Need Help Getting Trusted Google Reviews?
Google reviews are a confusing topic. When this post was written in 2012, Google had just changed its local listings from Google Places to Google Plus Local. Since that time, Google has changed the name of its local listing to Google My Business. No matter what Google calls its local listings, we can help you collect great Google reviews and also collect customer feedback to help you improve and grow your business. We have a proven feedback and reviews process to make that happen for you.
Our reputation management process starts with a customer feedback process called Net Promoter. We contract with Get Five Stars to provide our clients with timely and honest feedback from their customers. That Get Five Stars system then encourages your biggest fans to provide Google reviews and reviews on other websites. It works, and it will help your business grow! Call us at 281-343-3284 to get started.
Here’s the 2012 Article on Google Reviews:
The Shift from Google Places to Google+ Local
Over the last several weeks, Google has been changing its online local business listings from a format called Google Places to a new format called Google+ Local. I was in Seattle for the Search Marketing Advanced Conference — SMX Advanced – in early June. This was right after the data migration started from one format to the other, and some data items like photos and business categories were lost or corrupted in the migration. In my case, my business category of Internet Marketing Services was changed by Google to Entertainment and Recreation. I requested a correction and that was So if you had a Google Places listing that you’d claimed and optimized, you should check your new Google+ Local listing to ensure that it’s complete and reflects your business information. Here’s the Google+ Local listing for my friend, Glenn Smith, The Growth Coach Houston.
If you had YouTube videos on your Google Places listing, those videos are not available on your new Google+ Local business listing. For some reason, Google has not added my videos to Google+ Local even though the videos are still visible in my dashboard. At SMX, the Google Local representative told me that Google would be adding the videos, but that hasn’t happened yet. Again, check your new Google+ Local business listing to ensure that it’s complete and correct. If you need help doing that, please call our office at 281-343-3284.
Google Reviews — the Good and the Bad
The Good: Here are some reviews from Glenn Smith’s Google+ Local listing. You’ll notice that my review is at the top of the list even though it’s two years old. That’s because I have a Google+ profile. If someone wants to check the source of my review, they can click my name and it will take them to my profile. They may judge whether to place much weight on my review based on the information in my profile. There’s no way to leave an anonymous review or a review under a profile name anymore in Google. This can be good for you as a business owner because the new reviews, labeled with real names, that you collect in Google+ Local will be more trusted by prospective customers.
The Bad:
- The first bad aspect of the change is that your reviewers will have to create Google+ profiles before they can leave a review. It’s not hard, but it’s an extra step that may cost you reviews from happy customers.
- The second bad aspect of Google+ Local is the fact that your old Google reviews are now labeled as from “A Google User.” So even if a customer left a review a month ago, with his or her real name as the profile name, it’s now labeled as coming from a Google user, unless the reviewer has a Google+ profile.
- The third bad side of the change is that it’s relatively easy to create a fake Google+ profile, so if you’re honest about collecting honest recommendations from your customers, your competitors may be hiring people to create fake Google+ profiles to leave fake Google+ reviews. You should periodically review your competitors on Google+ Local, and if they’re accumulating fake reviews, go ahead and report that fact to Google. You can flag any review as inappropriate and then explain why. Google actually does review your information and will take action to remove reviews and fake profiles. Unfortunately, new fake profiles and reviews might spring up to replace the ones you’ve reported. Again, it pays to be vigilant and active in checking your Google+ Local listing and the listings of your competitors.
If you have any questions about Google+ Local for your business, please call us at 281-343-3284.
