Is Google helping drive customers AWAY from your business?
First time I’ve seen “People also search for” in this spot. Not a fan of the placement. Perhaps if a business has a rating of 1 after so many reviews Google is trying to make it even more obvious you should consider a different business. pic.twitter.com/9LaXLHUq4s
— Tom Waddington (@tomwaddington8) February 23, 2019
Why the layout matters
The old layout shows the People also search for section at the bottom. That gives viewers a chance to see the score on other review sites as well as extracts from your reviews. If you’re truly doing a terrible job, chances are the Reviews snippets and the Reviews from the web will be relatively consistent.
However, if you’re being targeted for some reason, those other sections of the knowledge panel really matter. Being targeted is a terrible thing. Some targeting is by trolls, some will be negative review campaigns by competitors, and others are by extortionists.
And it’s when they’re not consistent that Google is doing customers and your own business a huge disservice.
Looking at this Tony & Guy listing, if it were to show with the new display, I’d completely miss the bigger picture. Most folks would be inclined to click away to the next salon, simply because People also searched for shows above the Reviews from the web as well as the Reviews snippets.
The test display would not readily show the vast imbalance of 12 Google reviews vs the 421 on Salon Spy.
Google’s new People also search for can work against you and customers.
And now Google is testing a new People also search for layout which seemingly encourages people to check out your competition. While aiming to improve the customer experience, I fear all too often they’re helping send perfectly good businesses to the wall.
Every day businesses are losing thousands of dollars in potential revenue due to negative reviews. Many lose so much they simply don’t survive -> Review Scam That Targets Photographers
So much for wisdom of the crowd.
More reading:
- Bad reviews and online ‘trolls’ cost UK businesses up to £30,000 a year
- Winery sues Google over bad reviews
- Aussie businesses claim customers are using review site to ‘extort’ them
