Google Local Update - Review STARS Coming Back?

[Linda Buquet]

Remember when Places search and "more results" disappeared and Jade minimized saying it was part of some changes to make local more integrated? Here's a sneak peek at what may be coming.

CHECK OUT THE STARS!!!

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NOTE: The "at a glance" snippets also show in search and those are very hard to manage/change and are picked up by the algo. Here's one from above "cosmetic dentistry procedures ? teeth and gums ? love love ? neck pillow ? warm neck".

To get to the above result I searched for atlanta dentist, then added the Places parameter that Mark from Places Scout gave us.

So try it with any search, then at the end of the query add: &prmdo=1&tbm=plcs

The search string will then look like this:

https://www.google.com/search?q=atlanta+dentist&prmdo=1&tbm=plcs

Be sure to watch the Google I/O 2013 - Google Local and Maps Updates

Major announcements coming!!! Stay tuned live - especially at 12:45 PST!

So far I've found posts from Mike and Myles at BrightLocal with posts and more screenshots.
From where Myles sits REVIEW STARS are even back!

Mike's post: Google Rolling Out New Places Results Page? Or is it a Test? Visible World Wide
(His screen shots don't show stars or any review data.)

Myle's post: Google Places update - new designs, star ratings & alignment to Maps | BrightLocal

And here's BrightLocal's screenshot. Wanted to share more STARS!!!


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VERY crafty of Google to remove Places search links from view. Wait a bit til the eyeballs on that update died down so they can go all stealth on us and test this new layout! Did they really think none of us will find it? We did. So now, what's the wait??? Roll it on out!

So that also teaches me a good lesson. Sometimes when she taketh away, it's not gone...
it's making room for something even better!

Maybe it will be announced at I/O this week. Anyway, I just barely woke up. Have new baby kitty so was up all night with her and then had to sleep in a little. Off to read more news and will try to run some tests and do more checking.

Let us know if you discover anything else interesting about this update.
(I'm calling update, not test - it's rolled out too widely IMO to just be a test. I think it's just rolling out quietly in the background to test - then this or some similar iteration with new tweaks will go wide. That's my prediction.)

 

[Nick Rink]

Re: Major Google Local Update Rolling Out? Maybe Even STARS?!

It's fun being involved in local search and on days like today it gets even better. All these changes may be difficult to keep track of but they sure do make life interesting.

Have tried using that add to the search query (&prmdo=1&tbm=plcs) here in the UK and it works a treat. Managed to grab a screenshot for "hotels London" but it works with pretty much everything.

Love the fact that the stars are back ... unless it's just a test of course

Edit: have just tried running a couple of different local searches both with and without the search query add and am getting differing ranking results. Will refer back to 1st rule of SEO and not panic!

 

[Linda Buquet]

Cool that you are seeing it there. Thanks for sharing your screen shot Nick!

Yes, soooo exciting!

 

[Linda Buquet]

Just ran super quick comparison and the ranking order in this new Places search seems to match up with current live blended results.

 

[Nick Rink]

Ok, on the old style results page I get the same rankings whether I'm logged in or not. For the new style of results I get slightly different rankings when I'm logged in and it definitely appears to be taking more notice of the Google+ social aspects.

 

[Linda Buquet]

Interesting observation! Keep 'em coming!

 

[Linda Buquet]

Be sure to watch this: http://localsearchforum.catalystemarketing.com/google-local/6958-google-i-o-2013-live-feed-here.html

Major announcements coming!!! Soooo exciting!!! Stay tuned live - especially at 12:45 PST!

 

[Linda Buquet]

They have time wrong on agenda.

FUTURE OF Google MAPS UP RIGHT NOW!

EDITED TO ADD:

Sorry I was muti-tasking all over trying to deal with all the updates.

What we just saw about Maps was part of the Keynote which was likely just an overview of all the updates. (Sorry when he said "Now we are going to look at the future of Google Maps" I thought it was the main presentation for maps - didn't realize it was part of keynote.)

Google Maps: Into the Future is a breakout session, still coming up at 12:45 PST. Sorry for confusion!

 

[Linda Buquet]

YEP! New 5 Star review system. Bye bye Zagat ratings.
New Offers experience integrated into mobile maps.

 

[Linda Buquet]

I attempted to summarize all the different Google updates and post the most important links in this thread:
Massive Google Local Updates, Review Stars are Back & Tons More

And YEP! New 5 Star review system. Bye bye Zagat ratings!

 

[dchavez]

HI Linda,

I'm a new member looking forward to contributing and am really excited if they do bring back the stars, was never a fan of the zagat rating.

 

[Linda Buquet]

Hi Darrel and welcome.

No ifs, ands or buts about it. The stars are coming back for sure. It was formally announced by Google.
I covered it here. http://localsearchforum.catalystema...e-google-local-updates-review-stars-back.html

YAY!

 

[dchavez]

You want to know something funny last year an attorney contacted me looking for you. His name was michael ehline, ehline law firm basically he was spamming google and didn't know why his rankings dropped.

 

[Linda Buquet]

Ha! Yep I've seen his listings and think I helped tried to help him get problems fixed on the Google forum so I'm aware of what he had going.

FYI he now helps other attys with Local search best practices. circleoflegaltrust DOT com

 

[a11c]

I noticed that for several clients of mine 0 out 3 in zagat is translating to 2/5 in stars rating, fyi