Boost Local Search Rankings with Local Landing Pages
Google Reviews Have a Great Impact on Your Business
Google Reviews can really boost (or destroy) your ranking and your SEO campaigns. Of course, there are lots of factors involved when it comes to ranking, but your customer reviews can really help to establish trustworthiness.
If you own a small business, then your reviews and the way you manage them can make or break you.
How do reviews matter?
You might not automatically associate your reviews with your SEO and visibility, but when it comes to local and smaller businesses, they’re as important as content and links. Even if people don’t always read them.
In 2017, Google My Business reviews that included a search word were actually the second most influential factor in how a local business performed among its cohort and rivals. The only factor more important was the total amount of organic rankings – if the site already has good SEO and rankings it’ll perform well.
How do I get more Google Reviews?
Simply ask for them! A quick email to a happy customer asking for their review, if they were happy with that you provided. If you own a physical business, place a sign in a high-traffic area such as a waiting room or reception area with the Google Reviews logo and guidance on how to leave a review. You can even fully automate the process of gathering reviews – ask me how.
What if you’re not a “local” business?
If you don’t have a physical location, say, if you’re an e-commerce enterprise, then you still need your reviews for successful SEO. Businesses that add customer reviews to their content can see page views increase by 35-50%!
Why do reviews matter for SEO and businesses?
It’s actually quite straightforward.
Google “trusts” your customers more than you
Don’t take this personally! Google relies on external signals to decide if your site is trustworthy and reliable or not. If customers feedback to say they had a good experience, then this is a more objective endorsement. Even if someone complains online it’s good because it is a good sign that your business actually exists.
Google reads everything
Google does nothing else, really. The more content about your business it has to chew on, the better. As long as there are loads of great keywords and frequent fresh content, Google gets to know you and our business better. Reviews – good, bad and indifferent – can actually be free content!
Good reviews are even better!
People trust reviews, which is why having good ones is vital. Your SEO ranking is also affected and determined by how many people click through to your business from their page results. If lots of people come through to you and stay, then Google will think you’re doing a good job and will reward you with a better ranking.
Having a load of great reviews means more clickthroughs than your rivals, so aim for the best.
Can you manipulate your reviews for better ranking?
If you’re garnering four and five-star reviews already then you don’t need to do much. You can always do something, though, especially when it comes to showing off your reviews and stimulating new ones.
It’s a good idea, though, to hire an SEO agency that knows what to do with reviews so that you get the best out of them.
About the author
PAUL SMITH - For over 20 years I have worked with businesses, enterprises and brands in Australia, NZ, UK and US to drive digital marketing growth using organic and paid traffic strategies. No fluff or BS, just straight-forward return on investment.
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