Google Places Removes 3rd Party Reviews... How Will Dealer Rating/Review Sites Respond?

Big news for dealerships: Google Places has removed its 3rd party reviews from the first page of Google Maps. In other words: they no longer aggregate ratings and reviews from other sites and display on the first page. Dealers may find that as of yesterday, the new rating on google may only be a "1" versus the 400 they had as aggregated from one or more of the rating sites. Aggregated ratings are still available on the web and discreetly located on the 2nd page of Google Maps, but this is a tough break for Dealerships who focus their reputation efforts on driving ratings and reviews only to certain dealer-specific sites. This form of reputation management was a big business model for several vendors who positioned their company as a reputation management solution.

This move from Google, confirms the MARKIT Group/WorldDealer approach to online reputation management.  Dealers should view their overall reputation as a  reputation "pie" which has pieces made up of the various rating and review sites and sources, both on and off the web. This approach allows a  holistic, comprehensive strategy which must be reviewed and addressed on an ongoing basis. Google will remain king of search, but attention must be given to where your lead traffic comes from - make sure your reputation individual and online brand score reflects a positive impression.

The images enclosed illustrate the point.  This Dealer example which used to have 104 ratings from DealerRater, now show one rating.  Google will only count actual Goolge user ratings on the first search.  Very interesting move.

How do you think this change on Google's part will affect rating sites overall? Will it change your current strategy?  How do you think DealerRater, Edmunds, cars.com, women-drivers.com feel about the new change?

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Permalink Reply by Angelica Jeffreys on July 25, 2011 at 3:33pm

HI Chuck,  The issue pointed out in the video is the same type of "review syndication" company that I am illustrating to you that is at work in the Google link I sent.  Since Reputation Mangement is my only focus, I see this day in and day out on Google, CitySearch, Judy's Book to name a few.  There are many sites like Edmunds, Yelp, etc that do a great job of monitoring fraud.  Of course Google has the ability to police thier reviews, but until they do...and they are not at all I'm afraid, my point is that it will be very hard for legitimate businesses who work to build real reviews on Google and other sites to have an even playing field on Google with unethical competitors who understand how easy it is to manipulate their reviews.

Permalink Reply by Chuck Dapoz on July 25, 2011 at 3:52pm

Angelica, I am not a Google shill, but it appears it 1) has come with a good approach and 2) is attempting to provide a level playing field. Maybe it has or will fail at this. Please let us know if Google is being gamed in its ratings because it looks like it's working hard to prevent gaming. If it is being gamed, that provides more of an opportunity than ever for 3rd-party sites.

Permalink Reply by Angelica Jeffreys on July 25, 2011 at 4:13pm

LOL...I don't think you are a shill, and I have nothing against Google by the way so i don't want to seem as if I am beating a dead horse here.  But if you take a look at this dealership's place page for example, and drill down on the user names of the people who wrote reviews...you will see a definite pattern of what I am trying to point out. Shelly BMW place page.

Multiple reviews over and over again from the same user for the same kinds of businesses...it actually gets comical as you start to see the same Dentist's offices, Floral Shops, Bridal Shops and yes Car Dealerships mentioned over and over again by each user as you work your way down the page. 

Clearly the work of companies for hire who are pumping out review after review to inflate star ratings.  All I am saying, and what i was stating in the begining of this post is that until Google starts to enforce it's fraud policies, these types of companies will continue to be allowed to tilt results in an unethical way, devaluing the content on these pages and at the expense of businesses who work hard to build legitimate reviews on credible review sites.

Permalink Reply by Ryan Gerardi on July 25, 2011 at 11:01pm

For Google to make a change like this, you have to consider what is in it for Google. It is not in Google's best interest to filter out non-Google properties simply b\c they aren't Google properties, especially if Google does not have an alternative solution which in this case it doesn't. If that were Google's motivation for doing things, Google would cease to provide a quality Search product.

 

It is however in Google's best interest to incorporate sites that legitimately add to the Internet user experience, which I believe DR does. Whether or not others agree or disagree is certainly each person's opinion, but DealerRater does offer people a legitimate ability to influence dealership ratings which I would suspect is not overlooked by Google and therefore noteworthy to Google. If you have taken the time to get to know the DR product, you would know they have policies to monitor and crack down on illegitimate reviews.

 

On a side note, I don't think it is necessary to include your company info in every post you do. I have never done that. If I want to get a better idea where someone is coming from then I click on his or her name and view his/her profile. If that person hasn't taken the time to make sure his or her profile accurately reflects her company association, then that would be more cause for alarm. This is not the case for Angelica, so why harass her? She probably knows the ratings business more than most of us here considering she works for a ratings company.

Permalink Reply by Ed Brooks on July 26, 2011 at 5:51pm

First - Let me make it clear that I have nothing to do with any review company.

Second - I've known Angelica Jeffreys for years. I've worked with her in the past and I have the absolute highest respect for AJ. I know her to be a person of great integrity.

Now onto the issue at hand: The Automotive vertical seems to get more worked up over Google changes than some of the other verticals. My sense is that's because some of the SEO folks that concentrate on automotive speak with a little more hyperbole. Everything isn't a crisis and no, we aren't all under attack

There seems to be a growing consensus in the SEO world outside of automotive that this isn't the biggest deal. I'm NOT an SEO expert nor do I pretend to be. But looking outside the automotive world, this is what I'm coming across;


"It does though point out why any business should take a long term balanced approach to review management…. lots of sources"
"Truth be told we don’t really know what the winds signify anyways. If you were only getting reviews from one source (like Demand Force) you really need to assess your practices and develop a plan to compliment their services. You should have been doing that already anyways."
"You need to be where you clients are, you need to make it easy for the client to leave reviews, you need to feed Google’s algo the diversity it is looking for and you need to protect yourselves as best you can against the vagaries of a crazy industry."
Blumenthals.com

"A change in the way Google displays local business information will mean some companies will have to recalibrate their approach to customer reviews - but not as drastically as one might expect."
MarketingVOX.com

"From what I can tell this was ONLY a front end cosmetic change NOT a back end change that affects the algo or ranking and most pros agree.
In some quick ranking checks I’ve done, it appears the lack of 3rd party reviews showing up in the count and lack of citations on the Place page, DID NOT affect rankings. Not in the rankings I’ve checked anyway. Regardless of how many 3rd reviews were removed from the COUNT everyone’s ranking stayed the same. I’ve checked tons of Dentists for example that had over 200 reviews and 300 citations due to DemandForce, that dropped to 5 Google reviews. They still rank on page 1 where they did before.
So from what I’m seeing right now anyway, this does not devalue 3rd party reviews or citations. Even though they don’t show, they are still counted in the back end!"
CatalysteMarketing.com

My take-away is if you were already diversified, no problem. If you weren't diversified, start now. Don't put all your eggs in one basket - not even Google's. There absolutely is still a place for DealerRater and the other review sites.
Permalink Reply by Michael Baker on July 26, 2011 at 6:13pm
Agree to utmost as a previous Dealer. Let's stop this 'it's done, discussion via Google places discussion. Diversify with ALL the tools in the Nation for all the other review placements, and deal with Google places as they choose to run their Place reviews. This is so elementary.

Ed Brooks said:

First - Let me make it clear that I have nothing to do with any review company.

Second - I've known Angelica Jeffreys for years. I've worked with her in the past and I have the absolute highest respect for AJ. I know her to be a person of great integrity.

Now onto the issue at hand: The Automotive vertical seems to get more worked up over Google changes than some of the other verticals. My sense is that's because some of the SEO folks that concentrate on automotive speak with a little more hyperbole. Everything isn't a crisis and no, we aren't all under attack

There seems to be a growing consensus in the SEO world outside of automotive that this isn't the biggest deal. I'm NOT an SEO expert nor do I pretend to be. But looking outside the automotive world, this is what I'm coming across;


"It does though point out why any business should take a long term balanced approach to review management…. lots of sources"
"Truth be told we don’t really know what the winds signify anyways. If you were only getting reviews from one source (like Demand Force) you really need to assess your practices and develop a plan to compliment their services. You should have been doing that already anyways."
"You need to be where you clients are, you need to make it easy for the client to leave reviews, you need to feed Google’s algo the diversity it is looking for and you need to protect yourselves as best you can against the vagaries of a crazy industry."
Blumenthals.com

"A change in the way Google displays local business information will mean some companies will have to recalibrate their approach to customer reviews - but not as drastically as one might expect."
MarketingVOX.com

"From what I can tell this was ONLY a front end cosmetic change NOT a back end change that affects the algo or ranking and most pros agree.
In some quick ranking checks I’ve done, it appears the lack of 3rd party reviews showing up in the count and lack of citations on the Place page, DID NOT affect rankings. Not in the rankings I’ve checked anyway. Regardless of how many 3rd reviews were removed from the COUNT everyone’s ranking stayed the same. I’ve checked tons of Dentists for example that had over 200 reviews and 300 citations due to DemandForce, that dropped to 5 Google reviews. They still rank on page 1 where they did before.
So from what I’m seeing right now anyway, this does not devalue 3rd party reviews or citations. Even though they don’t show, they are still counted in the back end!"
CatalysteMarketing.com

My take-away is if you were already diversified, no problem. If you weren't diversified, start now. Don't put all your eggs in one basket - not even Google's. There absolutely is still a place for DealerRater and the other review sites.
Permalink Reply by Michael Baker on July 26, 2011 at 6:15pm


Michael Baker said:
Agree to utmost as a previous Dealer. Let's stop this 'it's done, discussion via Google places discussion. Diversify with ALL the tools in the Nation for all the other review placements, and deal with Google places as they choose to run their Place reviews. This is so elementary. However, this was a good discussion thread. Ty


Ed Brooks said:

First - Let me make it clear that I have nothing to do with any review company.

Second - I've known Angelica Jeffreys for years. I've worked with her in the past and I have the absolute highest respect for AJ. I know her to be a person of great integrity.

Now onto the issue at hand: The Automotive vertical seems to get more worked up over Google changes than some of the other verticals. My sense is that's because some of the SEO folks that concentrate on automotive speak with a little more hyperbole. Everything isn't a crisis and no, we aren't all under attack

There seems to be a growing consensus in the SEO world outside of automotive that this isn't the biggest deal. I'm NOT an SEO expert nor do I pretend to be. But looking outside the automotive world, this is what I'm coming across;


"It does though point out why any business should take a long term balanced approach to review management…. lots of sources"
"Truth be told we don’t really know what the winds signify anyways. If you were only getting reviews from one source (like Demand Force) you really need to assess your practices and develop a plan to compliment their services. You should have been doing that already anyways."
"You need to be where you clients are, you need to make it easy for the client to leave reviews, you need to feed Google’s algo the diversity it is looking for and you need to protect yourselves as best you can against the vagaries of a crazy industry."
Blumenthals.com

"A change in the way Google displays local business information will mean some companies will have to recalibrate their approach to customer reviews - but not as drastically as one might expect."
MarketingVOX.com

"From what I can tell this was ONLY a front end cosmetic change NOT a back end change that affects the algo or ranking and most pros agree.
In some quick ranking checks I’ve done, it appears the lack of 3rd party reviews showing up in the count and lack of citations on the Place page, DID NOT affect rankings. Not in the rankings I’ve checked anyway. Regardless of how many 3rd reviews were removed from the COUNT everyone’s ranking stayed the same. I’ve checked tons of Dentists for example that had over 200 reviews and 300 citations due to DemandForce, that dropped to 5 Google reviews. They still rank on page 1 where they did before.
So from what I’m seeing right now anyway, this does not devalue 3rd party reviews or citations. Even though they don’t show, they are still counted in the back end!"
CatalysteMarketing.com

My take-away is if you were already diversified, no problem. If you weren't diversified, start now. Don't put all your eggs in one basket - not even Google's. There absolutely is still a place for DealerRater and the other review sites.
Permalink Reply by Thomas A. Kelly on July 26, 2011 at 6:18pm
Ed...I am with you when you say "My sense is that's because some of the SEO folks that concentrate on automotive speak with a little more hyperbole." I would have said a LOT more. On the same topic on another forum I said that "some who are screaming your houses are on fire are selling fire extinguishers. I would not be too quick to start writing checks to fix something that may not be broken. A crisis, real or perceived makes little difference to some marketers as either case can represent a new profit center."
Permalink Reply by Ed Brooks on July 27, 2011 at 11:29am
Thomas, maybe I was a little soft. It's one thing to be Chicken Little, but it becomes a bit unseemly when you're selling "Sky is Falling Protection Umbrellas". Good call TK!

Thomas A. Kelly said:
Ed...I am with you when you say "My sense is that's because some of the SEO folks that concentrate on automotive speak with a little more hyperbole." I would have said a LOT more. On the same topic on another forum I said that "some who are screaming your houses are on fire are selling fire extinguishers. I would not be too quick to start writing checks to fix something that may not be broken. A crisis, real or perceived makes little difference to some marketers as either case can represent a new profit center."
Permalink Reply by Nannette Staropoli on July 27, 2011 at 3:48pm

I appreciate the dialogue that's been generated here.

At the end of the day - it is still about paying note to how your Dealership handles customer reviews and ratings - on and off line -- and having a cohesive process that integrates operations and sales with the appropriate protocol to address reviews (when available) regardless of where they show up.  My vote goes to watching authentic ratings and reviews on all sites so that the Dealership can best manage their online reputation with active participation (when appropriate) with full recognition that the rating and review world is not entirely in their control -- but manageable. 

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