Moz Q&A is closed.
After more than 13 years, and tens of thousands of questions, Moz Q&A closed on 12th December 2024. Whilst we’re not completely removing the content - many posts will still be possible to view - we have locked both new posts and new replies. More details here.
Why are certain words formatted as bold in Google+ Reviews?
-
Hey guys,
I noticed that certain words within reviews left on Google+ pages are being shown in bold text. The original reviews do not feature bold text, but when shown in snippets they appear.
I attached a photo below for a college's G+ page.
Any insight would be great!
-
Thanks for checking this out. I'm going to do some more digging and see if I can replicate this with other queries.
-
Hmm .. yes, I'm able to replicate that following your steps in Maps, but when you actually click through to the reviews, these bolds are gone. Honestly, I have no idea what they are doing there in the review snippets (as in your screenshot). They don't have anything to do with the search term. Looking at a nearby laundromat in Buffalo, I don't see the same behavior:
So - sorry, but I'm just not sure what those bolds represent. If anyone else has come across this, please chime in!
-
Weird thing is that I can't even replicate it anymore.
The search term was "nursing college in buffalo ny". The only way I can sort-of replicate it is by performing the search query and then clicking on the red map marker next to D'Youville College within the local results on top. It will pull up Google Maps and show the reviews in bold (see screenshot).
-
Hi Tom!
Normally, I see bolded text in reviews when it replicates part of my search term. It sounds like you are saying the bolded text in your results does not replicate any of the words in your search. Can you share your exact search term so that the community can look at the live result instead of a screenshot? Might help. Thanks!
-
I don't think this was the case though. When looking at the original reviews in 2 different spots (clicking on the Google Reviews link next to the star rating in the SERPs and when visiting the Google+ page), these reviews don't feature any bold or other formatting.
See screenshots attached
-
The search query was "nursing school in (city name)".
-
Hi Tom,
There is a way to make text bold in Google+ page comment or review section. To make comments or review bold use a * before and after
I hope it helps you . To know more on this like how to make italic / Italic & bold Please check below URL
https://plus.google.com/103400392486480765286/posts/QBmgLCtmoo1
Thanks
-
Were these bolded terms relevant to the search query?
Got a burning SEO question?
Subscribe to Moz Pro to gain full access to Q&A, answer questions, and ask your own.
Browse Questions
Explore more categories
-
Moz Tools
Chat with the community about the Moz tools.
-
SEO Tactics
Discuss the SEO process with fellow marketers
-
Community
Discuss industry events, jobs, and news!
-
Digital Marketing
Chat about tactics outside of SEO
-
Research & Trends
Dive into research and trends in the search industry.
-
Support
Connect on product support and feature requests.
Related Questions
-
What is the best practice way to attribute a Google Review?
An example might be a local directory site, where multiple businesses are featured. To flesh out the respective business profiles, Google Reviews are included. Copying/pasting would be the definition of duplicate content. I wonder though if hyperlinking to the review itself would be enough? For a random example: "you literally have never had better ice cream. cutest shop in charleston sc" - Mandee Jalbert, Google Review Google doesn't appear to have a review embed option- am I wrong? If not, would the above attribution via the "Google Review" hyperlink be sufficient to head off any potential dings for duplicate content? Thanks! Stephen
Reviews and Ratings | | PerfectPitchConcepts
Thanks for your thoughts! I feel like this might make for a good presentation at our SoundBoard conference someday soon.0 -
BazaarVoice Paginated Reviews Not Honoring Canonical & Indexing Multiple Pages
If there are enough reviews on a product page to warrant page 2, 3 etc, BazaarVoice appends the below snippets to each new page of reviews, which are then also indexed, despite BazaarVoice SEO settings that automate a canonical tag (seemingly since the differing reviews on each page are not similar enough to honor the canonical). <cite class="iUh30">?bvstate=pg:2/ct:r</cite> <cite class="iUh30">?bvstate=pg:3/ct:r</cite> It seems Target.com has found a way to hack the BV code to create a dedicated page to view all reviews: https://www.target.com/p/ultra-soft-fitted-sheet-300-thread-count-threshold-153/-/A-13973172?showOnlyReview=true While Ikea.com blocks it in the Robots file (defeats SEO value) - Noindex: */catalog/products/bvroute=Review Noindex: */catalog/products/bvtab Tons of brands apparently have the issue, and you can see more examples if you search "inurl:bvstate=pg" Anyone aware of a solution to this?
Reviews and Ratings | | Eroc2 -
What is the best online reputation management software for generating legitimate Google (and other online) reviews?
Hello! Does anyone have a good experience with using an online reputation management tool to help generate online reviews for a Google My Business listing, Facebook, etc? The reason I ask about a review software is because of my client's age demographic (50+), so we need to have an automated system to request reviews from their clients and to make it simple for them to leave reviews.
Reviews and Ratings | | eport122 -
3rd Party Approved Reviews - Widget or API Feed - Any thoughts ?
Hi Mozzers, We use a google approved 3rd party review company to collect reviews for our branches and now also for our products( this is about to be implemented). We currently use one of their widgets on our site (its javascript) to show the reviews. I don't think google can read this and I don't think we currently, therefore, get any direct seo benefit from it. My questions are as follows : I obviously want to get any SEO benefit from any review text which customers leave but as the data itself is housed on the review site with a widget on my site pointing to it,should I use an API feed as opposed to a widget. If google can read the review text on my page - then surely i should some benefit from it even though, it could technically be classed as duplicate content what are peoples thoughts ? . thanks Pete
Reviews and Ratings | | PeterCol120 -
Paying for Reviews Penalty?
Hello, recently came across a company that has been paying people directly for reviews. I of course do not recommend this and realized the ethical implications and even the lawsuits that can come from this, but does Google have a manual penalty for fake reviews or do they just algorithmically discount ones that raise red flags? I have never really had to worry about this in the past. I know you can flag fake reviews to them on an individual basis, but does anyone have history of knowing specific situations where a company was manually punished for doing this? Just curious and I kind of wanted to give them strong documentation to knock it off. Thanks in advance.
Reviews and Ratings | | jeremyskillings0 -
How many Google reviews can I collect at once?
I work for a University with 10,000+ students and alumni that could submit reviews. But how many reviews should I be collecting at one time? I don't want to overload the reviews and put up a red flag in Google...any insight on how much is too much?
Reviews and Ratings | | GabeGibitz0 -
Why does Google return 1 star reviews in local listings as the "most helpful"?
I have a client who has recently received two 1 star reviews on Google local (unhappy customer and unhappy customers boyfriend). This is affecting an otherwise flourishing business as these two 1 star reviews are displayed prominently when you search for the brand in Google. They have since received more positive reviews, however Google insists on displaying, what they term, the "most helpful" reviews first. Why are these 1 star reviews deemed "most helpful"? In all honesty, they aren't even really that helpful, with the latter verging on slanderous. We are in the process of reporting this one as it personally attacks a member of staff, however, whilst we tentatively wait weeks for a response, I wondered if anyone has any idea on how G decides which reviews are "most helpful"? When there is no option for other users to rate these reviews as helpful (such as on play store).
Reviews and Ratings | | Silkstream0 -
Migrating Reviews from Old SIte
We recently changed our Website to Word Press and I would like to move the old reviews to the new site. I am concerned Google might not understand the reviews showing up all of a sudden. The old reviews were on a sub-domain (store.domain.com). I will be able to match the dates and text as well as names. Any advice or Best Practice on this? Thanks!
Reviews and Ratings | | Chris6610