Why Laudely doesn't scrape review sites
Laudely never uses bots to copy reviews from Google or other sites. Here is why, and how to bring your reviews in instead.
Some tools offer to copy every review from Google or Facebook when you paste a link. Most of them use scrapers: programs that pretend to be visitors and copy content from other websites page by page. Laudely doesn't do this, and this article explains why.
The short answer
Laudely gets reviews in two ways today: from your customers directly, through your collect page; and from you, when you type a review in or import screenshots. Syncing reviews through official channels, such as Google Business Profile, is planned.
Your review wall sits on your website, under your business name. We don't want it to rest on something that could break, or get you into trouble.
Reason 1: it protects your business
Platforms such as Google and Facebook don't allow their content to be copied by automated tools. When reviews are scraped, the risk usually falls on the business that uses them, not on the tool: scraping tools often make their customers responsible in their own terms.
In practice, a platform can ask for copied content to be taken down, or restrict accounts and features. Your Google Business Profile is worth more than the few minutes a scraper saves.
Reason 2: it respects the people who wrote the reviews
A review is someone's own words, often shown with their name and photo. Leaving a review on Google doesn't mean the customer agreed to have it copied anywhere by a program.
With Laudely, you decide which reviews go public, and you confirm you have the right to publish them. A review from a private chat, email or text message can only go public after you confirm the customer agreed. On screenshots, you can black out names, phone numbers and other private details first.
Reason 3: it lasts
Scraping is a game of cat and mouse. Each time a site changes, the scraper breaks; when a site blocks it, the feature disappears. Your review wall shouldn't be full today and empty tomorrow.
How to bring your reviews in instead
Your collect page. Send your link or QR code to every customer, not only the happy ones. They leave their review, photos or a video with you directly, and the review is marked "Collected directly".
Type a review, under Update reviews. Copy a review from any website and add the link to where it came from, so visitors can check the original.
Import screenshots (Starter), also under Update reviews. Upload screenshots of reviews from Google, Facebook, LINE, delivery apps or anywhere else. AI reads the name, stars, text and date, and you check every card before anything is added to your reviews.
Automatic Google review sync (planned). We are working on syncing your Google reviews through Google Business Profile, Google's official channel, for a future Pro plan. It depends on Google's approval, so there is no date yet.
Questions
Other tools can import from a link. Why can't Laudely?
We could build it, but we choose not to. We want every review on your wall to come in a way you can stand behind.
Isn't taking screenshots slow?
Usually not. On Starter, you can upload up to 30 screenshots at a time, and one screenshot can hold several reviews.
Will visitors trust reviews I added myself?
Review cards say where each review came from: "Collected directly" for reviews from your collect page, and "Provided by business" for reviews you added. The label is always on your standalone page, and on your walls unless you turn off Show source and verification label. Laudely never presents your own additions as anything else. When you add a source link, visitors can tap the label to open the original review; for a screenshot of a private chat, they can see the copy you blacked out instead, once you've saved one.