Synchronization no longer works after Advanced Import?

Hello Andrew (@prometheusppc),

There is no need to continue the manual HTML Import once you’ve done it the first time unless you want to add some less relevant reviews (according to Google’s algorithm). The API will only send the most relevant new reviews (so an empty review with 5 stars is much less likely).

Have you spotted new reviews on Google that have not appeared in your listing (try sorting by date)?

@prometheusppc Also, try checking the “Retrieved Data” tab and see that it matches the new/important reviews listed in Google. These 5 reviews will all appear in your review listing in the “Reviews” tab.

Hi,

Yes, the “Retrieved Data” tab matches the new/important reviews listed in Google.

Yes, there is one new review on Google (added 5 days ago) that is still not appearing in the “Reviews” tab of the plugin. In the “Setup” tab I’ve had it set to “Synchronize Hourly”. Any ideas why the plugin isn’t retrieving this latest review? Let me know if I can send you links/screenshots that might be helpful.

Thank you,

Andrew

@prometheusppc Yes, it’s likely to be deemed not relevant, with other older reviews more relevant. The Place API Data only includes the 5 most relevant reviews (with a bias towards the retrieval language). You can use the manual HTML Import to add this review if you wish. Over time, there will be it reviews in the same situation, particularly 5 stars with no review text.

If you send your website’s address or the Place ID, I can confirm this for you?

Oh, then I think I misunderstood how the plugin works. It sounds like you’re saying that it will automatically import new reviews *only* if they are deemed “relevant” enough to take the place of one of the previous 5 “most relevant” reviews?

In that case, yes, I’ll need regularly use manual import.

@prometheusppc This is how the Google Places API functions. Most of the time, the top 5 relevant reviews are enough, but when they aren’t the manual HTML import will fill the gaps.

Got it. I will say, though, that one thing I like about your plugin is that I can specify which reviews to show, and even tailor the selection to different website pages. So I want to have the full selection available. But the “advanced” method you provide is easy enough.

Thank you again for your helpful replies and the great plugin!

Andrew

@prometheusppc Thanks for the feedback!

For something very exact, use the ids parameter to select specific reviews and set their ordering:

[reviews_rating ids="1,5,13,11"]

If you like the plugin, please leave a review! ??

Will do!

Hi,

I’m back with a follow-on question. I’ve able to successfully use the plugin to manually import additional reviews as they post on Google. However, I’ve just noticed that the “date” info never updates. For example, I have one review posted “a month ago” per Google. However, in the plugin it still shows as “a day ago” because I happened to manually import it one day after it posted.

Screenshot of the review on Google today: https://www.screencast.com/t/InS2JGmr5
Screenshot of the review as it shows on my website today: https://www.screencast.com/t/mmI27CXwRO

I tried to re-import all the existing reviews, but the plugin just reports “No additional reviews found”: https://www.screencast.com/t/6V64duAcxgl

How can I get the dates to update on my website to match Google?

Thank you,

Andrew

@prometheusppc Hi Andrew!

Thanks for the update. I was aware of some issues with the relative dates for imported reviews and I have this on my to-do list.

I may move it up and add something to update from the relative time ranges (already in the code) using the estimated date. The down side is the lack of support for non-English languages – so it will change from one to the other as time moves on.

I’ll message when this update is ready.

I’d appreciate anything you can do here.

As another option, maybe just allowing new manual review imports to overwrite previous ones would solve this problem and not introduce any new ones?

Thank you!

Andrew

It’s important, though, that the plugin review ID #s never change. Else I’d need to redo the specific review selections I’ve made. Thank you.

@prometheusppc I’ve considered performing ongoing updates to the relative text based on the Google Places API data, or set from the review date (estimated or otherwise). The HTML Import will automatically refresh the dates for any matching reviews (naturally, leaving the IDs intact).

Thanks again for the reply. I will be continuing development of the HTML Import soon.

Hi,

You wrote:

“The HTML Import will automatically refresh the dates for any matching reviews (naturally, leaving the IDs intact).”

Did you mean that’s how it should work now? Or that’s how it will work after you make further updates? It doesn’t seem to work that way now, unless I’m doing something wrong with the import.

Thank you,

Andrew