[{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org\/","@type":"BlogPosting","@id":"https:\/\/www.adamriemer.me\/seo\/get-rid-of-old-coupons-and-deceptive-ads-serp-reviews-are-coming\/#BlogPosting","mainEntityOfPage":"https:\/\/www.adamriemer.me\/seo\/get-rid-of-old-coupons-and-deceptive-ads-serp-reviews-are-coming\/","headline":"Get rid of old coupons and deceptive ads, SERP reviews are coming.","name":"Get rid of old coupons and deceptive ads, SERP reviews are coming.","description":"One thing that we have been seeing over the past year is that Google is all about local search and reviews.\u00a0 With the launch of hotpot and all of the hype about the Human or Influencer rank and Social Media Ranks in the SERP algorithms, its time to really reconsider many of your Marketing campaigns […]","datePublished":"2010-12-03","dateModified":"2010-12-03","author":{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/www.adamriemer.me\/author\/adamriemer\/#Person","name":"Adam Riemer","url":"https:\/\/www.adamriemer.me\/author\/adamriemer\/","identifier":2,"image":{"@type":"ImageObject","@id":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/fda62f751f2a6c2ec2b079fedff69720852e4a65633212ffb11832454c29160a?s=96&r=g","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/fda62f751f2a6c2ec2b079fedff69720852e4a65633212ffb11832454c29160a?s=96&r=g","height":96,"width":96}},"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Adam Riemer Marketing, LLC.","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","@id":"https:\/\/www.adamriemer.me\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/10\/arm-logo-2.jpg","url":"https:\/\/www.adamriemer.me\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/10\/arm-logo-2.jpg","width":600,"height":60}},"url":"https:\/\/www.adamriemer.me\/seo\/get-rid-of-old-coupons-and-deceptive-ads-serp-reviews-are-coming\/","commentCount":"2","comment":[{"@type":"Comment","@id":"https:\/\/www.adamriemer.me\/seo\/get-rid-of-old-coupons-and-deceptive-ads-serp-reviews-are-coming\/#Comment1","dateCreated":"2010-12-06 18:45:58","description":"Hi Tim,\n\nNo problem.  To be honest it is a great ranking tool, if the reviews are legit.  If companies get good reviews legitimately it helps Google to show better companies and give better referrals.  By doing that they create a better user experience and get more people to trust their results and referrals.  That is why its important for companies to realize that customer service is now more important than ever.  \n\nNo problem about CVS.  I actually have to go in there tonight.  They may get another dedicated post if they still suck lol.\n\nAdam","author":{"@type":"Person","name":"Adam","url":""}},{"@type":"Comment","@id":"https:\/\/www.adamriemer.me\/seo\/get-rid-of-old-coupons-and-deceptive-ads-serp-reviews-are-coming\/#Comment2","dateCreated":"2010-12-06 10:34:30","description":"Hey Adam,\n\nSorry about your CVS experience but I hope the company reads it and learns from their mistakes.\n\nIn the past I've told my clients that reviews count and as proof I offered the countless times that I saw a 5-star company with 3 reviews get beaten by a 1-star company with 10 reviews. Sadly, most of them have been slack to aggressively get the reviews that they need. That being said, I think Google's initial movement was a knee-jerk PR reaction but that it has gotten the wheels moving and they will now continue to work on the new portion of the algo until they get it right. Well, we can only hope.\n\nTim","author":{"@type":"Person","name":"Tim Biden","url":"http:\/\/www.villageadsseo.com"}}],"about":["SEO"],"wordCount":1542,"keywords":["Google Local Search","Local Search","Reviews","SEO","Social Media and Local Search"],"articleBody":"One thing that we have been seeing over the past year is that Google is all about local search and reviews.\u00a0 With the launch of hotpot and all of the hype about the Human or Influencer rank and Social Media Ranks in the SERP algorithms, its time to really reconsider many of your Marketing campaigns and how well you are doing with customer service.For years companies have posted coupons and allowed sites to post deals or specials that don’t work.\u00a0 They run ads in their PPC campaigns to get people to come to their sites and then bait and switch them.\u00a0 Retail shops advertise in newspapers or on the radio but only make the specials available if you meet certain criteria.\u00a0 Black Friday specials that run out or stores that run limited offers and anger their customers need to rethink these strategies.\u00a0 If local search, which is already huge, starts ranking with reviews as a higher ranking factor; and hotpot, yelp and other review sites reviews start pounding in negative reviews to the Search Engines (SEs), you may find your rankings (SERPs) tanking.\u00a0 All of the sudden when someone searches for coffee shops in your city you may be the only one that doesn’t show up because the girl serving cold coffee and messing up drinks laughs when you complain.With that said, Google and Bing are probably smart enough to realize that this shouldn’t be an insanely huge factor because some small companies can easily get their loyal followers to trash their competition.\u00a0 If it were that easy to knock someone out of the rankings it would be worth it to pay people offline or give them free product to bash their competitors. \u00a0 However if bad reviews keep popping up regularly and your competitors are better optimizing and have more positive reviews, you may find your site dropping in the SERPs.\u00a0 So what can you do?Try becoming a legitimate business and go back to providing great customer service and an excellent user experience.\u00a0 Here are three places to start.1.\u00a0 Be careful with your coupons.If you use coupons or allow people to post them, keep track of where they are and when the expire.\u00a0 When they expire take them down and replace them with new ones.\u00a0 If Affiliates post them and don’t remove them when they expire then remove that Affiliate if they refuse to take it down and it becomes an ongoing issue.\u00a0 You do have to give them time to respond to your request though as they could be on vacation and it could be an honest mistake.\u00a0 You don’t want to jump the gun and piss off your Affiliates either.Customers get angry and you create a bad user experience for your store if none of the coupons you have out there work.\u00a0 With companies pushing for reviews, angry people are usually the most vocal and they may go on a rampage about how your coupons don’t work.\u00a0 This could result in negative reviews dropping your sites local SERPs if enough people complain.2.\u00a0 Don’t bait and switch consumers with online or offline ads.Even with local grocery stores, they advertise that a food or ingredient is on sale but run out of it by noon as they didn’t stock that much on purpose.\u00a0 Not only does this anger Foodies like me, but it also leaves us going home feeling left out and with a “bitter taste” in our mouths.\u00a0 Not only could this cause us to not want to shop there, but we may want to share their bait and switch tactics with others so that they don’t fall for it to.\u00a0 In order to warn others we go online and leave negative reviews.\u00a0 This way our friends don’t fall for it and unfortunately if enough people do this their sites may lose their rankings.\u00a0 Now instead of having the local market show up for grocery stores in “your city” you get big names or other types of stores like wholefoods which provide excellent service and make goods when they run out of product.\u00a0\u00a0 What can you do to help stop angry customers from lashing out with negative reviews?Advertise and say limited quantities in a large area or give rain checks or a make good if you run out.\u00a0 You could even try this thing called customer service and have the person behind the counter apologize.\u00a0 Teach your staff to cross sell and be friendly so that they can try to make an upset customer happy and make another recommendation for a complimentary product.\u00a0 Shrugging and saying there is nothing they can do is something that does not solve the issue and will probably only further anger the pissed off customer.3.\u00a0 Big brands watch out!The days of getting free and easy SERPs and in the local results are coming to an end for you.\u00a0 Although your advantage with easy backlinks and huge budgets does help, the lack of customer service and attitude your employees give can cost your online business and foot traffic big time in the local SERPs.\u00a0 The CVS pharmacy at 1418 P street in Washington DC for example is absolutely horrible.The store Manager Omar and the Assistant Manager Bejiman (I think that is how it was spelled) are great.\u00a0 They took great care of me, but only because I went in and waited for them to show up.\u00a0 Unfortunately the pharmacy and pharmacy staff at the Pharmacy at 1418 P St. NW in Washington DC is rude, unprofessional and unhygienic.They roll their eyes at you and act like you are bothering them when you are just trying to pick up your prescription.\u00a0 If you ask a question about how to take it they say read the bottle and walk away.\u00a0 If you have allergy questions the girl with the tattoos and the Pharmacist ignore you.\u00a0 God forbid they check the fax or actually fill a prescription when your doctor has sent it over.\u00a0 My prescription had been sitting there for 20 minutes and the girl with the tattoos refused to check the fax for it.\u00a0 She was to busy talking and having fun.\u00a0 I actually watched as this same girl with the tattoos picked up a pill with her hands and put it back into a jar…unfortunately it was my prescription and into the small pill bottle she was counting for my prescription.\u00a0 I ended up not taking that one.\u00a0 CVS, check your cameras if you don’t believe me.The horrible way that these large brands like the CVS at 1418 P street in Washington DC treat customers because they have large brands backing them will cost them in the local SERPs.\u00a0 Not only do these companies get tons of bad reviews now, but with these same reviews and tweets and other social indicators showing dissatisfaction, these stores will lose foot traffic in their stores because they will stop showing up as much for when people are looking for local stores and local Washington DC Pharmacies.\u00a0\u00a0 This is a great opportunity for local small businesses to not only take back local search because they give good customer service, but they can take down some of the larger brands which treat customers like crap.\u00a0 Omar fixed the situation for me but his staff in the pharmacy is the absolute worst and most unprofessional horrible group of people I have met in customer service.\u00a0 I highly recommend you never have a perscription filled at the CVS at 1418 P St. NW in Washington DC as you don’t know if your pills have been touched by that lady’s hands and where her hands have been, as well as the fact that the pharmacist and CVS pharmacy employees are absolutely rude and have no customer service skills.\u00a0 Avoid the CVS Pharmacy at 1418 P St. NW in Washington DC.The reality of Social Media and Reviews becoming a larger ranking factor is not only a great chance for local businesses to regain traffic from the SEs in local search, but it gives them a chance to show that their efforts in providing excellent customer service will pay off when they beat crappy larger brands like the CVS Pharmacy at 1418 P St. NW in Washington DC.You basically just have to remember that Google is putting the control back into the power of the end users.\u00a0 The better you treat them and not try to trick them with bait and switch offers, the better your reviews and hopefully your local SERPs will be.\u00a0 The more you keep control of your coupons and the better customer experience you give the more chances you have to get good reviews.\u00a0 If your customers are happy, ask them to leave a positive review on Hotpot.\u00a0 Tell them to follow you and tweet about you to their friends.\u00a0 Ask for a like on Facebook and do what you can to show Google that you are the best possible option to show in their local SERPs because your customers love you.\u00a0 If social rankings and reviews become a larger local search factor like everyone is predicting they will be, then this will pay off and the larger brands will start to fail."},{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org\/","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Seo","item":"https:\/\/www.adamriemer.me\/seo\/#breadcrumbitem"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Get rid of old coupons and deceptive ads, SERP reviews are coming.","item":"https:\/\/www.adamriemer.me\/seo\/get-rid-of-old-coupons-and-deceptive-ads-serp-reviews-are-coming\/#breadcrumbitem"}]}]