Schema: Reviews + Authorship

[Nick.SEOSpark]

Hey All,

Just been wondering recently if authorship and reviews stars can both show up if they are implemented. We have clients with authorship marked up. I'm sure you know how I'm a big fan of authorship from this post that I did.

I'm wondering if you implement both authorship along with "5 star reviews" mark-up, whether they both will show together.

Thanks in advance.

Nick

 

[Linda Buquet]

Great question Nick. Curious minds want to know...

I don't think I've seen organic review stars in local results for awhile. They showed for awhile, then didn't for awhile, then were sort of spotty off and on. Not saying they don't show any more, just that I haven't noticed them lately.

 

[Nick.SEOSpark]

Thanks Linda. That's another good point and question that has thrown up. Do the review stars show on the local results? I know how to make them appear for the organic results, but not sure about Local.

Now, we have authorship showing up for the Local results, which is just awesome I think. I think the local results suffer from not having meta descriptions to entice the clicks, so it's good that they have authorship.

For a very interesting study on "authorship in local results", check out the study that Mike Blumenthal did late last year:

What Makes for a Good Author Photo in the Local Results? (Part 1) | Understanding Google Places & Local Search

What Makes for a Good Author Photo in the Local Results? (Part 2) | Understanding Google Places & Local Search

Very interesting, and recently we had a study that looked out how Video Rich Snippets change CTR:

blumenthals.com/blog/2013/03/13/video-snippets-vs-author-images/

 

[Linda Buquet]

Thanks Linda. That's another good point and question that has thrown up. Do the review stars show on the local results? I know how to make them appear for the organic results, but not sure about Local.

hReview stars USED to show up in Local. Check out this example of DOUBLE stars back when the Places review stars still showed up! (Posted originally at: Double Google Places Review Stars – How to Stand Out with a 10 Star Rating)

<center><strong>DOUBLE REVIEW STARS + BIGGER BLENDED LISTING (click for full size)</strong>

<a href="http://www.catalystemarketing.com/td_images/DoubleReviewStars.jpg"><img src="http://www.catalystemarketing.com/td_images/DoubleReviewStars.jpg" alt="doublereviewstars" width="400" /></a></center>

I got one of my Dentist a #1 local blended in the A spot with DOUBLE gold stars. So he had 10 stars and REALLY stood out. But that was short lived and G stopped showing the hReview stars in blended.

 

[Nick.SEOSpark]

Thanks Linda. I've always liked that post of yours - one of my faves. Red Hat SEO! How cool I'm all about brightening up the results!

Do you know if (on the organic results), authorship and review stars show together if you implement both?

 

[Phil Rozek]

Do you know if (on the organic results), authorship and review stars show together if you implement both?

I believe they do:



It won't work for organic results for a homepage, though. The review stars for homepages haven't shown in local or in organic since last year.

Let's hear it for Professor Maps!

 

[David Deering]

I believe they do:



It won't work for organic results for a homepage, though. The review stars for homepages haven't shown in local or in organic since last year.

Let's hear it for Professor Maps!

Nice example, Phil. It looks like that particular page is using both a rel=author markup and an hreview aggregate markup. I'm not sure how many schemas Google will show in search results, but having a page marked up with various ones does not cause any confusion on their part. So I say mark them up with whatever schemas fit, Nick.

By the way, Phil, is that one of your clients? If so, nice job in adding the Yelp, CitySearch, and Google+ links with the logos to that testimonials page. I like to do the same myself and I think that it accomplishes two things: first, it makes it very easy for customers to leave reviews with the direct link, and second, the links create a nice "network" of connections for search engines to see. So either way, that page is a nice example of what to do with schemas and review links.

 

[Phil Rozek]

@David

Nope, that's Mike Blumenthal's client (hence the Professor Maps reference ).

 

[David Deering]

@David

Nope, that's Mike Blumenthal's client (hence the Professor Maps reference ).

Ah. Well it's a great example of what to include in a testimonials or review page. Great stuff.

 

[Nick.SEOSpark]

I believe they do:



It won't work for organic results for a homepage, though. The review stars for homepages haven't shown in local or in organic since last year.

Let's hear it for Professor Maps!

Thanks for the example from Professor Maps Phil!

On the subject of review stars showing, I know how to add them for "Organic" (home page), but you have to use a method that is slightly different to the "norm". Does everyone know what I'm talking about?

Basically, having a specific schema code reference to the "testimonials" page (from the home page). Let me know if you guys do this, and I'm happy to share the specific code if anyone wants it..

 

[Phil Rozek]

Basically, having a specific schema code reference to the "testimonials" page (from the home page). Let me know if you guys do this, and I'm happy to share the specific code if anyone wants it..

If I understand the question correctly...

There's no way to mark up your homepage in such a way that review stars will show up in the SERPs. A year ago, yeah. But not now - for whatever are Google's reasons (probably to combat overuse / abuse).

The aggregate markup needs to be on the same page that your marked-up testimonials are located on. So, for instance, I don't believe there's away to have 10 marked-up testimonials on your "Testimonials" page and have the aggregate markup on (say) your "Widget Repair" page in such a way that your Widget Repair page gets the review stars wherever it shows up in the SERPs. In other words, the aggregate markup needs to be on the same page as the marked-up testimonials - meaning that only a page with the testimonials on it can get the review stars.

Of course, if anyone knows of a ninja technique that I don't know of...

 

[Nick.SEOSpark]

Of course, if anyone knows of a ninja technique that I don't know of...

Phil, I think I've landed on that ninja technique, as I saw a competitor using it....and then went in and got the specific code... - It works and looks very genuine. So, it's not shoved in a widget or anything but rather listed as "Have a look at our testimonial page where we have 5/5".

 

[Phil Rozek]

Phil, I think I've landed on that ninja technique, as I saw a competitor using it....and then went in and got the specific code... - It works and looks very genuine. So, it's not shoved in a widget or anything but rather listed as "Have a look at our testimonial page where we have 5/5".

Cool! That actually sounds familiar. But I'd be interested in looking at the code (if possible).

 

[Nick.SEOSpark]

Cool! That actually sounds familiar. But I'd be interested in looking at the code (if possible).

I'm happy to share. Here it is guys (hot off the press!):

--EDIT: Adding the code in was causing problems so, I've attached it as in image for you to use. - See 2 attachments: Screenshot and Text File (for copy/pasting)

See items in screenshot in Orange for where it needs replacing with your own details.

----

After implementing, you will have something like:


-----------------------
Our SERVICE has been rated 5/5 based on X testimonials from our clients.
-----------------------

So, it shouldn't be in different colors on the page - I've just done that to show what gets replaced and how it looks.

Blue= The Link to testimonials page
Orange= Where the items are replaced

------------

 

[Phil Rozek]

Thanks, Nick!

 

[Linda Buquet]

Adding the code in was causing problems so, I've attached it as in image for you to use.

Nick when adding code or HTML there are some edit buttons you can try.

In your post edit screen to the right of insert link and insert image buttons, there are three buttons. One is #, one is brackets and one is php.

Sometimes I get better results using one instead of the other. But try putting code in one of them. Then preview to see if it displays right.

Example: Just grabbed some HTML from the side bar and wrapped in HTML. That raw html would not show right just pasted directly into the forum but wrapping in the HTML tag works.

<a target="_self" rel="nofollow" href="http://localsearchforum.catalystemarketing.com/external.php?lastpost=true&type=rss2&latestposts=1" class="img"><img title="local search news feed" src="http://www.5staraffiliateprograms.com/images/rssbutton.gif" alt="local search news feed" align="left" hspace="2"></a>
<a target="_self" rel="nofollow" href="http://localsearchforum.catalystemarketing.com/external.php?lastpost=true&type=rss2&latestposts=1"><font font="" color="#006699" face="arial" size="-1"><b>New Comments RSS</b></font></a><br><font font="" color="#006699" face="arial" size="-1">ALL the latest news/tips</font>

 

[Nick.SEOSpark]

Nick when adding code or HTML there are some edit buttons you can try.

In your post edit screen to the right of insert link and insert image buttons, there are three buttons. One is #, one is brackets and one is php.

Sometimes I get better results using one instead of the other. But try putting code in one of them. Then preview to see if it displays right.

Example: Just grabbed some HTML from the side bar and wrapped in HTML. That raw html would not show right just pasted directly into the forum but wrapping in the HTML tag works.

New Comments RSS
ALL the latest news/tips

Thanks Linda - I tried wrapping the schema code into "code tags" but it didn't work for some reason, and then I had to re-do it. - Will try the other method.

<p><span itemscope itemtype="http://schema.org/Product">Our<span itemprop="name">REPLACE WITH SERVICE NAME</span> services <span itemprop="aggregateRating" itemscope itemtype="http://schema.org/AggregateRating"> have been rated <span itemprop="ratingValue">5</span> / 5 based on <span itemprop="reviewCount">REPLACE WITH NUMBER OF TOTAL REVIEWS</span> <a href="REPLACE WITH TESTIMONIALS LINK" title="CLIENT NAME TESTIMONIALS">testimonials from our clients</a>.</span></span></p>

 

[Nick.SEOSpark]

Just to add a bit of "excitement hype" to this, it actually works in getting the stars on the local rankings!

 

[Marie Ysais]

Thanks Nick for sharing! I love it when I learn something new and its around the weekend! Gives me something extra to work on!! Awesome share!

 

[David Deering]

Just to add a bit of "excitement hype" to this, it actually works in getting the stars on the local rankings!

Cool, Nick. So you're just using the product schema for the business/service reviews then?