Google Testing Review Snippits in 3-Pack

[JoyHawkins]

Dr Pete from Moz just tweeted this

I tried a few searches that show the photo 3-pack (wedding djs, campgrounds) and can't replicate it. Can any of you?

 

[JoyHawkins]

I checked out the profile of the guy who left the review that got featured. He's not a Local Guide and has written 3 reviews for other guitar shops in the area so I'm wondering if Google is using that at all as a reason to chose his review to feature. Oddly his review isn't even in the top 5 "most helpful" reviews on this listing.

I see a LOT of potential for this to go south. Imagine you are this business:

 

[Scott Rawlins]

Nope. I tried a few different searches with and without geo and using different locations and I can't replicate it at all. Just review stars, but no snippets.

And I have to agree that if this somehow becomes the norm, it could be a potential pitfall.

 

[JoyHawkins]

I checked out the review for the other business and this guy had only left 1 review so I'm guessing Google is probably using some other criteria to decide which review to feature.

I would hope they look at ones from people who have physically visited the store (based on Google's ability to track via smart phones).

 

[Priya Chandra]

Definitely not showing up in Australia (not that I expected it to )

Interesting investigative results Joy - if they do end up going down this path, then yes it would be nice to have some 'weight' behind the chosen review (Local Guide, physically visited the location, uploaded a photo, identified as most helpful, etc etc) rather than randomly selected.

 

[Tim Colling]

Since they already show reviews in some cases in the KG, is this really all that different? the only big deal is *WHICH* review(s) they choose to display. In both places, actually.

 

[Priya Chandra]

Hi Tm,

That's actually the biggest issue I have with this new feature. Review snippets cause quite a bit of grief already, due to the lack of control over which review is used and arbitrary choice of words - such as using different parts of the same review to make up different snippets, or even taking a phrase out of context so that a positive becomes a negative ("No-one understood my problem like the experts at Guitar City" becomes "No-one understood my problem..." for example).

Unless there's a bit more weight behind the reviews chosen for this feature, then I see the same problems coming up for business owners.

 

[Tim Colling]

..Review snippets cause quite a bit of grief already, due to the lack of control over which review is used and arbitrary choice of words...or even taking a phrase out of context so that a positive becomes a negative...

Unless there's a bit more weight behind the reviews chosen for this feature, then I see the same problems coming up for business owners.

Yes, I agree. Since it's Google's "house", they get to make the rules, no matter how arbitrary or ill-conceived. It seems like the best defense here is to work hard to encourage postings of authentic favorable reviews, no?

 

[Priya Chandra]

It seems like the best defense here is to work hard to encourage postings of authentic favorable reviews, no?

Definitely! The best defense is a good offense