LocalGoogle Shows Reviews in New Search Overlay, Offers ‘Perks’ to Reviewers

Google Shows Reviews in New Search Overlay, Offers 'Perks' to Reviewers

When you click on the Google reviews link for a business listing in the search results page, a new overlay featuring those reviews will launch. Separately, Google has launched City Experts, a new program that incentivizes reviews on Google Maps.

It looks like Google is making some changes to the local search results again. LocalSEOGuide.com spotted changes in the search results on July 30 that indicate a new direction from Google.

When you click on the reviews link for a local listing, an overlay pops up instead of taking you to the business’s Google+ page.

Google Review Overlay

Andrew Shotland of Local SEO Guide gave his initial commentary on the new functionality, including the following:

“There’s a review sort and a prominent ‘write a review’ button. Pro Tip: Google wants you to write a review.”

On the same day Shotland posted his discovery, we saw a Google+ post from Google Local New York about Google City Experts, a new program that incentivizes reviews on Google Maps:

Become a Google City Expert

On a similar note, Google also plans to kill the Google+ Local app for iOS on August 7 in favor of the Google Maps app for Android.

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