Monthly Archives: June 2017

Google has been fined by the EU for abusing its dominant position in search. In short: for promoting its own services above those of its advertisers.

The company has 90 days to make changes and must “refrain from any
measure that has the same or an equivalent object or effect”, the
commission said.

Does this have any implications from the point-of-view of reviews?


Well, maybe. 

Even the most cursory glance at any search will show Google reviews, very prominently indeed. Yelp and TripAdvisor have been complaining about this for many years. The EU did not directly criticise this aspect of search (the focus was predominantly on Google’s comparison shopping service), but logic says that they will be keeping a close eye on it. And so will we.

Google have 90 days to react to the Commission’s finding (ignore the comments already appearing in forums saying things along the lines of ‘Google’s so big they can tell the EU to get lost’ – they cannot and they will not) and make changes to ensure they are compliant with the ruling. When they do we will update you. If anything indicates a change of strategy we will advise you accordingly – that’s why you engaged a review manager, not a single reviews solution that can be great one day and redundant the next.

Most of you will have seen an article like this in the last day or so:

 But that’s not the only way a business like Barclays is judged. What do their customers think? Let’s look…

and…

and… 

Our conclusion


It is not so much the reviews and scores that reflect badly on the business (although they do) but the fact that Barclays have obviously turned a blind eye to the negative impression they have allowed to be created on the web by a tiny minority of their customers (who may, or may not, be representative).

What have they not done?

• they have not had the common courtesy to respond to their customers who have taken the time to write a review – positive or negative
• they patently have no review management strategy in place – either corporately or at local branch level
  

What should they have done (and should now do)?

• establish a proactive review management strategy – to engage all their customers –  at corporate level
• implement that strategy across their branch network 
• and reply to every review

It’s not complicated, expensive or time-consuming. It is simply a question of asking itself: “Do we care about our customers and, just as importantly, do we want to be seen to care?”


We’re here to help.

Credit Suisse have downgraded their target price for TripAdvisor stock to nearly 10% below its already depressed level. This judgement is based on what Credit Suisse see as a need for TripAdvisor to increase its advertising spend to remain competitive. 

But we think there is a bigger picture – and it’s called Google... 

Google is becoming the dominant player in hospitality search 

Just search for a hotel or restaurant – what do you see? Let’s do just that (we will take two landmark properties – but perform the search for you own, it will be the same)…


First on desktop:


Hotel:

Restaurant:

Then on mobile:


Hotel:

Restaurant:

 

Our advice

There’s no need to radically alter strategies, but be aware that Google – and Google’s own reviews – are an increasing influence on consumers’ booking habits. You should be aiming for a score of 4.5 plus (the point at which consumers cease to hesitate) and it is a rare property that will be able to consistently achieve this without professional review management.


If in any doubt at all, consult us.

Curchods and their sister business Burns & Webber have chosen HelpHound as their review managers.

Both businesses are very well-regarded by both their peers and their clients, now that regard will be transmitted to all across both their websites and in search.

Here’s a Curchods branch…

…and already on its way with Google…

And here is one of Burns & Webber’s…

Both have adopted our new API – enabling their marketing departments and web designers to tailor the display to their specific requirements.

Over the next weeks and months expect all their twenty-one branches to begin to make a significant impact, both in terms of reviews on their own sites and Google reviews, following in the footsteps of another API adopter: Winkworth…


…on their own site….

…and on Google…

Watch this space!

Just when we thought Google could not make reviews more visible – they do it again! Both kinds too – yours and theirs.


Let’s take the mobile journey (estimates vary, but most agree that about 70% of all search is on mobile or tablet now):


Initial search: [business name + location]:

This gives the potential customer many options: map, address, opening hours etc. but we will stay with reviews for now. First there is the rating (numerical – 4.8 in this example) and stars (five) as well as the number of reviews – a click there takes the user straight to the business’s Google reviews (see the third of the four screengrabs). 

Underneath that is ‘Reviews from the web’ – again showing a score and number of reviews, but this time taken from the business’s own reviews hosted on their own site. 


In addition you can see two links to the business’s website – centre right of the Google knowledge panel and right at the bottom – top of natural listings (as you might expect). Clicking on both of these will lead to reviews prominently displayed on the business’s mobile site.

But perhaps most important of all – the change that Google has made – the ‘Reviews’ tab at the top – taking your potential customers direct to your reviews – again, both your own and Google’s – without having to hit the arrow in the blue circle at the bottom of the knowledge panel:

There are three important routes to reviews here:

1. The three rich snippets – the first opinions a potential customer will see. They – as long as they are positive – should whet the customer’s appetite for more. They then have a choice… 

2. Read some of the 129 reviews – highlighted under ‘Reviews from the web’ – a click on which takes them straight to your website and the reviews you host there…

Three things here: a scrolling feed of verified reviews, a link to enable anyone to read all the business’s reviews and a link to an explanation of HelpHound’s role in the process.

3. Read your Google reviews by simply scrolling down:

And guess which tab in the drop-down menu most consumers choose? That is why it is so important to have a mechanism like Resolution™ that enables you to address inaccurate or misleading reviews pre-publication.


Don’t miss the overall message!

Google has not made this change on a whim: by devoting more and more of the search experience to reviews Google is telling businesses that your potential customers want to read reviews. 

P.S.

It is slightly off-topic for this article, but we know many of you will be asking ‘how does the business look in a generic search [business type + location]?’…

Answer? Top of the Google three-pack and top of organic search.