Google Reviews Suspended Due to COVID-19
Date: March 23, 2020Category: Author: Kaycie Smith
Google announced on Friday, March 20th that there would be limited functionality inside the Google My Business (GMB) dashboard, due to COVID-19. For dental practices, the important new restrictions are that the ability of patients to post new reviews and the ability to respond to reviews will not be available. Users will be able to write a review but it will not post to the business. It is not known yet if these reviews will be visible once Google lifts the suspension.
Additionally, the ability to claim new listings, verifications of listings and the Question and Answer feature will be unavailable. Business information edits will be prioritized based on how critical the edit is to health-related businesses.
Keep in mind that Yelp and Facebook are still available for reviews as well as many other review platforms like Healthgrades, WebMD, etc.
Our Work Continues
Here at Infinity Dental Web, we are asked by clients if our work is continuing, and the answer to that is yes. Besides the usual behind-the-scenes SEO and client management work that we do, we actually have a heavier-than-usual work load right now, responding to special requests and staying on top of the changing landscape—including announcements from the ADA, posting new announcements on websites, following what Google is doing, etc. While some of our staff are working from home so that we are down in the office to a socially distant one person per room, our full staff continues working.
Some clients have closed and are suspending paid advertising to try to reduce expenses. If you feel the need to do that, please give us a call. If you are keeping your ads but at a reduced level, we are waiving the minimum spend policy so that the management fee is pro-rated to your level of spend, no matter how small that is.
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