Google Completes GBP Reviews for LSAs Swap in EU
In the UK & EU and perhaps other EMEA countries, Local Services Ad accounts must now be connected to a Google Business Profile and LSA reviews are being replaced by GBP reviews.
In the UK and much of the EU, as we reported in May, Google has sent out emails to Local Services Ads (LSAs) accounts confirming the need for ads to be associated with a Google Business Profile (GBP) and the end of LSA-based reviews. Businesses that failed to associate their LSA accounts with GBPS had their ads turned off.
To turn LSAs back on, the account holder needs to be associated with a GBP for which they are an owner or a manager. The email noted that "Unfortunately, your Local Services Ads customer reviews and rating may be permanently lost." It's not clear whether the reviews will remain even if the account had been previously associated with a GBP.
[Update 7/30/24] Apparently the process to get this done is not as easy as the email implies. This poster in the Google forum claims that they have tried three times to update their LSA address to match their GBP and have failed.
GBP Reviews Take Over
LSA account owners were also informed, in a second email, that the LSA review link would no longer work, that the GBP review link should be used, and that reviews would be managed via the Google Business Profile. A new GBP "ask for a review" link was provided in the email.
Currently, the need to associate LSA accounts with GBPs and use the GBP review link only applies to certain EMEA countries. Apparently that includes the UK and much of the EU, although it is difficult to ascertain from the help files exactly which countries are included in this change.
Driven by DSA Moderation Rules?
Google may be doing this because of its need to comply with the EU's Digital Services Act's (DSA) requirements around regulating illegal content and promoting transparency in content moderation. Google has allowed LSA reviews to flow largely unmoderated. As a result, fake positive and negative LSA reviews have proliferated in the EU and the US. Google has offered almost no way for businesses to dispute these fake reviews, which would likely violate DSA requirements.
It is ironic and more than a little disheartening that GBP review moderation, with its numerous problems and fake reviews, is the higher standard vs. LSA reviews. At one time, the Local Services Ads program held out the promise of truly verified reviews.
US, Canada May Be Next
In May, we also speculated that the same policy and review swap might be rolled out in the US. At the time Google was implementing more rigorous verification for some US categories. However, given that there has been such little movement on the US reviews front, it's unclear whether LSA reviews will in fact be replaced in the US. If it doesn't happen, we have to wonder how Google will fix the incredibly broken LSA review system in the US and Canada.