3rd Party Reviews - Schema Implementation

[TrulyTravel]

Hi,

Currently my client displaying Ratings & Reviews from a third-party (TripAdvisor) service and only displaying 5 reviews but not showing "Read More Reviews" button to TripAdvisor page. Now I would like to use Rich Snippet schema markup code on these rating & reviews but below are my few concerns, could you please guide me:

1. Can I use Rich Snippet Schema markup code on widget of TripAdvisor Rating & Review.

2. If I apply schema markup code, Do I need to maintain TripAdvisor link for "Read More reviews".

Below are the URLs which contains TripAdvisor rating & reviews after big image:

https://goo.gl/DLpDXE

https://goo.gl/EHVG7o

https://goo.gl/ok6cYp

Please let me know if you have any questions.

Thanks,

Satla

[ThompsonPaul]

Google's been quite clear that reviews on our sites from 3rd party review sources must not have review markup, SK. It's grounds for a "manipulative markup" penalty.

Review markup should "Only include critic reviews that have been directly produced by your site, not reviews from third-party sites or syndicated reviews."

Paul

[TrulyTravel]

Thanks for reply Paul.

but few competitors are still using 3rd party reviews with markup code and coming rich snippets in Google successfully. For example below are the few competitor currently using.

Competitor 1: https://goo.gl/Dq7tMn [1453 reviews - from 3rd party]

Competitor 2: https://goo.gl/YzdK2v [1453 reviews - from 3rd party]

Below is the Google SERP link for this keyword [Eurocalas Aparthotel] and you can see both competitors are coming with Rich Snippet

Google SERP: https://goo.gl/vfvZat [you can see both competitors with rich snippet]

Kindly let me know you feed back on these competitor links.

Thanks,

Satla

[WebElaine]

Just the fact that a competitor gets away with something isn't a good reason to try the same thing. If Google explicitly says not to do something, it's wise to listen. The competitors may be fine for now, but in upcoming algorithm updates will probably suffer if they are violating Google's guidelines.

Are you sure your competitors are using Schema? I checked the two goo.gl links you provided for the competitors, and although I can see the reviews, the reviews themselves have no Schema markup. The competitors have used other Schemas like Hotel and LocationFeatureSpecification, even AggregateRating - just not Review.

[Sally94]

Hi @ThompsonPaul,

I've just been reading into this as just about everyone in my field use third party reviews and mark it up with snippets. I'm under the impression that Google is fine with the use of third party reviews.

In the Google guidelines, it says: "Only include critic reviews that have been directly produced by your site, not reviews from third-party sites or syndicated reviews."

I am under the belief if you are not using a critic review then you are safe to use third-party reviews. Refer to the bottom of the guidelines for the Review Snippet Guidelines rather than the Critic Review Guidelines

Especially because our team has experienced Third Party Reviews being approved by Google.When we originally put in the mark up we got a penalty for another reason (Developer incorrectly released on all pages). Google then reviewed our mark up approving the use of third party reviews and removed our penalty.

I'd love to know your thoughts! Let me know