Google+ Local Reviews
-
Hi everyone,
Is it against Google+ Local's guidelines to request one's customers to post reviews on their page?
For example, asking my customers on my email list, or through Facebook if they can leave a review on the G+ Local page?
Thanks
-
Hi Diana,
As Jim has said, Google has no problem with you asking for reviews, by any means except for at a shop-based review station/kiosk. However, I would advise you against doing any type of mass request via email, Facebook or any other platform. The reason for this is that Google's review filters appear to target velocity. If you get too many reviews at once, they could be filtered out and permanently lost. Because of this, many in the Local SEO community are now recommending that you ask no more than a couple of customers for reviews each week. This may prevent review loss.
Also, as Jim says, always give the customer the option to use their favorite platform. Diversity is good insurance against review loss, in that if you lose reviews on one platform, you still have them on others.
Just remember, the one review platform you must exclude from your review acquisition efforts is Yelp. They expressly forbid local business owners from requesting customer reviews in any way. Very strict, but there it is.
Hope this helps!
-
No, that's perfectly fine to do.
With real estate agencies I work with in vacation rentals markets, I've set up automated emails asking for feedback. If the feedback has a positive rating, we automatically send another email asking them to review us where our local listings are.
Personally, I don't like pushing them to one review source (like Google+) because typically people have their own review preferences, and I haven't tested this but giving them options likely means a higher review rate.
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
-
Does Google Image Search consider meta data (EXIF) when looking for a location?
Does Google Image Search consider meta data (EXIF) when looking for a location? Is it essential to define the meta data in order to rank top with images?
Image & Video Optimization | | fduo0 -
Localized SEO for Restricted Niches
Sorry for the hypothetical, it's a sticky subject! Suppose I work for a company that offers Online Widget Counseling. Due to the fragile nature of Widgets, this service is only legal in one state and must be administered by a registered and regulated Widget Counseling company. Widget counseling is only available online so there is no competition from bricks and mortar stores. Unfortunately the SERPs are dominated by unscrupulous black market outfits offering Widget Counseling illegally. If we were to use intensive and strong local signals, could we expect the SERPs to favor our pages for searches "in or about" the state in which we are registered? Thanks for your help -SEO Newbie
Image & Video Optimization | | bbarber570 -
Ranking Differences for Google+ Local vs. Places Listings
I'm seeing some odd behavior with Google+ Local and Google Places listings for clients. I'm wondering if anyone else is seeing it... Here's the situation: We've recently bought on 4 new clients that all have duplicate listing issues, and, weirdly, all have both places and a Google+ local created listings. For three of those four, the Google+ local listing is outranking the Places account for a brand name search (e.g. Dr. John Doe). Weirdly, in one instance, the Google+ local account that is outranking the Places page is named in a less accurate fashion. e.g searching for "Dr. John Doe" the rankings look like this... A) John Doe Plastic Surgery, P.C. - Dr. John Doe B) Dr. John Doe, MD Anyone else seeing this sort of behavior? How are you creating local listings for clients these days - via the places dashboard, or Google+ Local?
Image & Video Optimization | | BedeFahey0 -
How do you fix a Google Places category issue?
I have a Google Places listing that has the category set to 'Garage Door Supplier', yet if you do a search in Maps on this same phrase and zoom into the area of the map where the business is located, it doesn't get flagged as a garage door supplier. If you just search on the business name, is does get flagged in the right location. I spoke with Google (yeah, an actual human) and they were baffled. The only suggestion they had was to try adding a few more categories to see if maybe that would force an update. Has anyone ran into this, and if so, did you find a fix?
Image & Video Optimization | | WebMO0 -
Local SEO
To date local SEO seems to be the weak part of my SEO efforts. Are there any good references for local SEO?
Image & Video Optimization | | casper4340 -
Getting a Google Places listing verified on an automated phone system.
I've been having issues getting my Google Places/+ listing verified as we have an automatic phone system. If you call our office you have to dial a number to reach an actual human being or before you can leave a message. Whenever the Google Bot calls we aren't able to receive our Google Place verification code. Currently.. there is no option to send a postcard.. which is weird because for awhile that was the only option. Has anyone had any success on an automated phone system & how did you do it? Thanks!
Image & Video Optimization | | DCochrane0 -
Optimizing Google Places Listing - Please Help!
I claimed the Google Places listing a few months ago - added a description and all the necessary information. Finally got the page to show up in the places category on the 5th page for the search "vet las vegas". Then on some computers it likes to show up on the 8th page and on others the 5th page - weird!?. I need some help on the following: How can I get Google to put my website as an link in the "More About This Place"/citation section? The old website which was at a different domain is present but not the new one (the new one has been live for 2 months). -Am I missing any key information to help with my ranking? The 8th page is a pretty poor ranking and holds no value whatsoever. The description I typed out on Google Places does not display in the search results. - I am assuming adding citations is essentially just about adding backlinks that Google can pull to add to the "More About This Place" section - any surefire ways to get more citations there? WEBSITE: http://www.petmedicalcenter.com PLACES PAGE: http://maps.google.com/maps/place?hl=en&prmd=ivnscm&bav=on.2,or.r_gc.r_pw.&biw=1187&bih=649&um=1&ie=UTF-8&q=vet+las+vegas&fb=1&gl=us&hq=vet&hnear=0x80beb782a4f57dd1:0x3accd5e6d5b379a3,Las+Vegas,+NV&cid=13431404354265657899&ei=5Bf1TdvWLIey0AGe-M3sDA&sa=X&oi=local_result&ct=placepage-link&resnum=4&ved=0CEIQ4gkwAzhG Any other feedback or ideas would be really appreciated. Thank you to all the SEOMOZ members would have helped me over the last month - you guys are awesome! Thanks again, Brant
Image & Video Optimization | | PMC-3120871 -
Is it a bad idea to include a single keyword phrase at the end of the business name in Google Places?
I'm concerned about this for local SEO and citation purposes. It's not spammy and it flows well, and it sounds like a logical extension of our name, but I'm concerned that it will make it harder for Google to pick up our citations. Any thoughts?
Image & Video Optimization | | greghard0