14 DAY TRIAL // Google is making a place for the small business and local markets and one of the biggest tools at the moment is the rather new Place Pages. Launched a few months ago, it aims to have an entry for every place on Earth aggregating content from a variety of sources like Wikipedia and review sites. It now looks like Google may be widening its reach and probing hyperlocal sites, blogs, even blog comments for reviews, as Mike Blumenthal notes and details on his blog.
"This change portends a dramatically changed review landscape where both the volume of reviews for some types of businesses will rise and the dynamics of reputation management will change. It could very well shift the balance of power away from centralized review sites and could be one more impediment to any recovery of the IYP sites," Blumenthal explains.
Google has apparently confirmed the new feature and it can be exemplified rather easily by simply going through the reviews on Place Pages. Carter Maslan, the Google Maps Product Manager, has provided an example on what type of content now gets picked up and presented in the review section. A blog post from a client of a Portland personal trainer ended up in the reviews on the trainer's Von Ray’s V-Shape Fitness Places Page, even though the blog itself is not dedicated to reviews, it's just a personal site.
The post featured just businesses' name and a contact phone number but was enough for Google to link it to the Place Page listing. Even though the blog doesn't regularly feature reviews, Google deemed it relevant because of its focus on a very small region.
"By expanding the sites from which reviews are gathered and expanding the pools of reviews, Google will be able to aggregate this sort of information about many more places. It could very well portend a shift in the review landscape, moving power way from centralized review sites towards active and aggressive hyperlocal sites," Blumenthal concludes.