Google Casts Wider Net for Reviews

In order to increase the volume and coverage of reviews on its Place Pages, Google is now apparently looking beyond the range of traditional review sources to new, non-traditional sites (e.g., blogs, articles, etc.). Mike Blumethal has written a lengthy post on the subject. As Mike points out this could potentially complicate the emerging area of reputation management for local businesses.

In the near term it’s unlikely that Google will simply cast far and wide for any local business mention. Rather it will identify selected sites in particular markets, but those sites apparently need not be “review” sites to be included on Place Pages.

The rest of this post is on SEL.

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