As a business operating in the digital age, one of your main goals is getting to the top of Google search results for your product or service. Given that 46% of all searches on Google have local intent, as in looking for businesses within a specific area, this goal is even more important for businesses that have a physical storefront of serves a specific area.
But how do you get to the top of Google? Well, there are a lot of ranking factors that Google takes into consideration when determining who shows up where, but in this blog, we’re going to focus on one in particular—customer reviews.
Keep reading to learn more about why customer reviews are important, how they influence your local ranking and how to integrate review marketing into a local search marketing strategy.
Yes! Customer reviews (both positive and negative) are extremely important for your business to have. In short, they impact customer buying decisions, act as social proof of your brand and contribute to your business’s overall online reputation. 93% of users say online reviews had an impact on their buying decisions and 49% of consumers trust reviews as much as personal recommendations from friends and family members.
Positive reviews are what you’re mostly aiming for as a business. When customers are satisfied with their purchase they’ll keep coming back, recommend you to friends and family and leave you great feedback. That positive feedback then influences other online shoppers to choose your business over the rest. Positive reviews help build trust in your business. And that trust is also crucial for search engine ranking. And a higher ranking increases your visibility to more customers.
Obviously, it always stings a little bit when someone isn’t satisfied with your product or service and leaves a negative review because of it. But negative reviews can also be impactful for your business. First, they can help establish the authenticity of your brand. When a business has only glowing reviews it can make people doubt whether the reviews are real, and you don’t want that. Second, they allow you to pinpoint areas of improvement within your business. Specific feedback may make you aware of issues you didn’t know you had and allow you to fix them. Third, they give you an opportunity to respond and make things right. 56% of consumers had changed their perspective on a business based on how they responded to a review, so negative reviews don’t always immediately turn people away from your business.
Customer reviews are one crucial aspect of local SEO ranking. This means they have the potential to help your business show up in a higher spot on Google when potential customers perform a local search for your products or services. Studies show that 68% of people who search online prefer to click on a local 3-pack, or the top three local business listings in Google SERPs. So, getting into one of those top spots can help drive a lot more traffic to your business.
Google and other search engines consider the number of reviews a business has, the rating and the overall customer sentiment when ranking a business. The more positive reviews you have coming in consistently, the more Google trusts that you are a credible result to show to their searchers, therefore improving your search engine rankings. This in turn helps your business stand out and attract new customers.
These consistent and positive reviews help build trust with potential customers, who then will choose your business and hopefully leave their own great reviews—thus perpetuating the cycle. Once you rank highly enough to make it into that coveted local 3-pack, Google will then start displaying your reviews for local customers.
That combination of being one of the first three results on the SERP and having your excellent star rating prominently displayed is a huge confidence boost for potential customers who come across your business. We already mentioned most people prefer to click on a business within the local 3-pack, and we know 80% of local searches result in a conversion. That’s huge for your overall bottom line.
How you as a business interact with reviews is considered by search engines as well. Google prioritizes businesses with the most accurate and up-to-date information, so any time you respond to a new review, Google sees this as an action you’re taking to keep your information fresh. Additionally, replying to local reviews boosts submissions by 12%.
Reviews also have a more indirect effect on your local ranking by way of keywords. When customers write their reviews, there is a high chance that they’re going to use words and phrases that are relevant to your business.
Say you run a bakery for example. While leaving a review, a customer may say things like, “best tasting cupcakes I’ve ever had,” “this is the best bakery in Westerville by far,” or “I ordered a dozen cookies for my son’s birthday party, and they exceeded my expectations.” Phrases like “best tasting cupcakes near me,” “best bakery in Westerville” and “cookies for a birthday party” are real things people are probably going to search for when they need a bakery. If your reviews mention these then your business is more likely to come up in local results.
Because of the impact reviews have on local SEO, it’s a good idea to think about these two strategies as parts of a whole. When you increase the number and quality of reviews, you directly impact your ranking in local searches.
You can effectively integrate review marketing into your local search strategy in a few ways: monitor your reviews from across the web, generate new reviews by encouraging customers to leave feedback and respond to all new reviews.
Review monitoring is all about tracking and analyzing customer feedback that is left across various review platforms. There are several places like Google, Yelp and social media platforms that search engines can pull info from to inform your local ranking. When you’re aware of these reviews you can gather info about what’s going right with your business, what needs to be fixed, and it gives you a chance to respond.
Review generation is simply asking for feedback once a customer has made a purchase or used your services. As we mentioned, the number of reviews will influence your local ranking. Positive reviews will influence it even more, so it’s especially helpful to ask for feedback from customers who seem satisfied with your business.
Responding to feedback is another important step to take in a combined review and local search strategy. When you respond to all types of reviews it shows Google and other search engines that your account is active and that you’re committed to improving your business, which in turn improves trust.
As you can see, customer reviews play a bigger role in local SEO than you probably realized. They can impact both your online visibility and overall reputation. Making sure you have plenty of positive reviews is important for building customer trust and helping you rank higher on the SERPs. But don’t count out negative reviews either. Remember, the diversity of reviews matters. The more authentic the feedback, the bigger the impact it will have on your local SEO performance.
If you integrate your review marketing strategy into your local strategy, you can save some time and potentially see your rankings improve even quicker. Focus on monitoring your reviews, generating new reviews and responding to reviews to help build trust with both your customers and search engines.
We know that this can be a lot of extra work for a small business owner who also needs to focus on the day-to-day operations of their business. That’s why RevLocal always has your back! We can help manage your local search strategy along with your online reputation and other aspects of your digital marketing as well. Contact us today for a free, no-obligation consultation.
Mideya Kinney, Junior Content Writer
Subscribe to our email list to get the latest digital marketing content delivered to your inbox each week!
