Google just upped the ante for TripAdvisor and other review sites

[swirt]

So first came TripAdvisor with the ability for people to say largely whatever they wanted about your place. Then Yelp, epinions and several others came in ... then places like bedandbreakfast.com started encouraging online reviews. The next generation of this was the widgets that allow you to display reviews from bandb.com or tripadvisor right on your website.....these now seem like small potatos...
Reviewers, if they have the google toolbar installed, can now post reviews or anything else they want to say right alongside your webpages ....and by alongside, I mean it almost looks like it is part of your website.
Apparently it is only working in Firefox version of the toolbar, but it won't take long to spread.
To demonstrate it, I created a sidewiki on this page. Users with a recently updated Google toolbar will see a bit of a blue-grey band along the left side of this page (like a scrollbar on the left) clicking the little right arrow tab will cause it to show.
Click the image to see it full size

 

[swirt]

As the owner (ownership is determined by you having the site registered with Google webmaster tools), you can create a post that will sit at the top of all the rest, but it is not clear whether you have any more editorial control.
This basically turns every page of your site into a review space / forum without any tools to effectively monitor it... what a mess.

 

[Innkeeper To Go]

As the owner (ownership is determined by you having the site registered with Google webmaster tools), you can create a post that will sit at the top of all the rest, but it is not clear whether you have any more editorial control.
This basically turns every page of your site into a review space / forum without any tools to effectively monitor it... what a mess..

As the owner (ownership is determined by you having the site registered with Google webmaster tools), you can create a post that will sit at the top of all the rest, but it is not clear whether you have any more editorial control.
This basically turns every page of your site into a review space / forum without any tools to effectively monitor it... what a mess.

I agree. The problem with the Google reviews, too, is that there is no opportunity to add a comment to the posted review. They include the TA reviews and all but also Google reviews. Anyone can post them, there's basically no accountability, and now they're going to stay right there whether you want them to or not.
What a mess.

 

[JBanczak]

That is really intrusive - not sure I even like that as a consumer. I like to have a nice clean monitor/page.

 

[egoodell]

As the owner (ownership is determined by you having the site registered with Google webmaster tools), you can create a post that will sit at the top of all the rest, but it is not clear whether you have any more editorial control.
This basically turns every page of your site into a review space / forum without any tools to effectively monitor it... what a mess..

Where are our rights as owner of our pages! Something has to give here. It makes the page look like *#&Q^E$^!!
Riki

 

[swirt]

As the owner (ownership is determined by you having the site registered with Google webmaster tools), you can create a post that will sit at the top of all the rest, but it is not clear whether you have any more editorial control.
This basically turns every page of your site into a review space / forum without any tools to effectively monitor it... what a mess..

As the owner (ownership is determined by you having the site registered with Google webmaster tools), you can create a post that will sit at the top of all the rest, but it is not clear whether you have any more editorial control.
This basically turns every page of your site into a review space / forum without any tools to effectively monitor it... what a mess.

I agree. The problem with the Google reviews, too, is that there is no opportunity to add a comment to the posted review. They include the TA reviews and all but also Google reviews. Anyone can post them, there's basically no accountability, and now they're going to stay right there whether you want them to or not.
What a mess.
.

That is true, but even worse than no posiblily for response on actual Google Reviews, is that Google Sidewiki is not for reviews....it is for whatever comment someone wants to make and whatever link they want to drop. There are no review guidelines at all. The guidelines for sidewiki are much more general than those for reviews.

 

[egoodell]

As the owner (ownership is determined by you having the site registered with Google webmaster tools), you can create a post that will sit at the top of all the rest, but it is not clear whether you have any more editorial control.
This basically turns every page of your site into a review space / forum without any tools to effectively monitor it... what a mess..

As the owner (ownership is determined by you having the site registered with Google webmaster tools), you can create a post that will sit at the top of all the rest, but it is not clear whether you have any more editorial control.
This basically turns every page of your site into a review space / forum without any tools to effectively monitor it... what a mess.

I agree. The problem with the Google reviews, too, is that there is no opportunity to add a comment to the posted review. They include the TA reviews and all but also Google reviews. Anyone can post them, there's basically no accountability, and now they're going to stay right there whether you want them to or not.
What a mess.
.

That is true, but even worse than no posiblily for response on actual Google Reviews, is that Google Sidewiki is not for reviews....it is for whatever comment someone wants to make and whatever link they want to drop. There are no review guidelines at all. The guidelines for sidewiki are much more general than those for reviews.
.

So the only thing that we can hope for is that people turn this stupid thing "off" so it won't distract from the web page?
RIki

 

[Morticia]

As the owner (ownership is determined by you having the site registered with Google webmaster tools), you can create a post that will sit at the top of all the rest, but it is not clear whether you have any more editorial control.
This basically turns every page of your site into a review space / forum without any tools to effectively monitor it... what a mess..

As the owner (ownership is determined by you having the site registered with Google webmaster tools), you can create a post that will sit at the top of all the rest, but it is not clear whether you have any more editorial control.
This basically turns every page of your site into a review space / forum without any tools to effectively monitor it... what a mess.

I agree. The problem with the Google reviews, too, is that there is no opportunity to add a comment to the posted review. They include the TA reviews and all but also Google reviews. Anyone can post them, there's basically no accountability, and now they're going to stay right there whether you want them to or not.
What a mess.
.

That is true, but even worse than no posiblily for response on actual Google Reviews, is that Google Sidewiki is not for reviews....it is for whatever comment someone wants to make and whatever link they want to drop. There are no review guidelines at all. The guidelines for sidewiki are much more general than those for reviews.
.

So what you're saying is I can now go out and drop my link 'on' my competitors' websites as they are seen in Firefox?

 

[Innkeeper To Go]

As the owner (ownership is determined by you having the site registered with Google webmaster tools), you can create a post that will sit at the top of all the rest, but it is not clear whether you have any more editorial control.
This basically turns every page of your site into a review space / forum without any tools to effectively monitor it... what a mess..

As the owner (ownership is determined by you having the site registered with Google webmaster tools), you can create a post that will sit at the top of all the rest, but it is not clear whether you have any more editorial control.
This basically turns every page of your site into a review space / forum without any tools to effectively monitor it... what a mess.

I agree. The problem with the Google reviews, too, is that there is no opportunity to add a comment to the posted review. They include the TA reviews and all but also Google reviews. Anyone can post them, there's basically no accountability, and now they're going to stay right there whether you want them to or not.
What a mess.
.

That is true, but even worse than no posiblily for response on actual Google Reviews, is that Google Sidewiki is not for reviews....it is for whatever comment someone wants to make and whatever link they want to drop. There are no review guidelines at all. The guidelines for sidewiki are much more general than those for reviews.
.

A truly awful idea all around.
All we can hope for is that it is a huge flop and Google drops it.

 

[swirt]

That is really intrusive - not sure I even like that as a consumer. I like to have a nice clean monitor/page..

On each page it is collapsed to begin with though the bar still pushes the page over a bit .... I am much more concerned about the content that could be left, and it is not only that you have to check your homepage regularly. Each page gets its own sidewiki ... so you have to check each and every page. Smart spammers aren't going to go for the high traffic likely to be caught front page, they are going to go for the 2nd or 3rd tier pages where their spam may sit for a long time without being noticed.

 

[Morticia]

That is really intrusive - not sure I even like that as a consumer. I like to have a nice clean monitor/page..

On each page it is collapsed to begin with though the bar still pushes the page over a bit .... I am much more concerned about the content that could be left, and it is not only that you have to check your homepage regularly. Each page gets its own sidewiki ... so you have to check each and every page. Smart spammers aren't going to go for the high traffic likely to be caught front page, they are going to go for the 2nd or 3rd tier pages where their spam may sit for a long time without being noticed.
.

But it doesn't matter what it is, right? There's no way to remove it.

 

[swirt]

As the owner (ownership is determined by you having the site registered with Google webmaster tools), you can create a post that will sit at the top of all the rest, but it is not clear whether you have any more editorial control.
This basically turns every page of your site into a review space / forum without any tools to effectively monitor it... what a mess..

As the owner (ownership is determined by you having the site registered with Google webmaster tools), you can create a post that will sit at the top of all the rest, but it is not clear whether you have any more editorial control.
This basically turns every page of your site into a review space / forum without any tools to effectively monitor it... what a mess.

I agree. The problem with the Google reviews, too, is that there is no opportunity to add a comment to the posted review. They include the TA reviews and all but also Google reviews. Anyone can post them, there's basically no accountability, and now they're going to stay right there whether you want them to or not.
What a mess.
.

That is true, but even worse than no posiblily for response on actual Google Reviews, is that Google Sidewiki is not for reviews....it is for whatever comment someone wants to make and whatever link they want to drop. There are no review guidelines at all. The guidelines for sidewiki are much more general than those for reviews.
.

So what you're saying is I can now go out and drop my link 'on' my competitors' websites as they are seen in Firefox?
.

So what you're saying is I can now go out and drop my link 'on' my competitors' websites as they are seen in Firefox?

Yes, and you can trash them in the process if you wanted. (no I am not advising that) Though keep in mind that the only people that can leave comments are people who have logged in to their google account.

 

[Innkeeper To Go]

As the owner (ownership is determined by you having the site registered with Google webmaster tools), you can create a post that will sit at the top of all the rest, but it is not clear whether you have any more editorial control.
This basically turns every page of your site into a review space / forum without any tools to effectively monitor it... what a mess..

As the owner (ownership is determined by you having the site registered with Google webmaster tools), you can create a post that will sit at the top of all the rest, but it is not clear whether you have any more editorial control.
This basically turns every page of your site into a review space / forum without any tools to effectively monitor it... what a mess.

I agree. The problem with the Google reviews, too, is that there is no opportunity to add a comment to the posted review. They include the TA reviews and all but also Google reviews. Anyone can post them, there's basically no accountability, and now they're going to stay right there whether you want them to or not.
What a mess.
.

That is true, but even worse than no posiblily for response on actual Google Reviews, is that Google Sidewiki is not for reviews....it is for whatever comment someone wants to make and whatever link they want to drop. There are no review guidelines at all. The guidelines for sidewiki are much more general than those for reviews.
.

So what you're saying is I can now go out and drop my link 'on' my competitors' websites as they are seen in Firefox?
.

So what you're saying is I can now go out and drop my link 'on' my competitors' websites as they are seen in Firefox?

Yes, and you can trash them in the process if you wanted. (no I am not advising that) Though keep in mind that the only people that can leave comments are people who have logged in to their google account.
.

Though keep in mind that the only people that can leave comments are people who have logged in to their google account.

Which takes all of 30 seconds to create...

 

[Morticia]

As the owner (ownership is determined by you having the site registered with Google webmaster tools), you can create a post that will sit at the top of all the rest, but it is not clear whether you have any more editorial control.
This basically turns every page of your site into a review space / forum without any tools to effectively monitor it... what a mess..

As the owner (ownership is determined by you having the site registered with Google webmaster tools), you can create a post that will sit at the top of all the rest, but it is not clear whether you have any more editorial control.
This basically turns every page of your site into a review space / forum without any tools to effectively monitor it... what a mess.

I agree. The problem with the Google reviews, too, is that there is no opportunity to add a comment to the posted review. They include the TA reviews and all but also Google reviews. Anyone can post them, there's basically no accountability, and now they're going to stay right there whether you want them to or not.
What a mess.
.

That is true, but even worse than no posiblily for response on actual Google Reviews, is that Google Sidewiki is not for reviews....it is for whatever comment someone wants to make and whatever link they want to drop. There are no review guidelines at all. The guidelines for sidewiki are much more general than those for reviews.
.

So what you're saying is I can now go out and drop my link 'on' my competitors' websites as they are seen in Firefox?
.

So what you're saying is I can now go out and drop my link 'on' my competitors' websites as they are seen in Firefox?

Yes, and you can trash them in the process if you wanted. (no I am not advising that) Though keep in mind that the only people that can leave comments are people who have logged in to their google account.
.

So what you're saying is I can now go out and drop my link 'on' my competitors' websites as they are seen in Firefox?

Yes, and you can trash them in the process if you wanted. (no I am not advising that) Though keep in mind that the only people that can leave comments are people who have logged in to their google account.

And, so what? Now I know who it is if I can figure it out from their Google account name? If someone is going to do that anyway, are they going to stop because I know who it is?
Hold on. Isn't this a rather effective way to 'kill the golden goose'? Who would PAY for Google Ads if they could show up right alongside their comp's website AFTER the person has made a choice?

 

[swirt]

That is really intrusive - not sure I even like that as a consumer. I like to have a nice clean monitor/page..

On each page it is collapsed to begin with though the bar still pushes the page over a bit .... I am much more concerned about the content that could be left, and it is not only that you have to check your homepage regularly. Each page gets its own sidewiki ... so you have to check each and every page. Smart spammers aren't going to go for the high traffic likely to be caught front page, they are going to go for the 2nd or 3rd tier pages where their spam may sit for a long time without being noticed.
.

But it doesn't matter what it is, right? There's no way to remove it.
.

But it doesn't matter what it is, right? There's no way to remove it.

There is no way (at this moment) to opt out of the sidewiki being available for your site.
As far as indivdual posts go, I think you can flag them for review, but I'm not yet sure what that does. The sidewiki posts I made on this page, I can edit or delete, but I'm not sure what options I have for posts made by others. I'll have to wait and see what happens when one of you make a post in the sidewiki of this page.
I just noticed that the sidewiki only displays when viewing this actual page
https://www.innspiring.com/comment/reply/5115/59862
and does not appear when going to a specific spot on the page like
https://www.innspiring.com/comment/reply/5115/59862#new
So if you want to see the sidewiki in action, go to the first link.

 

[Morticia]

That is really intrusive - not sure I even like that as a consumer. I like to have a nice clean monitor/page..

On each page it is collapsed to begin with though the bar still pushes the page over a bit .... I am much more concerned about the content that could be left, and it is not only that you have to check your homepage regularly. Each page gets its own sidewiki ... so you have to check each and every page. Smart spammers aren't going to go for the high traffic likely to be caught front page, they are going to go for the 2nd or 3rd tier pages where their spam may sit for a long time without being noticed.
.

But it doesn't matter what it is, right? There's no way to remove it.
.

But it doesn't matter what it is, right? There's no way to remove it.

There is no way (at this moment) to opt out of the sidewiki being available for your site.
As far as indivdual posts go, I think you can flag them for review, but I'm not yet sure what that does. The sidewiki posts I made on this page, I can edit or delete, but I'm not sure what options I have for posts made by others. I'll have to wait and see what happens when one of you make a post in the sidewiki of this page.
I just noticed that the sidewiki only displays when viewing this actual page
https://www.innspiring.com/comment/reply/5115/59862
and does not appear when going to a specific spot on the page like
https://www.innspiring.com/comment/reply/5115/59862#new
So if you want to see the sidewiki in action, go to the first link.
.

I get the little 'editor' icon but I was wondering why it kept disappearing.

 

[swirt]

As the owner (ownership is determined by you having the site registered with Google webmaster tools), you can create a post that will sit at the top of all the rest, but it is not clear whether you have any more editorial control.
This basically turns every page of your site into a review space / forum without any tools to effectively monitor it... what a mess..

As the owner (ownership is determined by you having the site registered with Google webmaster tools), you can create a post that will sit at the top of all the rest, but it is not clear whether you have any more editorial control.
This basically turns every page of your site into a review space / forum without any tools to effectively monitor it... what a mess.

I agree. The problem with the Google reviews, too, is that there is no opportunity to add a comment to the posted review. They include the TA reviews and all but also Google reviews. Anyone can post them, there's basically no accountability, and now they're going to stay right there whether you want them to or not.
What a mess.
.

That is true, but even worse than no posiblily for response on actual Google Reviews, is that Google Sidewiki is not for reviews....it is for whatever comment someone wants to make and whatever link they want to drop. There are no review guidelines at all. The guidelines for sidewiki are much more general than those for reviews.
.

So what you're saying is I can now go out and drop my link 'on' my competitors' websites as they are seen in Firefox?
.

So what you're saying is I can now go out and drop my link 'on' my competitors' websites as they are seen in Firefox?

Yes, and you can trash them in the process if you wanted. (no I am not advising that) Though keep in mind that the only people that can leave comments are people who have logged in to their google account.
.

So what you're saying is I can now go out and drop my link 'on' my competitors' websites as they are seen in Firefox?

Yes, and you can trash them in the process if you wanted. (no I am not advising that) Though keep in mind that the only people that can leave comments are people who have logged in to their google account.

And, so what? Now I know who it is if I can figure it out from their Google account name? If someone is going to do that anyway, are they going to stop because I know who it is?
Hold on. Isn't this a rather effective way to 'kill the golden goose'? Who would PAY for Google Ads if they could show up right alongside their comp's website AFTER the person has made a choice?
.

Hold on. Isn't this a rather effective way to 'kill the golden goose'? Who would PAY for Google Ads if they could show up right alongside their comp's website AFTER the person has made a choice?
Perhaps ... though probably not an immediate enough response. There are a lot of upset webmasters right now.... many are threatening to pull their adwords marketing and move it all over to Bing.
My thinking right now is to flood google with spam reports from any sidewiki posting and make it so that it is not cost effective for them to run this freebie. They'll spend all their time investigating complaints. Of course their are rumors that google will start displaying ads in the sidewiki... so that would be great huh? Ads for other places, appearing as though they are practically on your site.
I think Google is making a huge mistake here.

 

[swirt]

That is really intrusive - not sure I even like that as a consumer. I like to have a nice clean monitor/page..

On each page it is collapsed to begin with though the bar still pushes the page over a bit .... I am much more concerned about the content that could be left, and it is not only that you have to check your homepage regularly. Each page gets its own sidewiki ... so you have to check each and every page. Smart spammers aren't going to go for the high traffic likely to be caught front page, they are going to go for the 2nd or 3rd tier pages where their spam may sit for a long time without being noticed.
.

But it doesn't matter what it is, right? There's no way to remove it.
.

But it doesn't matter what it is, right? There's no way to remove it.

There is no way (at this moment) to opt out of the sidewiki being available for your site.
As far as indivdual posts go, I think you can flag them for review, but I'm not yet sure what that does. The sidewiki posts I made on this page, I can edit or delete, but I'm not sure what options I have for posts made by others. I'll have to wait and see what happens when one of you make a post in the sidewiki of this page.
I just noticed that the sidewiki only displays when viewing this actual page
https://www.innspiring.com/comment/reply/5115/59862
and does not appear when going to a specific spot on the page like
https://www.innspiring.com/comment/reply/5115/59862#new
So if you want to see the sidewiki in action, go to the first link.
.

I get the little 'editor' icon but I was wondering why it kept disappearing.
.

There is actually a bit of a javascript based killer for Sidewiki that randomly generates a string of characters and ads them to the end of the address like this
www.yoursite.com/yourpage.htm would become www.yoursite.com/yourpage.htm#randomhhdd
So that the sidewiki would effectively be empty for the page, but this would cause all kinds of problems for SEO... so it should be avoided.

 

[Innkeeper To Go]

As the owner (ownership is determined by you having the site registered with Google webmaster tools), you can create a post that will sit at the top of all the rest, but it is not clear whether you have any more editorial control.
This basically turns every page of your site into a review space / forum without any tools to effectively monitor it... what a mess..

As the owner (ownership is determined by you having the site registered with Google webmaster tools), you can create a post that will sit at the top of all the rest, but it is not clear whether you have any more editorial control.
This basically turns every page of your site into a review space / forum without any tools to effectively monitor it... what a mess.

I agree. The problem with the Google reviews, too, is that there is no opportunity to add a comment to the posted review. They include the TA reviews and all but also Google reviews. Anyone can post them, there's basically no accountability, and now they're going to stay right there whether you want them to or not.
What a mess.
.

That is true, but even worse than no posiblily for response on actual Google Reviews, is that Google Sidewiki is not for reviews....it is for whatever comment someone wants to make and whatever link they want to drop. There are no review guidelines at all. The guidelines for sidewiki are much more general than those for reviews.
.

So what you're saying is I can now go out and drop my link 'on' my competitors' websites as they are seen in Firefox?
.

So what you're saying is I can now go out and drop my link 'on' my competitors' websites as they are seen in Firefox?

Yes, and you can trash them in the process if you wanted. (no I am not advising that) Though keep in mind that the only people that can leave comments are people who have logged in to their google account.
.

So what you're saying is I can now go out and drop my link 'on' my competitors' websites as they are seen in Firefox?

Yes, and you can trash them in the process if you wanted. (no I am not advising that) Though keep in mind that the only people that can leave comments are people who have logged in to their google account.

And, so what? Now I know who it is if I can figure it out from their Google account name? If someone is going to do that anyway, are they going to stop because I know who it is?
Hold on. Isn't this a rather effective way to 'kill the golden goose'? Who would PAY for Google Ads if they could show up right alongside their comp's website AFTER the person has made a choice?
.

Hold on. Isn't this a rather effective way to 'kill the golden goose'? Who would PAY for Google Ads if they could show up right alongside their comp's website AFTER the person has made a choice?
Perhaps ... though probably not an immediate enough response. There are a lot of upset webmasters right now.... many are threatening to pull their adwords marketing and move it all over to Bing.
My thinking right now is to flood google with spam reports from any sidewiki posting and make it so that it is not cost effective for them to run this freebie. They'll spend all their time investigating complaints. Of course their are rumors that google will start displaying ads in the sidewiki... so that would be great huh? Ads for other places, appearing as though they are practically on your site.
I think Google is making a huge mistake here.
.

I think Google is making a huge mistake here.

I do, too. But I think they'll figure that out right away. The one thing they do not want to do is lose revenue.

 

[swirt]

As the owner (ownership is determined by you having the site registered with Google webmaster tools), you can create a post that will sit at the top of all the rest, but it is not clear whether you have any more editorial control.
This basically turns every page of your site into a review space / forum without any tools to effectively monitor it... what a mess..

As the owner (ownership is determined by you having the site registered with Google webmaster tools), you can create a post that will sit at the top of all the rest, but it is not clear whether you have any more editorial control.
This basically turns every page of your site into a review space / forum without any tools to effectively monitor it... what a mess.

I agree. The problem with the Google reviews, too, is that there is no opportunity to add a comment to the posted review. They include the TA reviews and all but also Google reviews. Anyone can post them, there's basically no accountability, and now they're going to stay right there whether you want them to or not.
What a mess.
.

That is true, but even worse than no posiblily for response on actual Google Reviews, is that Google Sidewiki is not for reviews....it is for whatever comment someone wants to make and whatever link they want to drop. There are no review guidelines at all. The guidelines for sidewiki are much more general than those for reviews.
.

So what you're saying is I can now go out and drop my link 'on' my competitors' websites as they are seen in Firefox?
.

So what you're saying is I can now go out and drop my link 'on' my competitors' websites as they are seen in Firefox?

Yes, and you can trash them in the process if you wanted. (no I am not advising that) Though keep in mind that the only people that can leave comments are people who have logged in to their google account.
.

So what you're saying is I can now go out and drop my link 'on' my competitors' websites as they are seen in Firefox?

Yes, and you can trash them in the process if you wanted. (no I am not advising that) Though keep in mind that the only people that can leave comments are people who have logged in to their google account.

And, so what? Now I know who it is if I can figure it out from their Google account name? If someone is going to do that anyway, are they going to stop because I know who it is?
Hold on. Isn't this a rather effective way to 'kill the golden goose'? Who would PAY for Google Ads if they could show up right alongside their comp's website AFTER the person has made a choice?
.

Hold on. Isn't this a rather effective way to 'kill the golden goose'? Who would PAY for Google Ads if they could show up right alongside their comp's website AFTER the person has made a choice?
Perhaps ... though probably not an immediate enough response. There are a lot of upset webmasters right now.... many are threatening to pull their adwords marketing and move it all over to Bing.
My thinking right now is to flood google with spam reports from any sidewiki posting and make it so that it is not cost effective for them to run this freebie. They'll spend all their time investigating complaints. Of course their are rumors that google will start displaying ads in the sidewiki... so that would be great huh? Ads for other places, appearing as though they are practically on your site.
I think Google is making a huge mistake here.
.

I think Google is making a huge mistake here.

I do, too. But I think they'll figure that out right away. The one thing they do not want to do is lose revenue.
.

I think Google is making a huge mistake here.

I do, too. But I think they'll figure that out right away. The one thing they do not want to do is lose revenue.

Maybe, but they also don't like to admit they made a mistake. The Google ToolbarPR meter was a mistake, and they've basically said so, but they still leave it on the toolbar despite all the misinformation it creates.