Google My Business, Google Maps, Google seller ratings (merchant ratings), Google Merchant, Google Shopping, Google Integration Do you see anything but stars? Here's some good news: we know a lot about stars.
Google's offer is quite complex. In this article, we will compare the different services like Google My Business and Google Shopping. What about seller ratings?...we'll sort that out too.
What is Google My Business?
Businesses can use Google My Business (GMB ) to provide information such as contact details, hours of operation and addresses via an info map on search engine results pages (SERPs). In addition, offered products, ratings, photos, articles and a map view of the location can be displayed there. Users can thus directly access the information provided there without having to visit the website.
Information that you customize in your Google My Business profile is automatically updated on all other Google services. Another advantage is that you can react to reviews via your account: You can answer reviews or report inappropriate content, similar to the review management in the eTrusted Control Center.
Reviews are site-specific
All reviews you receive for your Google My Business account are both location-specific and visible on Google Maps, provided the location is created there. What does that mean?
Google My Business is particularly targeted at companies with physical locations. You must create at least one location for your company. If you have branches or other local facilities that can be visited by customers, create an entry in your account for each location.
Guidelines for presenting your business on Google
The official Google support points out the following:
"Listings on Google My Business can only be created for businesses that either have a physical location that customers can visit, or that travel to visit customers where they are."
Online shops and other delivery services can certainly use Google My Business though. You can either specify a limited local service area for deliveries or the entire country. If you don't have local locations, all you need is one entry in Google My Business.
Each location is independently rated and has its own overall score, which is visible on the info card and (if desired) on Google Maps. Accordingly, reviews collected with Trusted Shops or other services do not affect the score of your local GMB entries.
How does Trusted Shops help me to optimise my score on GMB?
Our product, the Reputation manager, can, under certain conditions, help you optimise your overall score for your Google My Business account.
Scenario 1:
You run a purely online shop or an online comparison portal. You offer purely digital services such as the sale of digital products and services, or you have another business model that does not require walk-in locations.
In this case, you only need one location in Google My Business. Either omit the address or enter your company headquarters if you want it to appear on Google Maps. You can set up this location in the Reputation Manager with just a few clicks . Afterwards, you can determine which percentage of the invitations to be sent out should invite customers to rate you on Google and you will automatically collect reviews and optimise your overall score for your GMB entry.
Scenario 2:
You have (in addition to your website) a network of branches, stores, offices or several other local facilities that can be visited by customers.
Create an entry for your online service in addition to the individual locations that you want to be findable on Google Maps. Alternatively, you can also use your headquarters. If you set up this "main entry" in the Reputation Manager, you can also automatically improve its overall score.
All info about our Reputation Manager can be found here:
- Category "Reputation Manager" in Help Centre
- Reputation Manager: Get the 5 stars you deserve - everywhere!
What are Google seller ratings?
Google seller ratings are not a product or service, but rather the term used to describe star ratings in the context of paid ads on Google Ads and Google Shopping.
So if you run a paid campaign via Google Ads or on Google Shopping, then there is the possibility that stars are displayed in the so-called "automatic ad extension", which in this context - and only in this context – are to be called seller ratings.
Google independently collects review data from various sources. With the aim of increasing clicks on the ad, Google decides at its own discretion whether or not to display the stars in an additional line, the ad extension. Besides Google itself, the sources for these seller ratings are all authorised partners such as Trusted Shops, with whom Google works together.
However, seller ratings (sometimes referred to as merchant ratings) should not be confused with Google Customer Reviews. The latter is a closed review system from Google. It is not possible to transfer reviews to Google Customer Reviews via the Trusted Shops Reputation Manager.
How does Trusted Shops help me optimise seller reviews?
With our product, Google Integration, quite automatically. Seller ratings are therefore stars based on the total average of several review sources. You can influence yourself how many sources contribute reviews to this overall rating. As a customer of Trusted Shops, for example, you do not need any additional review services. Our Google integration ensures that the overall score you have earned on your Trusted Shops profile can be displayed in Google search results via the automatic ad extension when you run a campaign.
This integration eliminates the need to sign up for other review services that also include your stars in Google Seller Ratings. The high level of brand awareness for Trusted Shops guarantees a high conversion rate.
What are Google Shopping and the Merchant Center?
Google Shopping is a sales channel on a cost-per-click basis through which dealers can offer products directly. The products offered on Google Shopping are managed through the Google Merchant Center
The star ratings displayed in Google Shopping are product reviews. Additionally, the seller score, shown as a percentage (in green), is your seller rating, which is also based on the shop reviews you collect. This means that your reviews collected with Trusted Shops flow into the star rating displayed there and ensure a positive web presence. The only requirement is that you have booked our Google Integration product .
Don’t have Google integration yet?
Book Trusted Shops Google Integration in the Upgrade Center
Where do the stars in Google organic search results come from?
The regular search results on Google, i.e. hits that are not paid and therefore do not have an "ad" label, are called organic search results. Google stars are displayed in organic search results under two conditions:
- Google can read so-called structured data from the HTML of the website.
- The Google algorithm considers the representation of the stars to be useful.
Here again, the stars can use different sources as a basis for the star ratings. As a Trusted Shops customer, you already have a review system geared towards optimal conversions and whose review data you can send to Google. Users of the Trusted Shops browser extension will also see your Trustbadge® and the stars in the organic search results.
Apart from that, Google will - if the algorithm wants to - show your stars when you use Trusted Shops Product Reviews. As of late-2019, the rules for displaying shop star ratings in organic search results has changed, as Google announces here. Google does not allow websites to display their seller ratings next to their own domain in the search results. Only third party review platforms (like Trusted Shops) can do this as they are not considered “self-serving” this way. Note: These rule changes do not apply to product reviews, which can still appear next to a shop’s domain in the organic search results. You can, however, continue to display your own seller ratings in Google Ads without a problem, provided you use a Google-approved reviews provider.
Conclusion
Since that was a lot of information, we’ll summarize the most important things again here:
- With Google My Business, you can manage local business locations.
- Online-only shops need only one entry at GMB and can easily optimise their score with the Trusted Shops Reputation M anager.
- Online shops that also have branches can create a "main entry" for GMB.
- Seller ratingsshow your scores in paid Google campaigns as well as on Google Shopping, where product ratings are also seen.
- With theTrusted Shops Google Integration, you submit review information to Google, which is used to display these shop reviews throughout your campaigns.
- With our Google integration, your Trusted Shops stars can also be displayed in the organic search results.
Also interesting in the context of Google:
- How can I find out how often my star ratings are displayed on Google?
- Why is it a good idea to optimise my overall rating on other review platforms?