How can I filter reviews that use profanity while using schema markup?
-
Google released new guidelines last year governing how schema markup is to be deployed on a website. One of those guidelines states that reviews on your site must not be filtered or altered to receive the benefit of schema markup. After my client was slapped on the wrist by Google for ignoring their Webmaster guidelines (and our advice ahem) they removed all filtering from the websites.
However, being a family friendly company it is a requirement that no profanity be displayed on the website. Google's guidelines are not entirely clear about what to do. They state:
"Profanity and vulgar language are discouraged. Reviews should be appropriate for a broad and diverse audience. Consequently, reviews containing vulgar or profane language may be ineligible for use."
and...
"Critic reviews must allow for customers to express both positive and negative sentiments. They may not be vetted by the business or restricted by the content provider based on the positive/negative sentiment of the review before submission to Google."
The issue is that we need to vet the reviews to remove profanity, yet that may be triggering for Google. Any thoughts?
Source: https://developers.google.com/search/docs/data-types/reviews -
Hey Brett!
Thanks so much for updating this thread. I like the answer you received, but I wish very much that it was coming directly from a Google staffer. I don't in any way doubt that what the volunteer is saying is true ... I'd just have preferred it if he mentioned he took the issue to staff to get an official answer. Hmm ... this is not an easy one!
-
I received a response from Barry Hunter who said pretty much what I suspected: that the devil is in the details.
"Critic reviews must allow for customers to express both positive and negative sentiments. They may not be vetted by the business or restricted by the content provider based on the positive/negative sentiment of the review before submission to Google."
I've bolded the distinction he had made which is that it's acceptable to vet reviews as a profanity filter.
What he did not address, though he did acknowledge, was that there may still exist some confusion as the reviews most laden with profanity are likely to be angry, negative reviews. While I'm not 100% satisfied with this answer, I think it's likely to be the only one I'll get.
For those interested in the discussion: https://productforums.google.com/forum/#!msg/webmasters/k24p4fPf404/3e7D7hjxEwAJ
I'm tempted to <nofollow>that link until I get a satisfactory response </nofollow>
-
I'm glad you decided to post to Google, Brett. This is the first time I've ever seen this issue you've raised, and I'm very impressed that you've voiced it. It really does deserve and answer from Google, and I'd love it if you could let our community know if you hear from a staffer or volunteer there. Thanks!
-
Thanks Miriam, I've posted the question in Google's product support forums as well to try and find a resolution. If anyone nibbles I'll update the Q&A here as well.
There is a caveat in the wording that I've noticed where it states "Critic reviews must allow for customers to express both positive and negative sentiments. They may not be vetted by the business or restricted by the content provider based on the positive/negative sentiment of the review before submission to Google."
This may give us wiggle room to vet the review based on profanity, though I don't know how Google would be able to make the distinction since any review using profanity is more likely by its nature to have a lower rating, and therefore is likely to trip Google's alarms.
-
Wow, I would love to see John Mu address this. You've brought up a really good topic Brett, for which I don't have an answer. Can anyone in our community help Brett out?
Before coming to Moz, I worked at a forum where any profanity was autocorrected by the platform. I'm not sure how that worked technically, but the issue you've raised is that Google is specifically stating that they don't want website-based reviews to be altered, while at the same time they want to safeguard their own review base from being degraded with profanity. It's a mixed signal, for sure. Google can choose to filter out a vulgar review on their own platform (or any review they feel doesn't meet their quality guidelines), but they apparently don't want you to have the same ability on your own site. This is definitely a conundrum and one I'd love to see a Google staffer address.
Got a burning SEO question?
Subscribe to Moz Pro to gain full access to Q&A, answer questions, and ask your own.
Browse Questions
Explore more categories
-
Moz Tools
Chat with the community about the Moz tools.
-
SEO Tactics
Discuss the SEO process with fellow marketers
-
Community
Discuss industry events, jobs, and news!
-
Digital Marketing
Chat about tactics outside of SEO
-
Research & Trends
Dive into research and trends in the search industry.
-
Support
Connect on product support and feature requests.
Related Questions
-
Can I use two feeds for Products Reviews Stars
My client has two sources of reviews - productsreview.com.au and judgeme.com - both have about 30 reviews each and we would like to combine these to get to the required 50 (so that they both show on the product ratings feed). I cannot find any information on this so would be grateful for some guidance - thank you!
Reviews and Ratings | | E2E0 -
What is the best practice way to attribute a Google Review?
An example might be a local directory site, where multiple businesses are featured. To flesh out the respective business profiles, Google Reviews are included. Copying/pasting would be the definition of duplicate content. I wonder though if hyperlinking to the review itself would be enough? For a random example: "you literally have never had better ice cream. cutest shop in charleston sc" - Mandee Jalbert, Google Review Google doesn't appear to have a review embed option- am I wrong? If not, would the above attribution via the "Google Review" hyperlink be sufficient to head off any potential dings for duplicate content? Thanks! Stephen
Reviews and Ratings | | PerfectPitchConcepts
Thanks for your thoughts! I feel like this might make for a good presentation at our SoundBoard conference someday soon.0 -
Schema markup for employees and local business on same page - Possible?
Hello, We have some local business sites where we have user submitted reviews. We then post those reviews on that business' page and use the schema aggregate markup. Works like a charm in getting stars in SERPs on branded searches for these location. We already have information about the persons who work at these locations and are about to work out a process where we can get even better data on these persons. Right now they are marked up as employees on the local business pages. Right now the ratings are for the business as a whole, but we are looking at expanding where you can not only submit a location review, but designate which employee you worked with. We work in the health care industry and so you can see why this would make sense. Right now we mark up a local clinic and employees in the following way Local Business > Employee > Person > Name of Person Person Bio > Person info etc We are going back and forth on if this would be worth marking up reviews at the employee level as well. So, on a page each employee would have an aggregate rating and then the location would have an aggregate rating that consists of all of the reviews for that location - a combination of all employees. As I looked through the schema standard for person https://schema.org/Person there is nothing there that shows a markup for the aggregate rating of a person. Also when I look at other more specific business types https://health-lifesci.schema.org/MedicalBusiness same thing. It looks like schema has rating tied to a business vs a person. Right now - the markup validates. It shows up in the SERPs. People are happy. So, I am inclined to say, if it aint broke ... but we are always looking for better ways to present our data to user and to Google. My gut right now, based on how Google is reading things, to just keep the aggregate rating on the location, but start to track reviews on a per employee basis for potential future use. Lemme know what you all think!
Reviews and Ratings | | HeaHea0 -
I can not see my google seller ratings anymore. Any ideas?
I used to be able to see google seller ratings of my sites at
Reviews and Ratings | | lcourse
https://www.google.com/shopping/seller?q=example.com Now I just see it for sites with a couple of hundred reviews.
Is there still any other URL or other way how I can see the seller ratings that google collected so far for my sites (even if I did not reach the threshold of 200 ratings in last 12 months)?0 -
How to obtain url for G+ review?
Hi Mozzers, Is there a way to obtain, easily, the URL for my company's review page on Google+? It's easier to send a link to my customer than to explain how to let a review. Thank you for your help and your time. Regards, Jonathan
Reviews and Ratings | | JonathanLeplang0 -
Want to use Google Business Pages but Spam Reviews are putting me off
Not sure if I am missing something here...I have phoned and asked Google business how they deal with reviews which are potentially fake and damaging to a business reputation, it seems there is very little a small local business can do about them other than report the review with no guarantee of anyone helping ...Has anyone else had this issue as I would really like to use this service to assist with rankings on google? It is hard to convince (and to be honest I don't want to have to convince!) a local business that this is a good service at the same time as informing them they will more than likely have to spend extra time fending off fake reviews...Not seen any good answers anywhere else, ignoring the reviews, adding more positive reviews or replying/managing reviews are not an option. Hope someone can help with this, thanks
Reviews and Ratings | | imoprojects0 -
Have You Influenced Google's "Reviews From Around the Web"?
This seems like a frustration for many who do SEO for local business. The Google Plus aggregation of reviews is vaguely created and out of our control. Or is it? The most I can find about it is at: https://support.google.com/business/answer/3474120?hl=en&ref_topic=6109351 I have clients in the accommodation industry who are reviewed thoroughly on similar sites to one another. Some of these clients have 100+ "Reviews From Around the Web" where as others are stuck at one or two reviews. My thoughts are that the business name, address, and phone details would allow Google to link the review with the local listing. I'm not sure and doubt this is just the case because the low-review listings have consistent NAP details. Have you been able to get reviews aggregating for a local business in their Google Plus?
Reviews and Ratings | | fastrack1 -
How can I avoid duplicate content when building a review widget?
My website has a profile page for each of the home improvement contractors who signs up. They accumulate reviews on those pages. I want to build a review widget to display our reviews on our contractors' websites. How can I avoid duplicate content issues for the reviews? Example of a profile page with a few reviews: http://www.thehomefixers.com/members/425/waterheaters-plus-llc.php
Reviews and Ratings | | menachemp0