Beginning of the end for Google/Zagat?

Filed in Google, Local Search by Matt McGee on October 11, 2012

Google made a couple small changes yesterday to how it integrates the Zagat rating system into local business reviews and local search.

In a nutshell, Zagat scores are no longer associated with individual reviews. Review writers don’t have to provide a 0-3 score when leaving a review, and Zagat scores don’t show up anymore when Google displays reviews. The scores do still currently show up in search results and on Google+ Local Pages. There are a few screenshots showing this in my Search Engine Land article from earlier today:

Google Starts To Downplay Zagat Scores; It Should Ditch Them Altogether

If you’ve been reading this blog for any length of time, you probably know I’m not a fan of Zagat scores in Google’s search results and business listings. Ergo, the headline on that SEL article probably comes as no surprise.

Comments (2)

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  1. Al says:
    October 12, 2012 at 12:57 pm

    Matt,

    You were dead on with your predictions about a month ago regarding Zagat and Google Plus. Maybe should should hire you as a consultant. Good work.

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