Google Places Ratings and How They Work

As you probably already know, reviews, recommendations and ratings all are integral parts of helping you find a place you love.  Whether it is a store, restaurant, business or vacation destination, these little bits of information can help you make important decisions.  Well, the guys over at Google recently shared with the world just how the ratings and review system actually works.  Here’s some of what they shared:

Google wants people to see reviews that are relevant and trustworthy, so they’ve taken measures to protect the public from bogus entries.  They’ve got a system in place that might remove some reviews based on their set of guidelines.

Reviews will always appear in the ‘Reviews from around the web’ section on the Place page of a business.  You can also find some in the ‘Reviews from Google users’ section.  With the addition of Hotpot, there is also a ‘Recommended because’ section on some Place pages.

In addition to Google’s own algorithm and guidelines for tracking down and preventing fake or malicious reviews from appearing, there is also a system in place that lets you, the reader, flag or respond to reviews.  Flagging reviews as inappropriate will let the guys at Google know that you think a review has violated their guidelines or is bogus.

Just remember, if a review says something you don’t agree with, but may not necessarily be untrue, you can always respond with your thoughts about your own experience.

Source – google-latlong.blogspot.com