Author hReview is a brand new WordPress plugin that adds Google rich snippets to your search results. It was designed specifically for reviews and ratings posts. The plugin was developed by Hesham Zebida, owner of the great blogging blog Famous Bloggers.
Once you have installed the plugin, you will see a new area under your post editor that allows you to add reviews. There are four main tabs: Main, Details, Display and Link.
Under the main tab you can rate the item and write a brief summary of the review. The plugin uses a 5-star rating system, however half ratings can also be left (e.g. 3.5 out of 5).
In the next tab you can enter basic details of the product you have reviewed such as the price and type (e.g. book, DVD etc).
Two different rating templates can be used and you can upload a product image and align it to the left or right of the ratings box.
A button can be added to your review. The system supports affiliate links too.
After completing all of the fields, you will see a rating attached to your posts in the admin area. Google will also show a rating next to your article in their search results.
Your reviews can be inserted into your posts using shortcodes or listed on your sidebar using widgets.
Review ratings can be displayed on your home page excerpts and below your posts.
The plugin offers you a lot of control over how your reviews are displayed. Different elements of the review can be hidden and you can define the default width of the review box and how it is styled.
You can also choose to disable the plugin stylesheet and style the plugin on your own.
Two additional plugins are included with Author hReview. WP Reviews is a product review plugin that allows authors and visitors to review items. It would be perfect for creating small comparison and review websites.
The customer testimonial plugin allows you to display testimonials using shortcodes or widgets. I am sure that those who buy Author hReview are primarily looking for a way to add reviews to their website, however it is a nice addition and something which many website owners will use.
A lite version of Author hReview is available free though lacks many features that the pro version has. The following features are only available in the pro version of the plugin:
- Half ratings
- Rating box templates
- Control over what elements to show on the review box (button, date, reviewer name..etc)
- Ability to change button text
- Add images to the rating box
- Add reviews on pages as well
- Works with custom post types
- New widget with product images
- Ability to sort reviews in widgets by rating value (example: Top Rated)
- Option to remove rel=”nofollow” links
- Display a list of all review “posts” in one page in WP dashboard
- Shortcode to display rating box anywhere on the post/page
- Shortcode to display related reviews
- Shortcode to display recent reviews
$47 will get you the pro version of the plugin and support for one website. For multi-website support, you need to pay $67. All purchases come with a 30 day no hassle money-back guarantee. If you use the discount code “WPR20” at checkout, you will get 20% off your purchase until 10 June June 2013. This drops the prices from $47 to $37.60 and $67 to $53.60.
Google rich snippets offers website owners a great opportunity to distinguish their content in search engine rankings. Author hReview makes this process simple by integrating a review system directly into WordPress. I recommend checking it out if you plan on publishing reviews on your website.
Thanks,
Kevin
Link: Author hReview
* Thanks to Hesham Zebida for sending me a test copy of Author hReview for the purpose of this review :)
