P.S. I have tried clearing the review cache – but it just pulls back through the same reviews.
@markwest2016 I think I’ve covered this a couple times in the forum.
The Places API returns the 5 most relevant reviews and not necessarily the 5 most recent reviews. The plugin will use whatever is provided by the Places API, checking at the interval set by you. This will not always reflect the same reviews as the ones you see in the Google search results (or maps).
This could be for one of the following reasons:
- The review is not “relevant” enough to appear in the top 5 most relevant reviews (for the language set)
- The review may not exist in the Places API data yet
I always advise checking the Retrieved Data to see what is currently being retrieved. If you see the new reviews listed here, the I recommend looking at any restrictions you have in place (such as review text length ranges, minimum rating, etc.)
Hi @designextreme
Thanks very much for clarifying. Apologies – I did look through a few other similar support tickets to see if there might already be an answer – but missed this detail.
The retrieved data is the reviews I’m seeing – it compares exactly to the 5 most relevant shown on Google.
Do you have any plans to work with the Google My Business API – which I believe does allow access to all reviews?
Thanks again for your speedy response.
Kind Regards
Mark
@markwest2016 Yes, I do plan on altering and extending the source for the reviews. Having a complete set would make the process better all round.
For now, please check out the HTML Import functionality as a tool to circumvent this limitation with approximate dates for the submissions.
Did you resolve the initial matter sufficiently?
Thanks for your reply.
That’s great news – I’d be keen to be involved if you need beta testers.
I did look at the import tool – but I’d prefer to keep things automated for simplicity.
I basically concluded that the plugin was working as intended – the newer reviews on Google do not appear in the top five most relevant on Google itself.
Thanks for you help and support.
Mark
@markwest2016 Thanks for the update – and always very happy to help out!
Although the HTML Import is a manual process, it is quite likely to fully populate all your reviews with newer reviews being added as and when they are submitted. Occasionally, if a new review is deemed irrelevant, then you may need to top this up from time to time (usually empty review text). Other than that, it’s a one-off process for most users of the plugin.
