Google recently announced its next step to making review rich snippet results more helpful to searchers looking for products or services. This new algorithm update impacts reviews in rich snippet results (the star snapshots displayed in the search results), which you can see below:
Image courtesy of Google
According to Google, reviews perceived as “self-serving” aren’t in the best interest of users. A review is considered “self-serving” when it’s published on the business’s website either directly in their markup code or with an embedded third-party widget.
How Does This Impact Amplify?
ReviewTrackers’ Amplify tool provides businesses with review widgets to display reviews anywhere on their website. It’s the social proof businesses need to close more deals and improve visibility in search results. In other words Amplify builds credibility and drives more conversions.
Amplify enabled rich snippets prior to Google’s algorithm changes. When businesses used the Amplify code on their website, Google would index the page and activate the rich snippets as stars in the search results page.
In addition to rich snippets, Google also read and indexed the page based off other Amplify features including unique user- and business-generated content as well as relevant keywords.
With these new Google changes, Amplify no longer activates rich snippets as stars in the search results page.
The Value of Amplify
Despite the recent changes to Google’s algorithm, Amplify still provides value to our customers. It still displays user- and business-generated content which helps increase a business’s SEO ranking.
By publishing Amplify widgets on pages where customers convert, you help streamline the buyer experience, which can bring increased conversions and a more satisfied customer experience. More importantly, Amplify provides transparency into your business’s online reputation.
The SEO Benefits of ReviewTrackers
The SEO benefit that reviews provide to businesses goes beyond Amplify. ReviewTrackers gives businesses the ability to request reviews via the Ask Tool and to easily respond to reviews from within the ReviewTrackers platform. Requesting and responding to reviews are both factors that Google takes into account when ranking local businesses.
As always, we are committed to transparency and informing our customers on industry trends and best practices. If you have any questions on how the ReviewTrackers suite of solutions can benefit your business, please contact your customer success representative or request a demo.
