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<\/a>I noted the other day that Google was integrating HotSpot friend recommendations<\/a> in personalized Map results. They are also now including<\/a> a new rating level with an eye-catching Best Ever<\/strong> ribbon\/icon from Hotpot on the Places Pages.<\/p>\nThis sort of additional ego boost might just incent business owners to train their customers how to use Google Hotspot<\/a>. If Google adds some ranking strength to the signal, business owners will be crashing down the gates to get the rating.<\/p>\n The new Google HotPot offers a more relaxed user feedback environment than Google Places, allowing for just a star rating and a quick sentiment (for hotels & restaurants) but also encouraging, although not requiring, a brief review.<\/p>\n Google Places has recently added the ability to add this simpler, quick Hotpot like star rating to businesses that show in the Related Places<\/a> area of the Place page (When did they change the name from Nearby Places You Might Like?). The option is only available on Places that have previously received Google reviews.<\/p>\n Update: As an addendum to this post, it is of interest that Ratings from Hotpot that do not include any review content are now also showing up<\/a> in the “Reviews by Google” users section: ———-<\/p>\n Update<\/strong>: The Lat Long Article How ratings and reviews work on Google Places<\/a> points to a Google Hotpot Help file that notes you can rate a business in the following places:<\/p>\n To rate a business on desktop, simply hover over rating stars anywhere you see them. Here are places you\u2019ll see the rating stars, on your computer.<\/p>\n \n With your mobile device, you can rate places while on the go. You\u2019ll see the rating stars several places on your phone.<\/p>\n If likes are the new links then ratings are the new reviews. At least as far as Google is concerned as they continue to integrate elements from Hotpot into Places. I noted the other day that Google was integrating HotSpot friend recommendations in personalized Map results. They are also now including a new rating level …<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":262,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[21,4,16],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-8165","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-google-hotpot","category-google-maps-google-local","category-reviews"],"aioseo_notices":[],"aioseo_head":"\n\t\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t![\"\"](\"http:\/\/blumenthals.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2010\/11\/ribbon-icon.jpg\" "\\"ribbon-icon\\""){kind=icon}
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\nA rating doesn’t require the commitment that a review does and removes some of the barriers to Google gathering more of this sort of information from a broader range of searchers about a broader range of business. It is not clear that ratings will play a role in rankings but they already are playing a role in recommendations. And that is the likely future of search.<\/p>\n
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