Google to move more sites to mobile-first index in coming weeks

Google plans to roll more sites into the mobile-first index in the near future. Are you ready? The post Google to move more sites to mobile-first index in coming weeks appeared first on Search Engine Land.

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Google Search Console blocked resources report had processing error

You may notice decreased counts of pages with blocked resources in Google Search Console. Google has fixed it, but the reports may be off for your site. The post Google Search Console blocked resources report had processing error appeared first on Search Engine Land.

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How to Deal with Fake Negative Reviews on Google

Posted by JoyHawkins

Fake reviews are a growing problem for those of us that own small businesses. In the online world, it's extremely easy to create a new account and leave either a positive or negative review for any business — regardless of whether you’ve ever tried to hire them.

Google has tons of policies for users that leave reviews. But in my experience they're terrible at automatically catching violations of these policies. At my agency, my team spends time each month carefully monitoring reviews for our clients and their competitors. The good news is that if you’re diligent at tracking them and can make a good enough case for why the reviews are against the guidelines, you can get them removed by contacting Google on Twitter, Facebook, or reporting via the forum.

Recently, my company got hit with three negative reviews, all left in the span of 5 minutes:

Two of the three reviews were ratings without reviews. These are the hardest to get rid of because Google will normally tell you that they don’t violate the guidelines — since there's no text on them. I instantly knew they weren’t customers because I'm really selective about who I work with and keep my client base small intentionally. I would know if someone that was paying me was unhappy.

The challenge with negative reviews on Google

The challenge is that Google doesn’t know who your customers are, and they won’t accept “this wasn't a customer” as an acceptable reason to remove a review, since they allow people to use anonymous usernames. In most cases, it’s extremely difficult to prove the identity of someone online.

The other challenge is that a person doesn’t have to be a customer to be eligible to leave a review. They have to have a “customer experience,” which could be anything from trying to call you and getting your voicemail to dropping by your office and just browsing around.

How to respond

When you work hard to build a good, ethical business, it's always infuriating when a random person has the power to destroy what took you years to build. I’d be lying if I said I wasn’t the least bit upset when these reviews came in. Thankfully, I was able to follow the advice I’ve given many people in the last decade, which is to calm down and think about what your future prospects will see when they come across review and the way you respond to it.

Solution: Share your dilemma

I decided to post on Twitter and Facebook about my lovely three negative reviews, and the response I got was overwhelming. People had really great and amusing things to say about my dilemma.

Dear: Whoever spammed my listing this morning with fake reviews. You probably should have gone with more believable usernames. #StopCrapOnTheMap pic.twitter.com/9Nat163d93

— Joy Hawkins (@JoyanneHawkins) January 16, 2018

Whoever was behind these three reviews was seeking to harm my business. The irony is that they actually helped me, because I ended up getting three new positive reviews as a result of sharing my experience with people that I knew would rally behind me.

For most businesses, your evangelists might not be on Twitter, but you could post about it on your personal Facebook profile. Any friends that have used your service or patronized your business would likely respond in the same manner. It’s important to note that I never asked anyone to review me when posting this — it was simply the natural response from people that were a fan of my company and what we stand for. If you’re a great company, you’ll have these types of customers and they should be the people you want to share this experience with!

But what about getting the negative reviews removed?

In this case, I was able to get the three reviews removed. However, there have also been several cases where I’ve seen Google refuse to remove them for others. My plan B was to post a response to the reviews offering these “customers” a 100% refund. After all, 100% of zero is still zero — I had nothing to lose. This would also ensure that future prospects see that I’m willing to address people that have a negative experience, since even the best businesses in the world aren’t perfect. As much as I love my 5-star rating average, studies have shown that 4.2–4.5 is actually the ideal average star rating for purchase probability.

Have you had an experience with fake negative reviews on Google? If so, I’d love to hear about it, so please leave a comment.

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SearchCap: Google News meta keywords, Yelp attribution & AdWords scripting

Below is what happened in search today, as reported on Search Engine Land and from other places across the web. The post SearchCap: Google News meta keywords, Yelp attribution & AdWords scripting appeared first on Search Engine Land.

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How to sync your keywords and ad labels with an AdWords Script

Columnist Daniel Gilbert shares a free script to help solve labeling issues by copying labels within an ad group from ads to keywords or vice versa. The post How to sync your keywords and ad labels with an AdWords Script appeared first on Search Engine Land.

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Enterprise SEO and cross-channel performance: Activation and integration

A strong website is a lifeline for most companies. Contributor Jim Yu recommends using it to push smart SEO content, social agendas and AI first technologies. The post Enterprise SEO and cross-channel performance: Activation and integration appeared first on Search Engine Land.

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Yelp tests offline attribution using guest WiFi and email matching

The company said that every $1 spent on Yelp ads resulted in a $110 offline return, based on aggregate transaction data. The post Yelp tests offline attribution using guest WiFi and email matching appeared first on Search Engine Land.

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