Hawkins talks to Search Engine Land editor Barry Schwartz about breaking out on her own, buying Local Search Forum and a recent discovery she made around Google’s review gating policy.
“There’s a log of moderation that goes into,” said Hawkins. She also shared a surprising finding after performing a test with businesses that lost 98% of Google reviews because they were practicing review-gating, which is against Google’s review policies. Hawkins discovered that, in every single case, the businesses rankings had not been impacted by the loss of reviews. Be sure to watch the video to find out why.
This video is part of Barry’s recently introduced vlog interview series, featuring conversations with SEO industry experts like Rand Fishkin, Greg Gifford and Cassie Gillette. You can find past episodes by subscribing to Barry’s YouTube channel, or sign up to be interviewed for the vlog by filling out this form on Search Engine Roundtable.
