Beginnings – Google has its origins in “BackRub”, a research project that was begun in 1996 by Larry Page and Sergey Brin when they were both PhD students at Stanford University in Stanford, California, The project initially involved an unofficial “third founder”, Scott Hassan, the lead programmer who wrote much of the code for the original Google Search engine, but he left before Google was officially founded as a company; Hassan went on to pursue a career in robotics and founded the company Willow Garage in 2006.
In the search of a dissertation theme, Page had been considering among other things exploring the mathematical properties of the World Wide Web, understanding its link structure as a huge graph, His supervisor, Terry Winograd, encouraged him to pick this idea (which Page later recalled as “the best advice I ever got” ) and Page focused on the problem of finding out which web pages link to a given page, based on the consideration that the number and nature of such backlinks was valuable information about that page (with the role of citations in academic publishing in mind).
Page told his ideas to Hassan, who began writing the code to implement Page’s ideas. The research project was nicknamed “BackRub”, and it was soon joined by Brin, who was supported by a National Science Foundation Graduate Fellowship, The two had first met in the summer of 1995, when Page was part of a group of potential new students that Brin had volunteered to give a tour around the campus and nearby San Francisco.
Both Brin and Page were working on the Stanford Digital Library Project (SDLP). The SDLP’s goal was “to develop the enabling technologies for a single, integrated and universal digital library” and it was funded through the National Science Foundation, among other federal agencies. Brin and Page were also part of a computer science research team at Stanford University that received funding from Massive Digital Data Systems (MDDS), a program managed for the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) and the National Security Agency (NSA) by large intelligence and military contractors.
Page’s web crawler began exploring the web in March 1996, with Page’s own Stanford home page serving as the only starting point. To convert the backlink data that is gathered for a given web page into a measure of importance, Brin and Page developed the PageRank algorithm.
While analyzing BackRub’s output which, for a given URL, consisted of a list of backlinks ranked by importance, the pair realized that a search engine based on PageRank would produce better results than existing techniques (existing search engines at the time essentially ranked results according to how many times the search term appeared on a page).
Convinced that the pages with the most links to them from other highly relevant Web pages must be the most relevant pages associated with the search, Page and Brin tested their thesis as part of their studies and laid the foundation for their search engine.
- The first version of Google was released in August 1996 on the Stanford website.
- It used nearly half of Stanford’s entire network bandwidth.
- Some Rough Statistics (from August 29, 1996) Total indexable HTML urls: 75.2306 Million Total content downloaded: 207.022 gigabytes,
- BackRub is written in Java and Python and runs on several Sun Ultras and Intel Pentiums running Linux.
The primary database is kept on a Sun Ultra II with 28GB of disk. Scott Hassan and Alan Steremberg have provided a great deal of very talented implementation help. Sergey Brin has also been very involved and deserves many thanks. Scott Hassan and Alan Steremberg were cited by Page and Brin as being critical to the development of Google.
Rajeev Motwani and Terry Winograd later co-authored with Page and Brin the first paper about the project, describing PageRank and the initial prototype of the Google search engine, published in 1998. Héctor García-Molina and Jeff Ullman were also cited as contributors to the project. PageRank was influenced by a similar page-ranking and site-scoring algorithm earlier used for RankDex, developed by Robin Li in 1996.
Larry Page’s patent for PageRank filed in 1998 includes a citation to Li’s earlier patent. Li later went on to create the Chinese search engine Baidu in 2000.
Why hasn’t my Google review been posted?
Find why a review is missing – Missing reviews There are several reasons why reviews may be removed from the page. In most cases, missing reviews were removed for policy violations like spam or inappropriate content. We do not reinstate reviews that were removed for policy violations.
- These removal measures help make sure that reviews on Google properties are relevant, helpful, and trustworthy.
- Learn about prohibited and restricted content for reviews,
- Reviews can sometimes be removed from a Business Profile after a reinstatement.
- If you lost reviews when your profile was disabled or suspended and then reinstated, contact support for assistance,
Tip: If you set a future opening date for your business that hasn’t opened yet, any reviews left before it’s open to the public will be removed.
Why does it take so long for a Google review to post?
How long does it take for a Google review to show up? – Wondering why is the google review not showing up. Or maybe it has disappeared out of existence? A client might have emailed you about a review they have posted, but you can not see it. So, why is the review not showing up on google? Whenever someone posts a review on Google, it will show up publicly within 24 hours.
How long does it take for Google to approve your review?
Edits you make to your verified Business Profile may be reviewed to ensure they follow our guidelines for representing your business on Google. Learn more about our guidelines, Tip: It typically takes up to 10 minutes to review your edits. Pending edits To help keep information on Google accurate and reliable, Google may need to review your edits to ensure the information you provided is correct.
How often do Google reviews update?
All Collections EmbedReviews FAQs and Troubleshooting How long does it take for my Google reviews to update on my website? How long does it take for my Google reviews to update on my website? How long does it take for your new Google reviews to get generated in EmbedSocial and updated on your website. Written by Laze Trajkov Updated over a week ago Our system searches and updates new reviews once per day. So every time you get a new review on Google, it will automatically update on your website in the next 24 hours. Feel free to let us know if you have any questions. Thanks! Did this answer your question?
Why is my Google review pending?
You may notice that not all of your locations are published on Google. To check whether your location is published:
- Sign in to manage your Business Profile,
- If you have more than one business account, choose the account with the locations you want to edit.
- In the top left, click Menu Manage businesses,
- Check the “Status” column for the latest information on your location.
If the status is not “Published,” check the information below for more information on how to resolve the situation:
| Status | What it means | How to fix |
| Pending verification | The verification process has begun, but isn’t finished. | Enter the verification PIN sent by email. |
| Unverified | For you to edit your Business Profile, Google must first verify it. If you make edits before your profile is verified, some edits may not appear. | Bulk verifications of 10 or more locations of the same business:
For a service area business or if you represent multiple businesses:
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| Verified | Your location is verified and shows up on Google, as it has passed quality checks. For more info, refer to the “Pending review” status, | You’re all set. No action needed. Learn how to check whether your profile is live, |
| Published (with updates) or updates from Google | The location is published on Google Maps, and its details have been updated based on the latest information we’ve received. Keep your profile in sync with Google Maps. | Click the location to approve or correct the Google updates. Learn more about Google updates, |
| Errors | The data you uploaded for the location contains one or more errors. You’ll need to fix all errors before your data for the location is published to Maps. Learn more about errors, | Add the location back in your spreadsheet, upload the spreadsheet, and resolve the errors by following these steps, If you still have issues, contact us, |
| Matches found | The data you uploaded for the location matches data for an existing location in Maps. |
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| Access needed | The location has another verified owner on Google. Each location can only have one verified owner. | You have several options to resolve this issue. Learn more about resolving “Access needed.” |
| Duplicate locations | The location you uploaded is a duplicate of a location that has already been verified. | Check the locations in your feed. If you find that the location is already in your account, remove it. Learn more about resolving duplicate locations, |
| Duplicate addresses | This location shares the same address as another location in your account. | Give the location a unique address or a unique store code. If you find the address or store code, remove it. Use store codes to differentiate locations that have the same address. |
| Missing store codes | This location is missing a store code. Store codes are required to ensure that changes are applied accurately to your account. | You can add store codes manually or include them in your next import. Learn more about missing store codes, |
| Pending review | The location is pending review. Google may also be reviewing an update or a suggested edit to your location. | No action needed. Please wait until the review is completed. Learn how to check whether your profile is live, |
| Download not enabled | This location cannot be downloaded to CSV without action from you first. | To download the location to CSV, review your business information and complete any other outstanding tasks, like verification or pending Google Updates. |
| Saving | This location is being processed. | Check again in a few minutes to see an updated status. |
| Disabled | This location has been disabled for quality violations. | After you’re sure your location complies with our guidelines and includes all required information, you can request the reinstatement of the location. |
| Suspended | The profile or account has violated our policies and cannot be accessed by the public anymore. | Owners and managers of your profile can still make edits and appeal to be reinstated. Learn how to fix a suspended Business Profile and request the reinstatement of the location. |
Do Google reviews help SEO?
Does responding to reviews help your SEO efforts? – Yes, always respond. Good or bad that content will be seen by Google as new content and will help you be seen as a trusted source. Like any SEO method it will take time, but it will help. Responding to reviews can help your SEO in several ways.
- First, having a high number of reviews and a high overall rating can increase the credibility and trustworthiness of your business, which can lead to increased traffic to your website.
- Additionally, actively responding to reviews shows that your business is engaged with its customers and values their feedback, which can also contribute to a positive reputation and increase the likelihood of attracting new customers.
Google and other search engines also use user engagement as a ranking factor, so actively responding to reviews can help improve the overall user experience of your website, which can lead to higher search engine rankings. It’s important to note, however, that the relationship between review response and SEO is not necessarily a direct one.
While responding to reviews can certainly have a positive impact on your SEO, it is just one of many factors that search engines consider when determining rankings. In order to improve your SEO, it’s important to have a well-optimized website with high-quality content and a strong overall online presence.
Google loves verified customer reviews from their Google Syndication Partners. Because when reviews come from a Google Partner who collects verified customer reviews, they carry more credibility, authenticity, transparency, value, and trust. And this is everything that consumers want in a review, and a website, and therefore everything that Google wants too.
- After all, Google simply wants to find and recommend the most trusted and helpful websites possible.
- For Google, SEO is really all about building trust through a variety of credible trust signals.
- The more trust signals that Google can see and index about your website, the more they are likely to give it more search priority.
And the more priority Google gives a website, the more consumers will see and trust it. It’s a circular process. Create trust and credibility for Google, and Google creates trust and credibility for you. So one of the many benefits you will realize from working with Shopper Approved is getting more trusted, quality reviews in more places, and particularly where they count the most for the search engines, and your customers.
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- UGC in the form of customer reviews is more current and regularly updated than your website content, which also makes it more attractive to Google.
- UGC comes straight from the consumer, so it has the potential of being more real, honest, and trustworthy.
- UGC contains natural, conversational language, not just a sales pitch, which is something that both Google and consumers alike.
- UGC creates the opportunity for a real dialog between the website and its customers which creates even more keywords, natural language, insights, and transparency.
- UGC often provides more product information than formal product descriptions.
- UGC is almost never duplicate content.
- UGC adds content depth and variety to an otherwise static and potentially stale product page or website.
- UGC is often shared across the web on social media channels, for example, creating likes and shares, and therefore “votes” for your brand. Google likes to see that the public is embracing your brand.
- UGC often creates positive sentiment toward your brand.
- UGC can create a variety of diverse content formats, such as text and video.
If you think about it, these are the reasons that social media, interactive blogs, and forums typically optimize so well. So for SEO purposes alone, your website needs customer reviews and your responses, and the UGC, social proof, popularity, and trust signals that comes with it. 
Here’s what the SEO experts say about the connection between reviews and search rankings: Brian Dean, a leading SEO expert and author recently wrote in his 2020 Off-Page SEO Guide “Google’s Quality Rater guidelines puts a lot of emphasis on online reviews.
Which makes sense: if people hate your business, why would Google want to show your site to more people?” “Reviews, videos, photos, questions and answers, comments and other user-generated content (UGC) can give search crawlers more information to figure out what your pages are about and how relevant they are to a searcher’s query.
UGC also creates a sense of community that makes your brand stickier, gives you a vehicle to collect feedback, and lets your audience source information directly from their peers.” – Search Engine Land ” Integrating reviews as part of your SEO strategy can have significant benefits to your business.
Not only do ratings and reviews determine purchasing habits, but they also affect a businesses’ search engine results.” – Search Engine Journal “.search engines love using online reviews as an SEO factor because consumers love using online reviews.” – ThriveHive “The total number of reviews increases the social proof for your business and contributes to localized search ranking factors.” – Search Engine Journal “It is estimated that review signals account for 9.8% of the total ranking factors, which means that they cannot be ignored.” – Search Engine Watch “While everything we’ve been talking about up until this point is based around SEO for your website as a whole, reviews can also help improve the SEO of specific product and service pages you have.” – ThriveHive “Improve Keyword Traffic.
When customers write reviews, they tend to use a certain type of language. You’ll find phrases like “best inbound marketing company I’ve ever worked with.” As your company starts to get clicks from review site links that contain such phrases, Google and other search engines start to associate your company with those positive phrases.” – Business2Community “The importance of online reviews is undeniable.
Online reviews and SEO have been closely tied together for a long time. That’s common knowledge at this point.” – Search Engine Watch ” Do Google Reviews Help Rankings & SEO? The short answer is yes, Google Reviews do help improve search rankings and overall SEO efforts. While there are a lot of factors involved in search rankings, online customer reviews can be a strong signal to search engines that communicates trustworthiness and authority.” – Leverage Marketing “Review signals are the quantity, quality, diversity, and frequency of product reviews.
These signals are sent to search engines, which are then used to rank your site. The better you score in these areas, the higher your search rank will be!” – Blue Stout Bottom-Line User-Generated Content (UGC) in the form of customer reviews and testimonials is one of the most effective ways to create more powerful content and improve your SEO.
- How to Optimize SEO with UGC
- Real-World SEO – How People Search, Shop and Buy Online
- Responding to Reviews: Why, When, and How
How long does Google approval take?
Publish an app update – You can use standard publishing or managed publishing to publish an update to an existing app.
Standard publishing: Updates to existing apps are processed and published as soon as possible. By default, your app will use standard publishing. Certain apps may be subject to extended reviews, which may result in review times of up to 7 days or longer in exceptional cases. Go to Update or unpublish your app to learn more about Standard publishing. Managed publishing: Updates to existing apps are processed as usual. After it’s approved, you control exactly when the changes are published. Go to this Help Center article to learn more about managed publishing and managing when changes are reviewed and published.
Important: To publish updates, work with your account owner to decide which of the following permissions you need:
Release to production, exclude devices, and use Play App Signing Release apps to testing tracks Manage testing tracks and edit tester lists Publish Google Play games services projects Create and publish private apps to your organization
Is 4.7 a good Google review?
With all this in mind, what is the ideal rating? – A study by the Spiegel Research Center determined that ratings of 4.2 – 4.5 are the most trusted. This is a great goal to aim for, and realistic as well. Mistakes happen in every business in every industry.
- It’s a waste of time to stress over a single negative review or an unattainable perfect rating.
- Instead, focus on providing great service to your customers.
- Your reviews will reflect your effort.
- Even more important than your rating is the frequency of your reviews.
- Potential customers are interested in feedback from recent visitors to your store, not those who made a purchase in 2010.
In fact, Brightlocal’s 2019 Local Consumer Review Survey found that 84% of consumers “believe that reviews older than three months aren’t relevant.” Don’t let the negative review you received last year bother you. Put your attention on collecting reviews from your current, happy customers, and you’ll set yourself up for success.
- To increase your online rating and keep reviews coming in consistently, partner with Widewail.
- Our review generation product Invite syncs with your point of sale system to automatically send review requests to all of your customers.
- We also answer reviews on behalf of your business through our Engage service, working directly with your team to ensure that every customer receives an appropriate and timely response.
This will help improve your rating and increase your review volume; by as much as 12% according to one Harvard Business Review study. Get your understanding of best practices up to speed or take your skills to the next level with Widewail Academy.
Can any one remove Google review?
To ask Google to remove or delete an inappropriate review from your Business Profile, report the review. Google can remove reviews that violate Google’s policies. Important: Before you ask to remove or delete a review, read our reviews policy.
Can everyone see my Google reviews?
About public info – All reviews are public and anyone can find what you add. You’re unable to add an anonymous review. Here’s some more info others can find when you write a review:
- The name on your About me page,
- Other photos and videos you added to Google Maps, and the location info that’s attached,
- Reviews you wrote on Google Maps.
Tip: If you’re a Local Guide, you can get points when you add photos and videos to Google Maps. Learn how to provide high quality reviews and photos,
Can you leave fake Google reviews?
Why is reporting fake Google reviews important? – Customer reviews are a valuable lead acquisition tool. They’re created by your customers and they inform potential leads how well your product or service performs compared to your marketing messaging. Leads who are interested in your brand can trust this feedback as an unbiased guide for whether to do business with your company.
Here’s the problem. Not all customer reviews are written by customers. Some people write fake reviews as a way to promote or slander a brand. Some companies will even post fake reviews about their competitors as a way to get a leg up in their industry. And, it’s not as uncommon as you may think. According to BrightLocal, 62% of consumers think they have read a fake customer review in the last year.
This can be a real problem for brands that rely on third-party review sites, like Google Maps, to attract new customers. On Google, anyone can write a fake review that goes public instantly upon submission. And since Google is a third-party site, businesses can’t just take the review down.
Does Google remove negative reviews?
Inappropriate/Offensive/Explicit Content – Google will remove any content that it views as “obscene, profane, or offensive.” It will also remove reviews that are threatening or contain derogatory comments. If you come across any reviews like these, be sure to flag them immediately to protect your brand’s image.
How do you deal with fake 1 star reviews?
How do you respond to a fake 1-star review? – You can’t do anything about a fake one-star review, but you can try to mitigate the damage by responding to it professionally and publicly. The best way to deal with a fake 1-star review is to act quickly and decisively.
Responding to the review shows that you’re paying attention and takes away some of the power that the review might have. When you respond, be professional and courteous. Thank the reviewer for their feedback and let them know that you’re sorry they didn’t have a better experience. Reassure other potential customers that you’re constantly working to improve your product or service.
Publicly responding to a fake one-star review is an excellent way to show potential customers that you’re transparent and care about your online reputation. It also shows that you’re willing to listen to feedback, even when it’s negative.
Does Google notify you if your review is removed?
What Caused My Google Review to Get Removed? – Filtering reviews is not a new practice for Google; they have done this for years. Lately, however, they are simply removing more reviews than in the past and removing them in bulk. Google will not explicitly notify you as to why they removed a review.
- Google includes a long list in their guidelines as to what type of content warrants a removal.
- They state: “Reviews are automatically processed to detect inappropriate content like fake reviews and spam.
- We may take down reviews that are flagged in order to comply with Google policies or legal obligations.” PaperStreet and the SEO community have noticed inconsistency with the types of reviews Google will take down and at times it seems as if there is no rhyme or reason.
Takeaway: Google removes reviews that are violating one of their guidelines. If it is not a fake/spam review, it was simply a casualty and removed by mistake.