Reviews on Independent Sites

[JoyHawkins]

This came up in our Facebook group yesterday. More and more people are seeing these "reviews from independent sites" which makes me wonder if Google is going to roll it out soon. Are any of you seeing this?

 

[Joey Abna]

I've only seen screenshots on SEO Twitter and SEO Forums.

 

[Conor Treacy]

I've been seeing that from time to time over the past few weeks. Not always active. Seems to show more when I'm not logged in to google.

 

[JeffClevelandTN]

Like Joey, have only seen screenshots.

 

[NexstarNickR]

Does anyone know what sites would be included in "Independent Sites"? I'm assuming the same places where it pulls the "Reviews from the web"?

 

[JoyHawkins]

Does anyone know what sites would be included in "Independent Sites"? I'm assuming the same places where it pulls the "Reviews from the web"?

So far, I have no idea because I haven't been able to replicate it. My assumption is that it's totaling all the reviews that show up in the "Reviews from the web" section.

 

[NexstarNickR]

So far, I have no idea because I haven't been able to replicate it. My assumption is that it's totaling all the reviews that show up in the "Reviews from the web" section.

Got it!

Thanks Joy.

 

[Conor Treacy]

Three of our clients in the House Cleaning business have the "reviews from the web" notice, but it's interesting that "Grace Home Cleaning" that has 137 Google reviews then says "50+ reviews from the web", whereas the other client "Maids on a Mission" has 105 Google reviews and "100+ reviews from the web". Maids On A Mission does use "sotellus" which is a review service to get reviews. They've totaled 147 reviews from Facebook, Google, Yelp, but the majority of the reviews were put to Google.

Looking on Facebook;
Maids on a Mission has only 15 reviews on Facebook
Grace Home Cleaning has 73 reviews on Facebook.

So again, the "50+ reviews from the web" with Grace Home Cleaning is odd as they have 73 on Facebook, 24 on Yelp, 133 on Google, 10 on Yahoo and not really anywhere else. "Maids on a Mission" has their 15 facebook, 6 on yelp and 103 on Google and not really anywhere else. So how'd they get 100+ but the other only got 50+ mentioned

No real rhyme or reason as to where the "other reviews" are pulling from.

Lastly, it seems to only be in-home service-type businesses that are getting this flag, at least that's all I've been able to find. Pest Control, Painters, Carpet Cleaners, yard care, they all got the notice, but none of our clients that are dentists, chiropractors, construction contractors, photographers, healthcare or clinics are showing the "reviews from the web" notice (except for a Waxing Studio, which I listed below).

 

[JoyHawkins]

@Conor Treacy thanks for all those examples! The Maids on a Mission screenshot - can you confirm you see 147 from SoTellUs and 80 from Womply for them under "Reviews from the web"?

 

[NexstarNickR]

Three of our clients in the House Cleaning business have the "reviews from the web" notice, but it's interesting that "Grace Home Cleaning" that has 137 Google reviews then says "50+ reviews from the web", whereas the other client "Maids on a Mission" has 105 Google reviews and "100+ reviews from the web". Maids On A Mission does use "sotellus" which is a review service to get reviews. They've totaled 147 reviews from Facebook, Google, Yelp, but the majority of the reviews were put to Google.

Looking on Facebook;
Maids on a Mission has only 15 reviews on Facebook
Grace Home Cleaning has 73 reviews on Facebook.

So again, the "50+ reviews from the web" with Grace Home Cleaning is odd as they have 73 on Facebook, 24 on Yelp, 133 on Google, 10 on Yahoo and not really anywhere else. "Maids on a Mission" has their 15 facebook, 6 on yelp and 103 on Google and not really anywhere else. So how'd they get 100+ but the other only got 50+ mentioned

No real rhyme or reason as to where the "other reviews" are pulling from.

Lastly, it seems to only be in-home service-type businesses that are getting this flag, at least that's all I've been able to find. Pest Control, Painters, Carpet Cleaners, yard care, they all got the notice, but none of our clients that are dentists, chiropractors, construction contractors, photographers, healthcare or clinics are showing the "reviews from the web" notice (except for a Waxing Studio, which I listed below).

Very interesting...more things on Google where there is no rhyme or reason, it's just happening. Great data, though, thank you for pulling it together! Always proud of our community for finding and sharing data to explain the unexplained!

 

[Conor Treacy]

@Conor Treacy thanks for all those examples! The Maids on a Mission screenshot - can you confirm you see 147 from SoTellUs and 80 from Womply for them under "Reviews from the web"?

They canceled their "sotellus" subscription and are using a new company, so I don't have a dashboard to log into on them. From the sotellus profile it says 147 reviews, but that includes Google, Facebook, and also the SoTellUs system themselves - they appear to have their own review system.

I'm not sure what "Womply" is.

It didn't show when I checked not 30 minutes ago, but now I'm showing this section below the listing (see attachment). So they're showing SoTellUs and Angie's List (which needs to be updated to just Angi ), and if you click the numbers it takes you to the specific profile page with details etc.

But now, the "100+ reviews on the web" that was showing under the stars is no longer showing. So no more testing at least at the moment. Like I said, this feature was showing for me on and off for the past few weeks, but now that I've snagged a few screenshots, it seems to have disappeared again.

Oh, the joys of live troubleshooting!

 

[JoyHawkins]

So I think what is happening, based on your screenshots, is that Google is totaling the # of reviews that appear under "reviews from the web" but they display it in increments. So theoretically, after 100, if they did it in increments of 100, that would explain why this one says 100+ and the one at the top of this thread says 200+.

 

[Conor Treacy]

So theoretically, after 100, if they did it in increments of 100, that would explain why this one says 100+ and the one at the top of this thread says 200+.

Yep, that's how I would read it too - and in the case of Grace Home Cleaning and their 73 facebook and 24 yelp, they're just shy of the 100 total mark, so they still get the 50+ reviews flag.

So, from what I can tell then we'd be looking at 5+, 10+, 50+, 100+, 200+ (there MIGHT be a 25+, but I haven't seen it).

I'll tell Grace to make some calls and get a couple more reviews so we can see if that number ticks over and changes to 100+ (of course, now I need my "100+ reviews notice" to show again my browser! )

 

[JoyHawkins]

@Conor Treacy usually with tests that Google does it's based on the user, so make sure you are logged in under the same Google account you used when you saw it the first time. If you're like me, you might have like 5 accounts logged in at once .

 

[Conor Treacy]

Oh yes, I have my multiple user logins in Chrome which gets to be a PITA when loading Google Data Studio and loading the wrong sheet on the wrong logged in account when trying to share/copy

All of my screenshots however came while in Incognito Mode. If I'm logged in, I don't see it, but while in Incognito Mode I could see it (not at the moment though). I think it's a queue to take a break for lunch, watch some YouTube and then come back and see if it changes

 

[studentoflife]

Does anyone know how I can get “reviews from the web“ to show up on my GMB profile?

Also, is there a way to sign up for Womply In order to get them to show up on the reviews from the web section?

 

[Conor Treacy]

Does anyone know how I can get “reviews from the web“ to show up on my GMB profile?

No idea on how to force it - if it's a testing mode, as @joy mentioned, it could be related to the user account being used.

The 100+ notices started showing again for me, so it seems to be rolling on and off. While it's ON, if anyone wants me to run some screenshots for specific businesses, please feel free to post here or send me a DM if you want it private. Happy to run whatever screenshots I can find while I'm seeing it on my end.

Maybe if we could gather 2 or 3 businesses from different industries and try to narrow it down a little more, although I don't think the results can be influenced other than seeing that "X" only has "5" reviews and maybe contacting the client to say, it's time to get more (which should be a regular Local SEO task anyway).

 

[JeffClevelandTN]

No idea on how to force it - if it's a testing mode, as @joy mentioned, it could be related to the user account being used.

The 100+ notices started showing again for me, so it seems to be rolling on and off. While it's ON, if anyone wants me to run some screenshots for specific businesses, please feel free to post here or send me a DM if you want it private. Happy to run whatever screenshots I can find while I'm seeing it on my end.

Maybe if we could gather 2 or 3 businesses from different industries and try to narrow it down a little more, although I don't think the results can be influenced other than seeing that "X" only has "5" reviews and maybe contacting the client to say, it's time to get more (which should be a regular Local SEO task anyway).

Hey Conor, thanks so much for volunteering to check out other businesses. I can't get the compiled independent reviews to show up for me either. While it is ON for you, maybe you could throw in some travel/tourism related businesses?

Would you care to do a google search for the following phrase and check out some of the GMB/Map listings: "ocoee river rafting trips". This should bring up a couple dozen local businesses on the Map and most will have 100+ Google Reviews, 100+ TripAdvisor Reviews, and numerous FB reviews. I don't have any specific ones to recommend, but you should see a handful with several hundred google reviews (some with 1000+) and those same businesses will have many more reviews on other platforms. Thanks!

 

[Conor Treacy]

Hi Jeff,
I had a run through the dozen or so and pulled a few of them for you.

On the list it looks like it's pulling "Groupon" and "Restaurantji" along with the normal Facebook. Although interesting that Trip Advisor didn't pull up on ANY of the companies (at least in the bottom section of "Reviews from the web".

None of them tipped the 1000+ mark or even the 500+ mark from what I could find.
Looking at "Ocoee Outdoors" which it says "200+ reviews on independent sites", you can see in the "Reviews from the web" it has 542 votes from Facebook. So I'm not sure if Google is just cutting off at 200+ or if it's only accounting for "X" number of reviews from Facebook within a given time period.

Some crazy competition with 747 Google Reviews

Also, Restaurantji was showing, which I'd not heard of before, if you type that into Google, you get their main site in the organic listings, but there's a Chinese Restaurant that shows as the Knowledge Panel. Not sure who is winning in that situation

 

[JeffClevelandTN]

Hey Conor, you are da man! Very cool, hopefully this is useful to Joy. I've got to look into that Restaurantji review platform, also the Womply that was associated with the earlier mentioned cleaning services, not familiar with either .
Yes, stiff competition... Two of those outfitters you picked to look at are our clients . Very interesting/odd that TripAdvisor is not in the mix. It is also very perplexing that Google still appears to be using FB reviews not just for this but also other "justifications" since (as you know) FB retired Reviews/Star Ratings 3 years ago with Recommendations. Really appreciate your time!

BTW, I'm going to tag you on another thread. I have a feeling you might be able to provide some helpful feedback.