Google Now Showing Reviews from the Web in Search Results
By Ashley on September 8, 2016 in Google Analytics and Reviews
Reviews from other sources on the web, like Facebook and YellowPages, have begun to appear in the local Knowledge Panel in Google search results on both desktop and mobile. When searching for a specific business, Google is showing anywhere from 1-3 review sites in addition to Google reviews.
The Variations
Depending on your search term, you may see variations in the amount of review sources shown for the same business.
When searching for our full name “PaperStreet Web Design” it shows three review sources: Facebook, Clutch and YellowPages.
However, when searching for just “PaperStreet” only one review source, Facebook, is shown. We have noticed this for other companies as well.
Below is an example of where these reviews show up on mobile. Currently there is also a “new” label directly next to it. Just like on desktop, the amount of review sources shown vary depending on the search term used.
What Does This Mean for My Business?
This new update helps prove a few things:
- Reviews are powerful. Having positive reviews is more important than ever, now that they will be displayed more prominently.
- Obtaining reviews from multiple sources is critical. If you only have Google reviews, you should start accumulating reviews elsewhere like Facebook and YellowPages.
- Don’t delay if you have negative reviews. The best way to handle them is by responding to try to resolve the issue and by accumulating more positive reviews. A few negative reviews can be overlooked if you have an abundance of positive reviews to outweigh them.
We will continue to keep an eye on this as Google is constantly changing things up. In the mean time, we encourage you to continue to collect positive reviews on various platforms.
1:45 am on September 12th, 2016
thanks guys, great piece, is there anything us website owners can do to get our facebook reviews recognised in google too?
4:36 pm on September 13th, 2016
Thanks Ashley. I think this is great for consumers.
Quick question. I have a google my business page “zoccer sports – bubble soccer brisbane” and the reviews from the web doesn’t show. Do i have to link facebook to my own website somehow before this happens of have testimonials on my website. your thoughts would be appreciated.
3:31 pm on September 18th, 2016
Same as Neil. We have Facebook reviews but only our Yellow Pages reviews are showing currently. How can I get Google to recognise our Facebook reviews?
10:14 am on September 28th, 2016
Is it possible to select/edit which sources the reviews are being collected from? For example: Yelp is not showing up & we have some really great reviews there. Facebook is showing up & I’m alright with that. But there is another source that I would really rather not have show up. Any advice?