5 Things You Can Do to Improve Your Google “Reviews From The Web” 

We already know the importance of having Google reviews on our Google listing - but did you know by having them it increases driving directions by 140% and a whopping 350% increase in web site visits via local search results. So without a shadow of a doubt, having more Reviews from the web shown prominently on your brand Knowledge Panel (KP) would probably have a similar affect.

Google loves “Reviews from the web” as they are based on a process and unlike most things in the local Knowledge Panel result, they’re dynamic. The two main general rules appear to be that if Google finds a page from your website with rich snippets ranking on the first page or finds a third party review site they will, almost certainly, be included in the Knowledge Panel display.

Unfortunately as with many of Google’s processes there are a few ‘ifs’ and ‘buts’ - it could be that Google don’t actually show any, or could show one, two or as many as three review sites in the Knowledge Panel display for your business. Even for the same company but on slightly different searches.

Unfortunately the likes of Yelp and TripAdvisor pages which usually rank well for brand searches and have review snippets are not shown in the KP display. This could be perhaps related to the dispute they have with Google over ‘stealing’ their review content. I have done some research, and it seems that BBB consumer reviews do not show either for one reason or another.

Because the display depends on and usually only shows review snippets which rank high up in the branded search results, more often on the first page of the search, you will then usually get slight variations in brand searches which results in different reviews from around the web being shown.

These two searches fully demonstrate the point; Barbara Oliver & Co Jewelry and Barbara Oliver Jewelry. Barbara recently renamed her company to Barbara Oliver Jewelry. Her YP.com listing has not yet been updated and ranks well on her old name but not her new one and thus doesn’t show up on the latter search.

The one goal from a conversion optimisation point of view is to always show your reviews on your Knowledge Panel - a maximum three websites from around the web. Consider these options:

1- Start by doing some little research. Do a few searches on especially on the variation of your brand name - then see how many review sites are showing on the first page and that show in the Knowledge Panel for that location. Now see if it changes at all depending on exactly how you do the searches.

2- If none are showing on all of the search variations consider expanding the reach of your review management requests beyond Google, Yelp or TripAdvisor. Add Facebook and other review sites that are ranking well for your business to your review management plan that will show in the Knowledge like YP.com or Zomato.

3- Consider adding review capabilities to your site. The goal is obviously to have three review sites show all the time and if you can get your site reviews to pick up the rich snippets in the search results you have the benefit of the Google eye candy PLUS the benefit of SEO from the user generated content.

We’d be silly not to note that GetFiveStars and our Testimonial Widget allows you to do just that.

4- If you experience something like Barbara Oliver Jewelry where they show sometimes and not others, determine the cause. Be sure that naming discrepancies between high ranking review sites have been fixed and that your NAP (name, address and phone) is consistent. They are then more likely to rank on naming variations.

5- If you find that you are showing only two review sites from around the web but really want to show three, investigate page two of the brand search results for your brand name search and see if a review site is ranking highly there. If it is, do some “barnacle marketing” and consider linking to that page from your site to elevate it to first page of your branded search results.

Obviously the goal in reputation development is to put your best foot forward and to be sure that the best you is reflected in the Google search results. Given that the Knowledge Panel for your business has such high visibility you want to insure that you focus on it and attempt to maximize the message that it carries.