Google Search Results change?

By : Administrator
Published 5th April 2012 |
Read latest comment - 12th April 2012

While I was actually doing some work, I spotted an unusual result in Google Search Results.

While the aim is always to appear as near the top as you can, another trick which is a good draw of traffic is to try and stand out.

Since we started showing reviews on our listings, these get picked up and displayed by Google which is good, but now they have added extra tabs to the map location and plus links to the reviews.

Not a great example as the poor listing has negative reviews, but interesting, as you can see how it stands out compared to competitors.



I can't find any other examples, so was this a Google test? Is this something that is about to be rolled out?

Steve Richardson
Gaffer of My Local Services
My Local Services | Me on LinkedIn
Comments
forum avatarAlan2011
6th April 2012 7:18 AM
I heard googoel will change algorithm of the search engine so that compete with Facebook .

Hi Steve,

Reviews is actually a snippet that Google looks to roll out as well.. Based on market study that online reviews does act similarly as personal recommendations.

Reviews Snippet
Rich snippets - Reviews - Webmaster Tools Help

Reviews Study
Study: 72% Of Consumers Trust Online Reviews As Much As Personal Recommendations

wingman

Hi Steve,

Reviews is actually a snippet that Google looks to roll out as well.. Based on market study that online reviews does act similarly as personal recommendations.

Cheers Wingman, yep have been using rich snippets for some time, and we have definitely had a positive reaction ever since we started showing reviews, although it does increase overhead moderating reviews and dealing with negative complaints

Interesting to see how Google is incorporating more rich snippets. It looks like hcard still isn't being used, although we are marked up for it, and still waiting for Publisher markup to start showing (ie showing business logos rather than author and G+ profile pics).

Steve Richardson
Gaffer of My Local Services
My Local Services | Me on LinkedIn

Cheers Wingman, yep have been using rich snippets for some time, and we have definitely had a positive reaction ever since we started showing reviews, although it does increase overhead moderating reviews and dealing with negative complaints

Interesting to see how Google is incorporating more rich snippets. It looks like hcard still isn't being used, although we are marked up for it, and still waiting for Publisher markup to start showing (ie showing business logos rather than author and G+ profile pics).

Yes - reviews are double sided swords but as people are saying - engaging these as we can is still better than not at all.

Overhead increase is inevitable as more and more people are relying on the internet.

Regarding publisher mark up, do you have more information about it? That is interesting

wingman

Regarding publisher mark up, do you have more information about it? That is interesting

Yup, here's Googles help page on it:
Google+ Pages - Webmaster Tools Help

And below you can see the results from our home page, from the rich snippets test tool. Although publisher verified, and it used to show our logo in the tool (just noticed it's stopped displaying, not sure why), but currently doesn't show the logo in the serps. Guessing it will do eventually, just a question of time

Rich Snippets Testing Tool - MLS results

Steve Richardson
Gaffer of My Local Services
My Local Services | Me on LinkedIn

Thanks Steve, Cheers!

wingman

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