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The Importance of Product Reviews in SEO

Product reviews and their role in consumers’ buying habits

Product Reviews chalkboard.

Imagine you’re going on holiday or about to make a major purchase. Among the first things you look at after price is the customer reviews. For your next trip, you look at customers’ experiences of the hotel, tour operator or airline. If purchasing white goods, you weigh up their responses to the item’s performance. The first place they turn to for product reviews is the internet. Continue reading “The Importance of Product Reviews in SEO”

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Facebook Professional Services: A Yelp Killer?

Review section builds on paid advertising options

"A picture is worth a thousand critics" - this could be true of Facebook and Yelp reviews.
If a picture paints a thousand words, a review can make or break a dozen conversions. Image by Marc Falardeau, 2011. (Creative Commons License – Some Rights Reserved)

For many people, our chosen plumber, bakery, takeaway or minicab firm can be determined by word of mouth. Sometimes, the odd status update on Facebook can sway our preferences.  A review site like Trip Advisor or Yelp is another source.  Since yesterday, Facebook became another source.  Through Facebook Professional Services, it offers access to customer reviews, with links to each company’s Facebook pages. Continue reading “Facebook Professional Services: A Yelp Killer?”

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Racist Restaurant Reviews “Accelerating Gentrification”

Derogatory Yelp reviews having impact on neighbourhoods

Good or bad reviews can make or break restaurants.A study from the City of New York University has looked at more than 7,000 Yelp restaurant reviews with some shocking results.  Sharon Zukin, the sociologist behind the study, and her team have noticed some racist leanings in a number of reviews.  In their findings, published on the Journal of Consumer Culture website:

  • Pejorative terms used in restaurant reviews;
  • Some restaurant reviews welcoming gentrification;
  • Fears over trendier outlets elbowing out traditional eateries in their neighbourhood.

Continue reading “Racist Restaurant Reviews “Accelerating Gentrification””