Comments on: Why Businesses Should Use Google Plus Local http://435digital.com/blog/2012/09/06/why-businesses-should-use-google-plus-local-2/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=why-businesses-should-use-google-plus-local-2 435 Digital Wed, 30 Jan 2013 22:29:33 +0000 hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.4.2 By: Alex Bruner http://435digital.com/blog/2012/09/06/why-businesses-should-use-google-plus-local-2/#comment-146 Alex Bruner Thu, 13 Sep 2012 18:03:02 +0000 http://435digital.com/?p=6790#comment-146 Mike, Thanks for the opportunity to clarify. What I was referring to in that statement is directly in regards to the relevance of review sources within the context of your + Local standings. We were lead to believe that +Local would not value say, Yelp reviews, in their +Local ranking and review system within +Local. Reviews from sites like Yelp, Urbanspoon, and other non Google properties will still be valuable in organic search results, if only to add another site representing your business to the SERPS. To summarize: My understanding was that within the context of Google +Local listings 3rd party reviews are of little value. They are not factored into the Zagat system. The Google+ reviews only use Zagat to figure a location’s score, even though you might still see reviews from other sites. This in no way discounts the value of those other sites, especially in a straight-up Google search. 3rd Party Reviews are still helpful in Google Searches outside of +Local listings. They are great for controlling multiple results for a given phrase. Mike,

Thanks for the opportunity to clarify.

What I was referring to in that statement is directly in regards to the relevance of review sources within the context of your + Local standings. We were lead to believe that +Local would not value say, Yelp reviews, in their +Local ranking and review system within +Local.

Reviews from sites like Yelp, Urbanspoon, and other non Google properties will still be valuable in organic search results, if only to add another site representing your business to the SERPS.

To summarize:

My understanding was that within the context of Google +Local listings 3rd party reviews are of little value. They are not factored into the Zagat system.

The Google+ reviews only use Zagat to figure a location’s score, even though you might still see reviews from other sites. This in no way discounts the value of those other sites, especially in a straight-up Google search.

3rd Party Reviews are still helpful in Google Searches outside of +Local listings. They are great for controlling multiple results for a given phrase.

]]> By: Mike Wilton http://435digital.com/blog/2012/09/06/why-businesses-should-use-google-plus-local-2/#comment-145 Mike Wilton Thu, 13 Sep 2012 07:10:25 +0000 http://435digital.com/?p=6790#comment-145 In the post you say, "Reviews from sources outside of those submitted through Google reviews no longer matter." is this coming from the Google + Local Community Managers? Google+ Local still displays reviews from many third party sites and still utilizes many of these third party sites for citation data. I find this advice hard to swallow, especially since many of these sites will still drive significant traffic to a business website. You can't assume you will capture ALL of your local traffic from Google. Please help me understand your reasoning on this. In the post you say, “Reviews from sources outside of those submitted through Google reviews no longer matter.” is this coming from the Google + Local Community Managers?

Google+ Local still displays reviews from many third party sites and still utilizes many of these third party sites for citation data. I find this advice hard to swallow, especially since many of these sites will still drive significant traffic to a business website. You can’t assume you will capture ALL of your local traffic from Google.

Please help me understand your reasoning on this.

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