New Dynamic BBB Logo

[JoyHawkins]

I've had 2 clients get contacted in the last few weeks by the BBB because they're requiring them to use a new dynamic logo on their website. My one client asked us to completely remove the BBB logo from their website because they didn't like the fact that the new logo has a "click" call-to-action on it that would essentially ask people to leave his site. There don't appear to be any options with this new badge that don't have that "click for profile" on it. What do you guys think of it?

 

[Tim Colling]

I don't like that either, @JoyHawkins .

Can you edit the embed code in some way to make it load in a separate browser tab?

 

[JoshuaMackens]

Yeah, not workable.

 

[BBBGuy]

For those that don't know me I am a 15 year employee of the Dallas BBB and on the Board of Directors of the DFW Search Engine Marketing Association in Dallas. The BBB Dynamic Seal is 100% optional. We encourage BBB Accredited Businesses to use the updated version of it. It does open up into a separate browser tab. BBB Accredited business get Google Analytics data from this link, and get feedback on how many people click to their BBB business profile. Some Accredited businesses may not want to activate the link if they have a bunch of complaints. I would actually argue the point that if they had an unhappy customer, they would actually rather have that unhappy customer go to the BBB vs. RipoffReport, Google, Facebook or Yelp. Several ways to look at it. If the business has A + record, positive reviews and zero complaints, they probably don't mind a customer checking the BBB.

 

[JoyHawkins]

Hey @BBBGuy,

Thanks so much for chiming in.

My client had a generic BBB logo on his site (the one that says he's accredited and had an a+ rating) but was told he must remove it from his site and replace it with this seal one. All of the options for the seal had a "click here" message so that's why he ended up removing the badge entirely.

So just to clarify, you said it's optional in the sense that they don't have to add it to their site but isn't it still true that it's now the only version of the badge they are allowed to use?

Here is a random example I just found that is not using the dynamic badge. Is this allowed?

 

[Ian Hammond]

My guess would be that they don't want a "flat" logo that includes a rating as that may not be accurate for that company at the time.

We work with a lot of service companies so we actually use the dynamic logos pretty often. Sure, we don't love that they are an outbound link but we also haven't found that they are clicked on all that much.

 

[Len Ferrara]

Several years ago a client got hit with a manual review from Google. I isolated the problem and found the problem was the BBB logo. This was confirmed by the fact that as soon as I removed it from the website, Google's penalty was immediately removed. This was when Google was coming down hard on "link exchanges" and many of the directory sites were asking businesses to post their respective logos on their websites. Apparently, for whatever reason, Google didn't like what was going on.

I mentioned this to our local BBB and suggested they notify businesses to remove the logos from their sites until this issue was resolved. They asked me if I would explain the problem to the individual at their national HQ, who was in charge of their online marketing for all their offices across the country, which I did. They were not aware of the problem and, to their credit, they immediately resolved the issue.

The BBB website is structured nationally and the local offices have to figure out how to adapt to any changes that are passed down and they do make a sincere effort even though the changes are not always easy. Point being, inspect everything yourself that goes on a client's website.

Personally, I don't have a problem with someone checking BBB re business and I'd agree that for a negative review especially, BBB is the best option to resolve it. However, companies pay for the Accreditation and the logo so I believe the BBB profile should drive traffic to a business' website, not the other way around. (Just my thoughts.)

 

[BBBGuy]

Hey @BBBGuy,

Thanks so much for chiming in.

My client had a generic BBB logo on his site (the one that says he's accredited and had an a+ rating) but was told he must remove it from his site and replace it with this seal one. All of the options for the seal had a "click here" message so that's why he ended up removing the badge entirely.

So just to clarify, you said it's optional in the sense that they don't have to add it to their site but isn't it still true that it's now the only version of the badge they are allowed to use?

Here is a random example I just found that is not using the dynamic badge. Is this allowed?

This is not something a business would get in trouble for or revoked. Most BBB’s are not very strict on this as long as the business is Accredited and has been background checked.