Easily Add Google Rich Snippets for Reviews and Rating to WordPress

Hi everyone, I am so excited to finally be able to announce the new premium version of Author hReview plugin, which will be available in the market soon, hopefully in a couple of weeks from now, it’s going to be full of features, and pretty easy to use and manage.

The new plugin is 99% ready, and I’ve already tested it on one of my sites. It works pretty well, however…  I need a different eye to look to it, I am sure you can discover those bugs that didn’t show up on my own test.

If you don’t know what this plugin dose, the Author hRview plugin provide an easy way to add Google Rich Snippets for your reviews and ratings, which makes your product reviews stand out in Google search by having those little rating stars to the SERPS.

What makes this plugin different than other plugins?

During the last 4 months, I came across almost all the WordPress review plugins our there, none of them got my attention, and I can clearly divide them into four main groups:

1. Plugins with a pathetic lack of functionality.
2. Plugin with very complicated settings.
3. Plugins that allows you to fake your review
4. Plugin that simply doesn’t work!

However, I am not really into giving examples, but in general most of the review plugins uses Shortcodes, probably because it’s the easiest way to embed  the rich snippets into content. I don’t know, but I just think this is wrong approach, ShortCodes makes it really hard to edit old reviews as in most cases you will have to fill all required values again. Plugin developers should use Meta Boxes instead.

I’ve done it this way in the Author hReview plugin, and most of the emails I am getting from people who are using the plugin always start with “Thank you for this awesome plugin, it’s very easy to use and to understand“.

Yes, they say…

[box type=”yellow”]Thank you for this awesome plugin, it’s very easy to use and to understand[/box]

You see, the plugin proved that it has some nice functionality, it’s easy to use, and it actually works.

See by yourself, here is some awesome reviews that has been made for the love of the plugin 🙂

What They Say about the Author hReview plugin

1. Get Rating With Author hReview [WPMU.org]
2. WordPress Plugin To Add Google Rich Snippets [BloggerMint.com]
3. Implement Google Rich Snippets for Reviews [WPProBusiness.com]
4. Author hReview Plugin review [OnlineIncomeStar.com]
5. Add Google Rich Snippets for Reviews [EvolutionaryDesigns.net]
6. Google Rich Snippets for Reviews In WordPress [WPKube.com]
7. WordPress plugin adds stars to Google Serps [PaulMillard.com]
8. Using Rich Text Snippets [SarahArrow.co.uk]
9. Get Rating With Author hReview [WP-Coder.net]
10. Review Star Ratings in Google Search Results [HackTik.com]
11. Show Stars Ratings on Google SERP [TechBu.com]

Also, read:

1. Best SEO Plugins For WordPress 2012 [IBlogZone.com]
2. Rating and Voting Plugins [WinkPress.com]
3. Google Star Rating [WPPulse.com]

There is even a nice video by Adam W. Warner -thanks Adam- that shows how the plugin works, watch!

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6tpq_OwMoUw#!]

Link to the video page on Youtube

I am actually getting fantastic responds since the first day I released the plugin, and it has been downloaded over 6000 times so far. Actually I have been forced to re-code it more than once to satisfy its users, and I think it’s doing fine now! But… what about the new premium version?

What’s in the Premium Version?

Since I released the plugin, I was collecting feedback and bug reports, my main focus was to make the plugin work and bug free, not really adding new features to it, so I was only keeping features requests in mind, but actually I haven’t implemented them to the free version of the plugin because it wasn’t an easy job, so I decided to come up with a complete new premium version that pays off the hard work. And, finally… I’ve done a huge change in the plugin core and the way it works, it’s much much better than ever.

As I said earlier in my post, I’ve tested the plugin, but I need to make sure it work well for blog other than mine, simply because each blog has a different set of plugins and different themes, so it’s likely to see a few bugs and conflicts when we do the tests.

Become a Beta Tester

If you would like to join the beta testers group then go a head, visit the AuthorhReview.com site, and signup to the email list. (P.S. scroll down the very end of the page, you will find the optin form at the footer where it says “get updates by email“, simply add your email and activate it).

I will pick 10 people from that list next week to test the new plugin, want to become a beta tester?

Cool, but, first! We need to agree on a few things…

I will give you the new premium version of the plugin at no cost at all! Yes.. You get your copy absolutely Free of charge, plus 6 month of support and updates!

What after 6 months? Don’t worry! I will renew your support and upgrades access for FREE!

So, here is the deal… I give you the plugin, you give me valuable feedback!

Try to break it!

Test the plugin, report bugs, tell me how to enhance it!

I will be there for you, I will reply to all your emails, and I will fix your blog issues.

But… If I don’t get valuable feedback from you during our one week test, (to be honest) I will have to cancel your account, so no more free access! And I will give access to someone else.

Now, visit the plugin site, scroll down to the end of the page and leave your email.

P.S. Keep yourself around, even if you are not on the beta testers group, I will give you a huge discount just by being on that email list!

I will start picking my beta testers group members starting from Monday 11, this is tomorrow! and I will get in touch after the weekend to keep you updated, and let you know how things are going!

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At the mean time, if you had a chance to use the free version of the plugin, then please rate it at wordpress.org:

http://wordpress.org/extend/plugins/author-hreview/

I really appreciate it!

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I will publish another post soon about the plugin new features, and how it works.

Enjoy your day!

Image © Kaarsten – Fotolia.com