Place Page Reviews are Now Separated

October 14th, 2010 by Search Influence Alumni

Tonight, I was logged into the Place Page account for my husbands’ business adding a Coupon.  I haven’t looked around his Place Page in a while, and I was trying to see what I have missed in the months since I last logged in.  (Just as the cobbler’s children go without shoes, the Place Page accounts most personal to me tend to get ignored.  And that is not my husband in the picture.  That is a cobbler.)

Then I saw some newness .. what’s this? … The reviews are separated out.  Check it out on this Place Page …

Reviews cached from sources around the internet are categorized under “Reviews from around the web” while Google reviews are segregated into their own special area, “Reviews by Google users.”

I had to ask a few Search Influence dedicated employees still working and available on chat tonight, “have you seen this?  Is this new?”  The resounding response was a confirmation that it is indeed a new development.

Paula Keller gives feedback that she saw this earlier today, so perhaps this is the first day for the evolution of this separation.

What does this mean?  I’m not sure what it means.  But there is definitely more transparency on reviews and the sources of those.

And it’s interesting that Google puts “Reviews from around the web” above their own.   They want browsers and searchers to read the other reviews before those that Google gathered.  Perhaps, it’s a nod to the Google reviews having a tendency for attracting inauthentic reviews?

Digging around, I can see those businesses that have ALL of their reviews from Google and none from other sources.  Suspicious behavior.  This guy has 22 reviews, everyone of them great, and everyone of them from Google users.

Oooo! And this is cool.  It very clearly indicates how many reviews are being pulled from these web sources right in the source Title.  David Mihm found the New Place Page Reviews Format earlier today andhe points out the little flavicon on the review sources:

This newness is curious and interesting.  Just when we’ve decided that reviews are always important but maybe not as strong a factor as they once were, Google shakes it up for us.

Thanks to hans s for his very cool medieval cobbler image.