{"id":3797,"date":"2019-09-20T18:00:27","date_gmt":"2019-09-20T18:00:27","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/wpmudev.whitespark.ca\/local-businesses-say-goodbye-to-review-snippets-in-google\/"},"modified":"2024-10-28T16:05:19","modified_gmt":"2024-10-28T22:05:19","slug":"local-businesses-say-goodbye-to-review-snippets-in-google","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/whitespark.ca\/blog\/local-businesses-say-goodbye-to-review-snippets-in-google\/","title":{"rendered":"Local Businesses: Say Goodbye to Review Snippets in Google"},"content":{"rendered":"

On September 16th Google announced that they are going to be \u201cmaking review rich results more helpful<\/a>\u201d and ultimately more meaningful by changing how they display review rich results.<\/p>\n

Example of rich snippet results with review schema:
\n\"\"<\/p>\n

\u201cSelf-serving reviews aren’t allowed for LocalBusiness<\/a> and Organization<\/a><\/strong>
\nReviews that can be perceived as \u201cself-serving\u201d aren’t in the best interest of users. We call reviews \u201cself-serving\u201d when a review about entity A is placed on the website of entity A – either directly in their markup or via an embedded 3rd party widget. That\u2019s why, with this change, we\u2019re not going to display review rich results anymore for the schema types LocalBusiness and Organization (and their subtypes) in cases when the entity being reviewed controls the reviews themselves.\u201d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

What does this mean?<\/h2>\n

Google will no longer show review stars in search results for testimonials (1st-party reviews) displayed on a business website or 3rd-party reviews embedded using a widget or code. Review stars shown in search going forward will only be informed by 3rd-party review sites (Yelp, Google, TripAdvisor, etc).<\/p>\n

\"\"
\nWhile your business can no longer use Review and AggregateReview markup to trigger rich results, Google is still allowing for other schema types<\/a>, so be sure to review their article and follow their guidelines.<\/p>\n

Google is removing the perks of using this markup because it is easy for any business to manipulate by creating fake review content and because they have complete control of the reviews they choose to share publicly. Since there is no way to \u201cpolice\u201d whether testimonials (1st-party reviews) are authentic on a business’s website, it\u2019s easier to remove the perk of rich results.<\/p>\n

How does this impact local businesses?<\/h2>\n

While those shiny gold stars in search results have been known to help increase user click-through-rates<\/a> (CTR) to your website, the worst that will happen is that you will see a slight decrease in CTR to your site. But, this change impacts ALL<\/a> local businesses, and thus it should be felt equally.<\/p>\n

You can still share testimonials (1st-party reviews or as Google labels them – \u201cself-serving reviews\u201d) and 3rd-party reviews on your website, and you will not get a manual action, penalty, or be negatively impacted by doing this, and you can also leave your current schema in place. Again, just make sure that whatever structured data you are using on your website follows Google\u2019s guidelines<\/a>.<\/p>\n

When will this change take effect?<\/h3>\n

It started on September 16, 2019 and Google has noted that they are rolling out this change slowly. It will be a gradual process and you may still see results with review stars where they shouldn\u2019t be, but we expect that they will eventually all disappear.<\/p>\n

What does this mean for my current review strategy and using a tool like the Reputation Builder (or other review tools)?<\/h2>\n

Keep moving forward as you originally planned. This update should not impact how you gather your reviews, showcase reviews on your site, encourage 3rd-party reviews (especially on Google and other industry sites), and understand your customer experience.<\/p>\n