Lost Google Places reviews

[Newman]

Wholly crap! I lost about a dozen reviews from google places. Now there is just 2 reviews. I am still #1 but Man I worked hard for those reviews, and now they are gone. I will be the one crying in my beer tonight. Waaaa
thathurts
Almost as bad as them friggin yelpers "filtering" reviews.
thathurts

 

[Royal Man]

It happens.

They should be back soon . I lost 12

Did they make Places dominate the page like they did in my area?

Kind of makes having a regular website irrelevant now.

Hope it lasts for quite a while.

Through winter atleast would be great!!

 

[Brian R]

I just lost 9 and am awaiting their return...usually comes back in a day or two but I'm not so sure this time.

Google changed their view today so who knows what they hell they are doing. lol

 

[Royal Man]

Tre and Rob will have to stand on the corner with a tin cup if these changes stay in effect.

Big loss of revenue for them.

Happy days!!!!!

 

[Newman]

The google search result format here in Chicago remains the same.

Our map listings show up in only town. So if organic listings are pushed away, we all loose? Time to get some PO boxes?

 

[Royal Man]

I think PO boxes won't help.

But, Google will now be able to sell Map listing for the areas you want.

Sure generous of them!!

 

[Newman]

I would rather buy map listings than adwords.

 

[Brian R]

I've only seen an adwords link from the places account.

Am I missing something?

 

[Brian R]

I see. So the Boost is just like when they tried out the paid placement ads about 6 or 8 months ago.
I had one for $25.00 a month I think while they tried it out...never charged me for it because it was a test I guess.

It gave me the blue marker and put me right above the map listings at the time.

I'll be watching for that, you can bet your ass. lol
It was on a rotation basis and I think there was limit to the amount of companies that could sign up. Not sure about the limit.

We'll see.

 

[Ron K]

Had some reviews that NEVER Came back. Live by the sword die by the sword.

 

[Brian R]

Had some reviews that NEVER Came back. Live by the sword die by the sword.

Nail on the head.

 

[Newman]

So today the search format changed here in Chicago. The map is off to the side and only 4 companies are listed for the "places" result in the organic search. I do not appear in the "places" section of the organic search anymore when I was #1 for the last year. I do still have 2 slots in the first page organic search, down from the 4 results I have enjoyed on the first page for the last year.

When I click on the "more" places selection, once again I am #1. There are 2 out of searched town companies showing up in the places organic results. Reviews still missing.

More fodder for the experts to analyze. Still bummin.

 

[Royal Man]

Where I'm at I get the same only with 10 places listing and very few organic listing that are only directories and national franchises.

Surprised Chicago has so few places listings.

The only local organics I saw for "carpet cleaning Chicago" IL was:Super steam & Good guys (43 reviews)

No Norm's nowhere. Sorry!

Norm,

You have 3 map sites with the same phone number, Not very many links and now little or no reviews.

Could be likely be why they are invisible.

 

[Newman]

I am way outside Chicago. I just assume I am in the Google Chicago market.

The search was for Carpet Cleaning Geneva Il.

The other 2 maps listings I have are from old addresses. Google just put them there so I just let them remain.

 

[Royal Man]

If I was you I'd delete those other listing as soon as posible.

3 different addresss with the same phone number could be a big red flag for Google.

Those Places listings in your area appear to have no reviews and very few Google indexed back links.

A little work and time and you should have no problem.

Atleast your organics are showing up.

The new places can move it into your places listing and out of the bottom of the page.

(From the way it looks in other areas)

 

[Royal Man]

Interesting read about Google boost.

Clears up and explains some of what is going on.

"Pros/cons

Benefits:
- Local Results are highlighted on the page and are now more visually obvious than general search results
- Generic directories are pushed down in the SERPS leaving more local results above the fold
- The map floats down the page, not always adding context but always reminding folks to think local
- Ranking, which is always the most interesting to folks, appears to favor local businesses

Negatives (nothing too surprising here):
- Businesses that had two mentions on the front page will now have one
- If a business doesn’t yet have a website they will likely loose out on local search all together
- If they have a poorly designed website with flash or a welcome page that masks the site they will loose standing
- More opportunities for a searcher to visit something other than the business website"


http://blumenthals.com/blog/

 

[Newman]

I was just digging around to see how long ago google wiped out my hard earned maps page reviews.

3 months and the reviews have not returned. I guess they are lost for good.

 

[Brian R]

Go get some reviews on Judy's Book, city search, Yelp, hot frog, superpages, yahoo etc etc etc.

Google will scrape those sites and show the reviews.

Less chance of losing the reviews than putting them directly on Google.


Google reminds me of an old girlfriend. Picky, Stubburn and never forgets a damn thing.