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Along with a total revamp of Maps, Google has announced at I/O, the forum and their blog the return to a 5 star review system. You can request an invite to the new Maps here. From their blog post:

Users who opt-in to the new Google Maps will now rate businesses on a scale that ranges from one to five stars. The system maintains the precision of the former 30 point scale while improving the readability and accessibility of the business listings. Your customers will be able to find up-to-date, accurate information on your business faster than ever. As a business owner, you’ll notice that past ratings have been mapped to the five star system.

Here is how the new scores are now calculated:

poor/fair = 2 stars
good = 3 stars
very good = 4 stars
excellent = 5 stars

Some other notes from Google:

• Users on legacy Maps, mobile (Android + iOS), Google+, Google.com, and other properties will continue to see 30 point ratings for several more weeks
  • If a user is opted into the New Google Maps and clicks on a “more reviews” they will be taken to a plus page where they will see the 5 star ratings
  • However, if the same user had just navigated to the page from plus.google.com they would see 30 point scale
  • Note that users just searching on google.com not coming from New Google Maps will continue to see the old results.
• Google will no longer be asking users to rate on specific dimensions/aspects. For example, for restaurants users will no longer rate the “food”, “decor” and “service”.
  • Google will show just one overall score (they used an algorithm to translate the food/decor/service scores into a blended overall score).

To the dismay of many, Google replaced the yellow stars with the Zagat system in May, 2012 when Google rolled Places pages into Plus. It was clear from August of last year that Google was testing a return to the 5 Star system and they were never removed from local AdWords display.

The current iteration of stars appear to be universally red and it seems that they will roll out to all properties over the next few months. The new “Places” results that were spotted earlier will apparently be the results seen when visited from the new Maps interface.

Original article from Mike Blumenthal

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While at work I received a text message from a buddy of mine with the new Google Maps App URL. I immediately downloaded the app and began to play around with it.  Currently my cell phone service is Verizon and I have been using VZ Navigator. At only $2.99 a month, it is a great deal for anyone who does not have a navigation system or a vehicle with navigation installed. Google Maps App, being FREE, does the exact same thing so I used that for my ride home from work to test it out. I noticed a few glitches, but with anything new those kind of things are going to happen. The next day I was off and wanted to check out some furniture stores. I typed in the Google Maps app “furniture store” and immediately several local stores came up.

But here is the “GAME CHANGER”…

During my search, it gave me each stores Google Places ranting!! Wow!! I didn’t do any homework before I left the house, and now I didn’t have too! I had all the information during my drive. I was able to see which store had 2 stars and which store had 5 stars. I was able to see who to avoid at each store while in my car, while on my phone driving to the location!

My mind immediately turned to my business, the car business. How many customers are driving to your dealership using this app and notice a terrible review? How many of those same people punch in your competitors store who have a higher ranting through Google and head over there? It is going to happen more times then not.

The majority of buyers in today’s market are Gen X and Gen Y. I, myself am Gen Y. I, myself bypassed a store because of a negative review during my drive to that same exact store.

Google Maps App is going to change the game. It is going to cause customers to detour from their original route and head directly towards a safe place to shop. I did… And I consider myself no different then any other shopper out there.

• Google Adwords was split on top and right shown in pink.
• Two organic listings were displayed above the new maps region, shown in green.
• That 7 spots were taken up with exploded Google Maps listings, shown in red.
• The remainder of the organics were shown under maps which were cut off on the screen capture.

Google Maps Changes SEO Strategies