Millions of users rely on Google for a variety of services. Google is considered to be the largest Search engine on the internet but the inconsistency of Google with reviews of third-party is making users confused about whether to trust it or not. It is better for Google to simply just remove reviews instead of uploading the ones that even violate its own guidelines.
The reviews from third-party sites in search results become a problem when any business receives a negative comment and there are not so many authentic reviews to help balance it all.
According to the guidelines of Google’s review snippet, a website should make the review and ratings available to other users from the marked-up page. According to Google guidelines, the reviews by users should be immediately visible to other users with a display of review content. But if you take a look at any of the review from the web on business knowledge panels you’ll see that they fail to follow Google’s guideline which is confusing for consumers and for marketers as well.
According to SearchEngineLand's finding, some of the business’s knowledge panel had average rating visible but if you visit the rating listings on the website itself you’ll see a totally changed set of reviews as compared to the one visible on Google search result pages. On most of the sites, there are more than 20 reviews available whereas Google displays rating based on one review as compared to others. So, it is really confusing on how Google calculates the average reviews and we don’t even know how to correct these errors.
If you take a look at the reviews displayed by Google of any Facebook profile you’ll notice that Google shows average based on a different amount of votes as compared to the total votes visible on the profile of Facebook. You’ll notice that the voting set on the profile of Facebook differ to the one that Google list shows. Probably, Google is using outdated information in some cases.
It’s really hard to know about how Google is calculating the average and the results are making not just consumers but also digital marketers confusing on which platform to trust.
Read next: There’s a change in Google Images search filter that some might miss it's gone
Featured Illustration: Freepik
The reviews from third-party sites in search results become a problem when any business receives a negative comment and there are not so many authentic reviews to help balance it all.
Google fails to enforce its own guidelines
One of the major issues faced by consumers and marketers is Google failing to enforce its own guidelines on third-party review sites.
According to the guidelines of Google’s review snippet, a website should make the review and ratings available to other users from the marked-up page. According to Google guidelines, the reviews by users should be immediately visible to other users with a display of review content. But if you take a look at any of the review from the web on business knowledge panels you’ll see that they fail to follow Google’s guideline which is confusing for consumers and for marketers as well.
According to SearchEngineLand's finding, some of the business’s knowledge panel had average rating visible but if you visit the rating listings on the website itself you’ll see a totally changed set of reviews as compared to the one visible on Google search result pages. On most of the sites, there are more than 20 reviews available whereas Google displays rating based on one review as compared to others. So, it is really confusing on how Google calculates the average reviews and we don’t even know how to correct these errors.
If you take a look at the reviews displayed by Google of any Facebook profile you’ll notice that Google shows average based on a different amount of votes as compared to the total votes visible on the profile of Facebook. You’ll notice that the voting set on the profile of Facebook differ to the one that Google list shows. Probably, Google is using outdated information in some cases.
It’s really hard to know about how Google is calculating the average and the results are making not just consumers but also digital marketers confusing on which platform to trust.
Another violation of Google’s Guideline based on reviews
According to Google’s guideline, the sites are not allowed to collection rating information from any other site and only allow information gathered directly from users but currently, Google fails to follow its own guidelines. The reviews posted on Google are duplicated from other sites. When you visit a profile on Google and look at the reviews category, you’ll notice that one each review there are mentions regarding the sites or pages from where the reviews were duplicated.
Bottom Line
In the past, reviews were considered a vital key to help businesses build their reputation. Now the reviews posted by Google is making users trust reviews less as compared in the past. If Google fails to follow its own guidelines than its better to simply remove the reviews from the platform to at least not confuse the users.Read next: There’s a change in Google Images search filter that some might miss it's gone
Featured Illustration: Freepik
