Google Local Service Ads had their own reviews which will now be merging with GBP reviews in November.
The “Top Quality Score” is a page that shows reviews if there isn’t a GBP or if the store sells physical products. The page now pulls in videos and other assets from social media.
Try to have consistent ratings across review platforms. If you have 100 reviews on GBP and they are all 5 star, but your Yelp profile has a few reviews that are 3 stars or less, then work on gaining more 5 star reviews on Yelp to keep your average the same across most platforms.
Some reviews don’t go through as they are flagged for content (e.g. “blown away”) or the user leaving the review has a suspicious profile.
If a listing gets flooded or attacked with large numbers of fake reviews, Google will usually automatically filter them out. However, Google may then turn off the ability to leave reviews for a set time as to wait for the negative attack to dissipate. The downside is that the listing owner isn’t notified and doesn’t understand why people can no longer leave reviews on their profile.
Misc
New “shop nearby” link on SERPs
on-page SEO is becoming less important. Expanding your brand’s reach across social media platforms is becoming more important.
Add keywords to your profile name on social media websites. For example, “Aladdin Plumbing Corp – Plumber & HVAC NYC”
Businesses that have an address in a coworking space are very hard to verify and keep live. If suspended, it is much harder to reinstate the profile. Avoid using PO Boxes and coworking spaces as addresses.
Q: Is it better to repeat the same posts across social media, or use unique content? Probably not an issue for AI. It likely won’t penalize you. If you can, make your descriptions or bios different.
Q: How does Google differentiate between fake and real reviews? Not sure, but countries probably have a role to play. If someone in another country leaves a review for a business is another country, it is likely to be fake.
Q: Does Google know if I use AI to respond to reviews? It probably isn’t checking that. It checks for the filter, such as offensive language.
They’ve been cracking down on people that buy positive or fake reviews
if your website has a plugin that filters reviews, like it only shows good ones, and you say “here are ALL my reviews” then you are falsifying information
In England, Google has been rolling out a new thing where if it thinks you have fake reviews, they will remove them and leave a message at the top of your listing saying “Suspected fake reviews were recently removed from this place”
The new notice will undoubtedly have some false positives.
Bugs
Delays in GBP reinstatements
review reporting tool not functioning properly
lost reviews after a suspension
Q&A turned off for some south Asian countries
Q: If you get a fake 1 star review, how often should you try reporting it to get it removed?
Twice. After that it is there to stay. Can use the community forum and review tool
Review Support: https://support.google.com/business/workflow/9945796
If you move your location to another zip code, you’ll likely get suspended. Have your paperwork ready ahead of time. If you’re a home business (no signage), change the registry.
August Core Update
rollout completed September 3
increased emphasis on quality content
a shift to user-centric content and third party trust (Reddit is getting very influential)
In some cases (like with Ian Howells), the core updates killed traffic until the next update revived it. In March, traffic went to almost zero, then in August it boosted back up.
Taleb Kabbara did an experiment where permalinks with keywords were swapped out with numeric values. Traffic flew up because it was previously overoptimized.
“Link Whisper” is a WordPress plugin that automatically adds internal links with exact match keyword anchors. Yan tested, he had 84 internal links and reduced it to 5 (for exact match keywords) and his ranking improved.
Gross over content is much easier with AI, but it can result in keyword stuffing. Google is better now at picking out what sounds more natural.
For local SEO and maps, something like “keyword + city” and “keyword + city2” is still ok. It isn’t great for blogs or long-term organic SEO.
The gap between the “rich and poor” has become more apparent. Visibility for struggling sites dropped more drastically, while highly ranking sites improved.
Q: What about new sites? Since new businesses will be starting from the bottom.
It is possible, but when you make a GBP, Google gives it an initial mini boost. If you get reviews right away and are consistent, you keep that boost.
Google has tons of data, they are better at targeting than we are
Pmax does not use keywords ( just search themes )
TIP: vertical videos in Pmax are super good for converting mobile users.
Pmax generally casts a wide net, then zeros in on targeting the correct people. This can make some people impatient because they see a wild start and feel they are wasting their money, but it takes 4-6 weeks for Pmax to learn the market.
dba Platform is able to break down each Pmax channel (display, search, maps, etc) so you can see what area is performing the best. Otherwise we can only see “cross network” on GA4, so this is a selling point for dba
When you make a major change within the first 6 weeks, does it extend the learning period? Yes, it does extend it. In general its 4-6 weeks.
How can you promote on Google Maps? Pmax Campaign
Top Pmax Mistakes (and fixes)
Mistake: only using one campaign type
Pmax isn’t everything. Pair it with a search campaign (don’t replace search, have both). Text campaigns are better for branding and specific terms.
Mistake: not using exclusions
Use content suitability and placement exclusions
ensure content suitability is set to “standard”
You can do up to 65000 keyword exclusions. dba has a list they use automatically for most accounts.
Mistake: not telling Pmax who your customers are
Use search themes and audience signals
You can upload customer lists, but you need 1000. Once you reach 1000, it unlocks customer acquisition, which helps Google target new people based on the qualities of the people in the list.
Mistake: not assigning values to conversions
Use ROI
Conversion value rules can help bid up or down for certain devices, locations, and audiences
Mistake: No visibility in your inventory
use custom labels with attribute rules
Maintain at least 50 products per listing group to ensure visibility and performance. Google prefers big lists.
Can you exclude channels? For example, a funeral home doesn’t want to remarket or push death on ads.
This is tricky, but you could get around it by omitting certain assets (like video). Pmax learns, so another channel might be a better choice. Also check insights to help guide you.
If you repeat search terms is it good or bad? For example, “nanaimo plumber” vs “plumber nanaimo”
Google feels it is the same, so no need to repeat.
Can you reduce Pmax spend to allocate more towards certain listings? If you strip out assets and put in exclusions, you can push the spend towards other things. There is also an option to opt out of video, but you need to contact Google.
Is it better to tweak a Pmax campaign weekly or do large changes and sit back and wait for results? It is better to wait, but you can use experiments (45-60 days) to help with decision making.
If you want to direct users to use a form on your website, is it better to set up conversions as form submissions (GA4 event) or use page views? Use GA4 key event with a value, set as primary. You can make a 2nd conversion for page views. Look at bounce reports.
If you are running Google Ads, consider FB and Microsoft. Microsoft users tend to be older, have higher household income, and competition is generally lower than Google.
Well the master doesn’t age really it is always in the exact state you left it with the exception of plugins not being updated.
Periodically you may wish to add a new plugin or replace one editing your startup point as you grow.
Spinning up a new dev site if it is hosted on the same cpanel, you would 1st create the domain (sub.domain), then trigger the SSL install to it using SSL/Status, then go to Softaculous and open the list of installs… find your kickstarter and select the CLONE button… which is a new install of that WordPress at the location you choose. So then drop down the URL choice and select your new dev domain to intall to. That’s it!
We are always happy to do it for you as well when you are in a hurry, but I know you like to learn new stuff and stay on top of things.
Mixed Content: The page at ‘X’ was loaded over HTTPS, but requested an insecure stylesheet ‘http://X/wp-content/plugins/elementor/assets/css/widget-icon-list.min.css’. This request has been blocked; the content must be served over HTTPS.
This site uses Elementor, FYI.
Solution:
Changed the site address in Settings -> General to https from http
