Google Guaranteed - a contradiction?

 

Our reaction? Simply put: then just about any business at all! Before we go on to give you a real-life example of the kind of business that scores 3.0 perhaps we should remind everyone that a consumer cannot score a business 'no stars' on Google. So, even if they consider they were robbed blind they still have to score the business one star if they are to write a review. 

This means, mathematically speaking, that a business such as the one below scoring 3.0 from 36 reviews has 18 one-star reviews which still contribute eighteen 'points' to their overall review score. So what does a three-star business look like? Well, here are some of a 3-star plumber's one-star reviews (in fact: all of those that show on its Google Local Ads listing, where the other nine are we don't know - we only know they exist because the bar chart below shows half of the 36 reviews scoring 1*)...

And here's their shiny green Google Guaranteed tick...

The big question - and one that we have as yet been unable to unearth the answer to, despite many hours of searching - is 'Just how many Google Guaranteed claims have Google paid out on?'

Here, from Google's own website, are the terms of the Guarantee.

Our concern is that Google users will take the Guarantee at face value: that the work performed by the business will be guaranteed, albeit up to a ceiling of £1500, and, more importantly, that the Guarantee implies a certain level of expertise on behalf of the business and its employees/agents. 

Businesses such as the one above have certainly adopted it - at a cost of £500 a year and c. £25 a lead - with alacrity.

We will continue to monitor this with interest. Meanwhile, our advice to businesses is to keep on inviting reviews to your own websites, get them moderated there and then as many as possible onwards to Google, whether you choose to subscribe to Google Local Ads and the Guarantee or not.

Google Local Ads and the Google Guarantee - a moneyspinner for Google and the death knell for review sites?

Anyone who has conducted a local search recently will have seen Google's clever new offering: here's a common enough example:

With the tab at the bottom leading to...

With the green tick that means 'Google Guaranteed'...

Although the 'guarantee' provided by Google certainly doesn't relate to the quality of the workmanship or service on offer, if some of the reviews for the Google Guaranteed businesses are anything to go by...

...these go on for a long way

The basic premise is to be found here, but to summarise: the green tick means the business actually exists plus a few other knobs and whistles (we're disappointed they will accept businesses with only a mobile number), which we suppose is a step in the right direction when you think of some of the 'businesses' doing the rounds offering their services from the back of a white van.

But there are two serious issues at play here.

First, why, if Google reviews worked and businesses engaged with them in a legally compliant manner, is this service needed? Who needs it? Consumers? Why not just search for a plumber with a decent score and a good number of reviews? Google is charging businesses for that green tick and for the ability to appear right at the top of search, above ads, above the 3-pack and above organic listings. Isn't that why Yelp quit the UK and the EU? Didn't the authorities have issues with businesses paying to be bumped up the search rankings?

Second: that's it for the likes of Trustpilot. Why would any business pay for them when they can pay Google - per lead - and appear way higher in search as well?

Answers on a postcard, please.

Meanwhile, we record Trustpilot's share price here, just out of interest, so we can refer back in the months and years to come: