Saturday 23 July 2011

Google Overhauls Place Pages, Emphasizes Reviews & Kills Citations

N.S., July 22nd, 2011 at 8:31 am ET:

Wow, this article is truly overwhelming, I used to work for a local search company, most of local businesses in the U.S are supported by Google maps and many of the tactics to promote these businesses are mentioned briefly in this article, i cant even imagine the impact it will have on the local SEO industry, i know for a fact that many business are obligated under a yearly contract with local directories such as Yelp , YP and more (its not cheap to have a paid campaign with these local directories)… part of the strategy of these businesses is just to gain more web pages, citations and reviews from these directories to their Google places listings…and now it will all be gone? this is shocking.
on top of everything, Google are planning to do more changes….this is very interesting!
Thank you Matt for this excellent post!


Jill Whalen, July 22nd, 2011 at 9:42 am ET:

As I just emailed back to the Localeze sales rep who keeps pestering me, it looks like their biz model has been nuked.

To which I say, nice job Google! I was kind of shocked that they were featuring their info so prominently.


Paul Mumford, July 22nd, 2011 at 9:43 am ET:

Citations have been removed from the Places page, but it doesn’t mean they’ve stopped using it internally for ranking purposes does it?


Shawn, July 22nd, 2011 at 10:47 am ET:

I’m with Paul on this one. If they begin to ignore 3rd party citations and reviews, their ability to verify the validity of business information as well as determine “prominence” becomes severely weakened. My guess is this change is primarily cosmetic and not algorithmic.


Matt Chantry, July 22nd, 2011 at 11:00 am ET:

We spotted this early yesterday afternoon and got a quick blog post out to our readers here: http://www.screenpilot.com/blog/2011/07/google-kills-95-of-your-hotel-reviews-what-does-it-mean-for-seo/

But SEL have done a great job of digging further into this news. I do disagree with Paul though. We looked at page rankings of some of our clients before the change and after and there is a slight difference to the algorithm. Nothing major mind, but certainly a change.


Michael Dorausch Michael Dorausch, July 22nd, 2011 at 11:06 am ET:
Premium member since 01/2009

I got my first notification of these changes when my phone started ringing mid yesterday. Several small business owners called, emailed, and tweeted throughout the day asking if I knew why their reviews had “disappeared”.

I have mixed feelings on the change but all we can do is adapt and continue moving forward. Certainly kills a significant amount of questionable business models, and that I see as a good thing.


Sam Beamond, July 22nd, 2011 at 11:25 am ET:

Great stuff here. I encourage my clients to use the reviews piece of their places page to build their reputation and help optimize the places page. Now they will find it easier to direct their customers. looking forward to what more changes are made to Google Places.


Matt Chantry, July 22nd, 2011 at 12:22 pm ET:

Also think that the influence of Google+ on googles decision for this isn’t being mentioned much. Their long running fight with TripAdvisor might be the main reason but Google+ was probably the straw that broke the camels back so to speak.


DK, July 22nd, 2011 at 12:33 pm ET:

Wow what a game changer! I believe they will continue to use the 3rd party reviews for ranking even though they dont feature them so prominently. Many sites in places have very few Google reviews.

Why is Google not allowing for a “Places Badge” html code that can be cut and pasted to your website in order to direct your customers directly to your Places page? Most customers who use the services of a company would never be able to find their places page in order to write them a review. Peculiar how Google does not make this easy.

Also, why is it that if you “boost” a places page, your sponsored link has an impactful 5 stars (if you have any 5 star ratings) over on the right side of that ppc ad ***** and then the places page link (this is really great and makes you stand out from the other ppc ads) but if you set up a legit PPC account and link the account to your places page via “Ad Extension” you get no such luck. Strange that you would be rewarded for using the basic product. Google reps have told me- “huh…that is interesting, not sure why it does that. Ill ask about that.”


Matt McGee Matt McGee, July 22nd, 2011 at 12:38 pm ET:
Premium member since 01/2009

Matt – curious to hear more about what you’re thinking there. How would Google+ have anything to do with local Place Page aesthetics?

Jill – also love to hear why you think Localeze’s biz model is nuked? They offer a valuable service that helps local businesses make sure their listings have consistent NAP data across local sites/directories. The need for consistent NAP data hasn’t changed. What were they trying to sell you — something different? (I may not be familiar with all of their product offerings.)


Nick Stamoulis Nick Stamoulis, July 22nd, 2011 at 12:43 pm ET:
Premium member since 06/2009

Glad to hear that these changes took place. I am curious to see if people will leave many reviews and how this might be integrated with Google+.


Nadim Hossain, July 22nd, 2011 at 12:52 pm ET:

Google did the right thing by pulling the reviews that Yelp didn’t want borrowed. Customer reviews are highly relevant to consumers, and therefore highly valuable for SEO. For Google to take that content without permission to syndicate seems wrong (reviews that show up in Google Shopping are syndicated with retailers’ permission, for example). That said, for consumers’ benefit, I think such content *should* be syndicated openly as widely as possible. This ensures that users have access to helpful information at the point of decision-making.The underlying story, I believe, is that Google is evolving from Search to Social, and we’re seeing some growth pains in figuring out the rules. I write more about Google’s transformation here: http://blogs.powerreviews.?com/2011/06/01/google-1-la?unch-what-google%E2%80%99s?-social-reinvention-means-?for-facebook/.


Matt Chantry, July 22nd, 2011 at 12:55 pm ET:

Matt – Well its google accounts that are now making all the “relevant” reviews. Its just my belief that G want everyone on the web to run everything through google and the timing of this so soon after the launch of Google + makes me think it ties in. I wouldn’t be surprised to see +1's having a large say on review pages soon as well.


Matt Chantry, July 22nd, 2011 at 12:57 pm ET:

RobertKCole on TNoonz actually does a much better job of phrasing it all than me!

http://www.tnooz.com/2011/07/22/news/google-kills-web-reviews-for-hotels-on-maps-and-places/


Mary Bowling, July 22nd, 2011 at 1:33 pm ET:

IMO, the bully on the local playground appears to be flexing its muscles again, Matt!


Claudio Schapsis, July 22nd, 2011 at 2:48 pm ET:

The question is if they fixed the opening hours HUGE bug – pending for over a year…

Check the complains trail here: http://www.google.com/support/forum/p/Places/thread?fid=5f673deb5906b7ff0004a785e1336441&hl=en


Brian, July 22nd, 2011 at 4:40 pm ET:

This is an interesting development. I’m sure one our clients at HomeStars aren’t going to be too happy about. In an niche vertical like ours, home services, our clients build reviews slowly, and our reviews are curated to ensure validity and transactions. With Google reviews, there is much more minimal validity testing and if companies get a fake review, it’s tough, tough tough to get it off. It’s also much easier on Google to post the fake positive reviews and game the system. With an algorithmic system, the solution is algorithmic. With curated content, it’s much tougher to game.
Either way, I don’t think google wins. They don’t display the broadest, most relevant content, which is, and should be their end game.


O.M., July 22nd, 2011 at 5:17 pm ET:

I really think this change will place an even greater importance on SEO and the quality of the links and ratings associated with each business listing. With greater influence placed in the hands of reviewers, it will be important to link businesses with high quality sites that will thus provide high quality reviewers.


Jim Jersild, July 22nd, 2011 at 10:51 pm ET:

The most confusing part about this change is that my description and all my addition details are now gone as well, not just the reviews. I am not sure how that helps the “user experience” since the user is left guessing what my business is about.


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