Understanding Google My Business & Local Search
Category Archive For "Reviews"
How to Use Google Places New RSS Feed To Automate Your Review Spam Farm
Last week I struggled to understand how to properly use the newly introduced RSS feed import feature in the Google Places Hotpot feature that allows you to quickly review places of interest to you. I struggled with the interface and the instructions wondering exactly which reviewer would succeed with the task but along the way …
My Review Corpus is Bigger Than Your Review Corpus And Why It Matters
Yelp has obviously always wanted the spot of top dog in the general review world, moving out of their niche in restaurants and large markets several years ago. Google recognized Yelp’s strong position and made a play for them in late 2009. Obviously Yelp felt that their independent position was defensible. At the time, Google’s …
Responding to Fake Reviews – Return of the Dentist
Earlier this month I ran an article 5 Tips for Responding (or Not) to “Fake” Reviews that described the terrible situation of a dentist whose personal life had become the subject of reviews. When we last left this saga, the dentist was not fairing well in the drama to clear his name. The post generated …
Google Places Dashboard: QR Code MIA, Good riddance!
The printable QR Code that directed folks to your Places Page that Google offered up in the Places Dashboard went missing last week. A number of posters have turned up in the forums asking where it went, wondering how to print out the QR Code for their Places Page and lamenting its absence. Google has …
FTC Extracts $250,00 Fine for Affiliate Reviews & Endorsements
Bill Hartzer highlighted this recent FTC fine levied on Legacy Learning Systems for having its affiliate seller network aggressively laud the product on their websites in close proximity to affiliate purchase link back to Legacy’s site. The FTC argued that these affiliate websites “falsely posed as ordinary consumers or independent reviewers” and thus violated the …
5 Tips for Responding (or Not) to “Fake” Reviews
Reviews come in all shapes and sizes. Sometimes they are used to get back at a business for bad service but they can be used as well to settle a personal or political score in a public forum. In this review and review response, it really isn’t totally clear who is telling the truth. jared …
Fake Reviews Starting to Get Mainstream Media Attention
The latter part of this otherwise lame ‘expose’ about deceptive hotel marketing practices from NBC’s 2/24 Today show highlights the issue of fake reviews. Visit msnbc.com for breaking news, world news, and news about the economy Certainly the issue of fake reviews is both more pervasive and more common than the report indicates. Our industry …
GetListed Spokane
Today, I am presenting at the seventh GetListed.org Local University in Spokane, WA. I hope to personally meet all of you in attendance. Please don’t hesitate to reach out and ask any questions that come to mind or to just introduce yourself. These links will provide background information and details for a pathway to dig deeper …
Testimonials as Reviews – A View from the Field
Last week after publication of the new Google Rich Snippets for Local FAQ and follow up comments by Carter Maslan, there was a great deal of discussion about what was best practice vis a vis testimonials on a SMB web site. Clearly, when you focus on the client, having this type of content can be …
Google Places: Respond To Review Fixed (Again)
The “Respond Publicly as the Owner” is now working once again. According to Stephen from Google, the respond to review feature for Places listing owners is now fixed. Reports in the forum indicate that those recently experiencing the problem are also noting the problem as fixed. We’ve rolled out an update today that should resolve this …
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