Have Google reviews is one of the objectives that everyone who has an online business should pursue. How to get them and why they positively influence your organic positioning.
Have Google reviews is one of the objectives that everyone who has an online business, no matter what niche it is, should pursue. Good comments from other users can be the decisive factor for a potential customer to buy from you. But not only that: it will also positively influence your organic positioning.
However, getting users to leave a rating is no easy task.
Two questions arise from this: How can you get reviews from Google, and do they really influence SEO ranking?
First of all, let's start by defining what a Google review is and the benefits it brings to your business so you can understand its influence on your business. SEO.
What are Google reviews?
Google reviews are the comments and ratings made by users of businesses with a Google My Business profile. (now Google Business Profile). These appear when a user does a local search and finds a company's profile, either through the browser or through Google Maps.
Having these reviews indicates that the business has activity and, depending on the user's experience, these are positive and negative. Unlike the reviews of other portals, those of Google My Business credibility, something that cannot be assured in other cases.
Benefits of Google reviews
There are still those who have not yet understood the impact that Google reviews have for their business, and so that this does not happen to you, we will tell you below what are the benefits of having these ratings and comments.
1. Increases the confidence of the target audience
Users almost always look for reviews to see how previous buyers have fared. So if they see that there are a good number of reviews and they are positive, will be more inclined to buy.
The opposite is also true: if there are no ratings and comments, or most of them are negative, the customer will leave. Maybe forever.
2. You will gain direct searches
If a user finds good Google reviews about your business, maybe next time they won't look for other options with general searches, but rather will put your company's name directly into the browser. This is very positive, since you will already have an audience interested almost exclusively in your proposal before that of your competitors.
3. Helps improve your reputation
If for any reason users have the wrong idea about your company, finding good reviews on Google can change the perception and encourage them to buy.
4. Improve the visibility of your business
To appear in the local search results you only have 3 spaces in the SERP, the Google Local Pack. Therefore, to have a good amount of comments and evaluations increases your chances of getting one of the spaces you have been awarded. Of course, this only applies to local organic searches, which are the ones you should care most about.
5. You increase loyalty
When a customer finds you on Google My Business and receives a good service from you, they will not only leave another review that encourages others to buy, but also from now on will buy youand may even continue to leave good opinions.
How do Google reviews influence positioning?
The web positioning of a content depends on many aspects, and one of them is the Google reviews. There are at least 2 reasons why this is so.
To begin with, remember that it is Google determines which results appear first, so you should be concerned about pleasing him And why does Google care about customer reviews when deciding where to rank a website?
This brings us to the second reason.
Near the 90% user reviews we verify the opinions of other customers before purchasingand what we find greatly influences whether we buy or not. Since it is so important to the user, then it is also important to Google.
In addition, if the public sees that there are good opinions and evaluations, they will be encouraged to enter the website, so that the click-through rate will improve (CTR), as well as the reputation you have in your niche.. And that reputation will keep more users coming back. It's a great virtuous circle for your SEO and the great power of Social Proof.
Google Reviews and Local SEO
The Local SEO are all strategies that allow you to position well for geolocated searches in the region where your physical business is located. In this way you can appear as a recommended result for users doing local searches.
Having a good amount of comments and high ratings will indicate to Google that your business is good. So good, that it drives customers to leave a record of it. Therefore, the search engine will put you far ahead of businesses that don't have such a reputation.
If, in addition, you are aware of and actively participate in the Google Questions and Answers that your visitors can throw at you, no visitor will be able to resist you.
If you create your Google My Business profile and anchor it to a location, you will appear the same in Maps results regardless of whether or not you have reviews, or if they are positive and negative. But having customer reviews on Google in your profile, increases the likelihood that the user will prefer youbecause it interprets those comments as a symbol of the quality of your service or product.
Verified Google reviews
All reviews on Google My Business My Reviews are verified by the search engine, so don't even try to trick the platform with fake reviews created by yourself. Even if the review is the opinion of a real customer, but made with your device, Google will interpret it as a hoax.
The best thing to do is to encourage your customers to interact with your My Business profile, so that they themselves are the ones who comment and make the evaluations. Remember that it is very easy for Google to verify whether the user's device has his or someone else's Gmail account.
How to get Google reviews from customers?
There are several strategies and tricks you can use to get customers to leave you reviews. Here are the ones that work best:
Ask customers and employees for them
Don't assume that the user will go to Google and leave you the comment, rather you have to explicitly ask them to do so. To do this, you must first make sure that they have had a good experience, so they will be more likely to do so.
Your own employees are an audience you can tap into, so ask them to leave comments and ratings on your company profile. Explain to them that this will help bring in more customers and that benefits the business, which can lead to a juicy bonus or pay raise.
Create a CTA on your website
This is the online modality of the previous tip, that is, it is the way to ask your users to leave you a review on Google, but from your website. This is perhaps the most effective way to get reviews, as businesses often have more online visits than physical ones.
Use e-mail marketing
If your users leave you their email and approve it, you can ask them to leave a review by sending them an eye-catching email. This option is ideal if you don't have time to talk to the customer, so they can read the request when they have more time, which increases the chances that they will review it.
Don't forget social networks
Create profiles in the social networks where your users and suppliers appear the most, once they start following you, you can ask them to leave you a comment by clicking on a link that will take them to your My Business profile.
Offers prizes
Although you can't invent the reviews, you can offer incentives for users to do them themselves. For example, you can run contests or offer discounts and other benefits for actively participating by leaving reviews.
Responds to users
Do not leave users talking alone, thank each comment and give explanations if the review is not good, especially if the comment is about a query. With this you show that you are attentive and other customers may be encouraged to participate in the conversation.
How to get a direct link to leave you reviews?
To do this, just follow these simple steps:
- Log in to Google My Business.
- Go to your company's home page.
- Click on the "Get more reviews" window.
- Copy the URL that will appear and paste it wherever you want.
You can also use the options that appear right there to share, which are WhatsApp, Facebook, Twitter and email.
Can customer reviews be removed from Google?
The straightforward answer is that you, as the profile owner, you cannot delete any of the reviews, whether positive or negative.. The only one that can do that is Google itself, since the idea is that the reviews are as authentic as possible, and free of manipulation.
What if the review is fake or malicious, perhaps left by competitors to affect us on purpose? Or if it's an attack by haters or trolls? Let's see what you can do.
How do you handle a bad customer review?
Just because you can't delete a bad review doesn't mean you have to live with it. Google allows you to report a comment and state certain reasons for the report. To do so, just click on the 3 dots that appear next to the comment you want to delete and click on the option "Mark as inappropriate".
After this, Google will analyze the review and choose the appropriate action. To encourage removal you can ask your acquaintances to make the same reportGoogle also considers the number of accusers that a review has in order to remove it.
On the other hand, if the review is negative you can try to respond to the user, perhaps by explaining or apologizing.You could even offer compensation for the inconvenience. With this you can make the user happy and make others who read it see that you have a sense of commitment to your audience.
Conclusion
Google reviews are the comments and ratings that your users leave on your Google My Business listing, and these can help you rank much better in local searches and attract organic traffic. Just like the rest of SEO strategies, this one also requires effort and a defined plan of actions.
Be very clear that Google reviews can also affect you negatively, so be sure to optimize your action plan and follow up on them constantly. This is the only way to ensure success by taking advantage of each review.
