Google is returning to the future with its latest 'Reviews from around the web' feature.

More from Search Engine Land here: Google adds ?Reviews from the web? to critic reviews in local search results


Anyone seeing it in the wild as yet?

 

[JoyHawkins]

Just started seeing this today and it includes Yelp reviews and reviews from your own site (if done properly) which is new! Here is my write-up.

 

[cdawg2610]

I'm seeing it in my vertical, and also seeing a lot of listings with only 1 or 2 other sources listed. Seeing lots and lots of YP.com

 

[Jon Hall]

FYI it's not true that your own site must follow Google's new guidelines to see this result. I agree that implementing the new guidelines is good future-proofing. But currently, any syntactically correct use of schema on a site with adequate PageRank will show up here, as it is with rich snippets.

 

[JoyHawkins]

Jon,

A lot of the ones I checked that were not following the new guidelines didn't have it BUT I only checked a few and other SEOs have confirmed what you're saying is true as well.

I'm still telling all my clients to switch their strategy. I think I've learned going against Google or trying to find ways to skirt around the guidelines isn't a good long-term strategy.

 

[Jon Hall]

Agreed, Joy! I'm not recommending *anyone* go against the Big G

But I think people should be informed of what is actually happening on the ground, especially people who have already implemented strategies to take advantage of Google's "old" guidelines (from January!).

If there's anything these new developments make clear, it's that Google is fickle. I hate to see clients be overly reactionary or suffer from an unfounded "fear of missing out."

For those who have already been doing this stuff with reviews and seeing the benefits, there's time to see what else comes down the pike from Google, evaluate the trade-offs, and come up with a strategy that maximizes the opportunity.

 

[pbarnhart]

It's also time to get rid of those duplicate listings on Facebook, YP, etc! One business owner already posted that the incorrect (old) Facebook page was being sourced for reviews:

https://www.en.advertisercommunity....ok-Reviews-Display-Bad-Information/m-p/704872

From what I can tell, Google is not using schema.org markup to decide what Facebook page to choose, and from the above example (and two others I checked awhile ago) does not seem to be using Facebook's verified page flag to determine which of two or more duplicate pages to pull reviews from.

 

[Adam Potaznik]

Priya, I thought this was a good thing, but now I have found something that is quite concerning.

Some third-party review sites are not stringent in keeping out fake reviews, and these fake review numbers are now appearing on Google knowledge panel.

An example of this is a company called Original PC Doctor. I actually worked for these guys for a few weeks in my former life as an IT consultant. Still owed my paycheck, it's only been six years, I am sure the cheque is in the mail....

I will let the one star reviews speak for themselves: https://goo.gl/GZIuz5

What concerns me is that Womo is quite a popular review site in Australia, it ranks probably fifth in order of where people leave reviews in Australia (Google, Facebook, True Local, Zomato, then Womo) however I did not realise that people are able to game this site so much. The aforementioned company even won a Womo service award two years running.

It is so obvious their reviews are fake, just an endless chain of five star reviews from people who have only ever left one review, with usernames ending in three numerals.

I am not the firs to notice this: How are WOMO & True Local Reviews Abused by Psychic Networks?

We don't really have anything with the power of a Yelp down here, so the three spots get taken up by sites like this.

It gets even more incestuous when you learn that Womo.com.au is now owned by a company called Oneflare.com.au - a service provider comparison site where you receive quotes for service related jobs. I tried this type of thing once for car detailing, they give you about three quotes. In all likelihood, Original PC Doctor is one of the users of Oneflare, maybe they pay extra for a premium package to be one of the three quotes, who knows. Therefore the parent company of Womo is receiving a commission from sales.

So Google trusts Womo, which uses fake reviews, who is owned by Oneflare, who receives commissions from the companies with fake reviews.