Google Business Review is the most important asset that your company can own. Yes! It is very important for a business to get Google reviews. Additionally, giving a boost to your business’s visibility. There is a number of advantages of Google Review, which can bring to your business.
Let’s see how to collect, manage and publish your online business reviews. Have a look at this Infographics:
Your business should collect reviews because it develops trust among future customers that you are trustworthy before they reach your website. Collecting reviews should only be part of your strategy though because unless you post your business reviews on Google, nobody is going to see them.
Therefore, you will need a properly designed strategy for collecting business reviews and getting them shown across Google and the web (including your own website, of course).
Why Are Google Reviews Important?
1. The more Google reviews the more trust and credibility:
You might find it strange after reading the subtitle, but the majority of people (approx. 88%) trust online reviews as much as recommendations from family and friends as long as they meet certain criteria such as authenticity, is in the right industry, or you have multiple reviews on the same site.
Just because Google is one of the most used and most trusted search engines, people are willing to give trust and credibility to Google reviews more than reviews from less trustworthy sources. This means understanding how to get Google reviews is more important than ever.
Read Also: Reviews Can Help Small-Scale Business to Grow
2. Google review plays a significant role in purchase decision as an influencer:
Google review can be just what a consumer needs to propel them from consideration to purchase. Many times during reading the reviews, they are looking for confirmation that they are making the right choice. And trust me, positive reviews can do that, but the opposite can also be true.
In case your business has a low star rating or a lot of recent negative Google reviews, customers could be propelled to the competition. Knowing how to get Google reviews and how to understand what your reviews mean is a big deal. Recently marketing experts did a survey, which says that 13 % of consumers would not even consider purchasing from a business with a 1-2 star rating.
3. Google review improves local search ranking:
One of the biggest advantages that online reviews bring to your business is a boost in local search ranking. This is vital because if customers cannot even find your business when they are looking, how can they possibly make a purchase from you.
Knowing how to get Google reviews, helps with rankings and revenue. The impact of reviews on your Google Maps listing helps your business stand out from the crowd. More importantly, it means your business is highlighting the fact that you provide a great service, great product and customers love you.
Types of Google Business Reviews
Reviews can appear at various places over the web, including your own website and third-party sites such as Facebook, TripAdvisor, Amazon, Twitter, Yelp, Check a trade, and many more. However, they are the stickup that binds all these sources of reviews together in Google.
Once a review is posted across the web, Google can aggregate them by reading their content from those sites, and it presents reviews in the form of organic or paid stars in Google search results.
More Knowledge of Online Reviews Read: The Power Of Online Reviews
These Google Business reviews are then displayed to users who enter relevant search queries. For instance, if you were to type a company name into Google, you will likely be presented with a list of results in the SERPS including, among others, the company’s official website, its Facebook page, perhaps any listing it has on Amazon, and (if it in the travel) a listing on TripAdvisor.
You might observe in these third-party search result, the presence of stars below the main heading. Google using Review data collected from those sites creates these stars. It is a simple way to display the overall star rating from various sources and shows the trustworthiness of the company before the user visits the website.
1. Rich Snippets Listing
In addition to the standard SERP listing, you may also look for a large box on the right-hand side of the screen, which appears normally when you search for a company by name. This box contains various data related to the company, which is collected by Google reading homepage and third-party sources.
It includes photos, opening hours, and business location (taken from Google Business Profile) and it includes reviews and star ratings. These will normally appear for companies with a Google Business Profile account, set as a local business.
The second rich snippet-powered listing is a text result with a star rating on it. These may appear if one of the pages you have applied for Review Rich Snippet ranks high enough to be on the first page.
Review Rich Snippet is not possible on a company’s homepage, nor can you add them to every page. They normally should be used for pages related to the company itself, and not on any specific product page. Review Snippets are essentially Company Reviews, and they do not apply to product Reviews.
2. Google Local Listing
In the past, businesses have used phone books to put themselves on the map so the customers can easily find them in the fat book. But the tables have changed now online (Internet) has become our part and parcel of our needs such as food travel to health, fitness, and even pet products, it’s not too often you use that big fat book.
With the nature of Google’s business being search and the reality that more than 90% of online journeys start with the use of a search engine, it should come as no surprise that the various search engines provide their own local business listings.
The goal of Google local business listing is to make the business more accurate and searchable and can be categorized under the local search marketing campaign that aims at creating and maintaining the listicles of the several local area businesses running in the nearby localities.
The Google listing keeps updated information on the local business, their address, contact number, location on the local Google map photos, etc.
To have the full insight of Google Listing visit this article: How to Gain More Customers Using Google Local Listing.
3. Google Ads Listing
This one is massive. Ads results are displayed on the topper position on the search queries. Stars for Ads, which are displayed under the heading, are called Google Seller Ratings, and exclusively Google from its official licensed third-party Review Partners generates these.
Reviews collected by official Google Partner on behalf of companies are verified and sent to Google in the form of a Review Feed. These verified reviews are then used by Google to inform its Ads Seller rating show under text ads.
How to Collect More Google Reviews?
We recognize that Google reviews are important for local SEO. However, all of us need a reminder that Google reviews are not losing any importance and are a major contributor to attracting new business.
There is no magic formula here. I wish there was, honestly. But, there are three steps you can take to get more:
1. Ask For Google Reviews
You cannot get around asking your customers to review you. It is simple and that hard. You must ask someone to leave a review if you are going to get a review. You can ask for a review in a multitude of ways:
- when the job is done
- the new customer you interacted with
- through an email
- when you send a copy of the bill
- when you conclude a conversation on the phone
Grab each opportunity you can ask customers to review you. Certainly, do not be annoying and pressure someone. No one likes it. Ask in a proper manner and at an appropriate time and you will get reviews.
2. Showing How to Leave a Review
(Make Easy Google Reviews for your clients)
Refer to the video above and show your customer how to leave a review. Some will know how to do it, no problem. The other will have no idea how to leave a review on Google. See, the process goes like this:
- Sign in to Google account (Gmail)
- Search for your business on Google
- Click to leave a review
- Select star rating, write and submit.
Make everything simple for the customer so they will find it easy and quick to drop a review on Google.
3. Can I link a customer to review me on Google Business Profile?
Certainly, you can. Follow these easy steps to find the web link to your review section:
- Search for your business on Google.
- Click the review section within your GBP information.
- Click on “Write a Review”
- Now select the full link at the top and copy it. This link you can provide to people.
This is a gateway to getting more Google reviews. The link immediately sends someone to the review section of your GBP otherwise, they could get lost along the way and we certainly do not want that.
4. Reminding them to Leave a Review
It is a fact, we all get busy. We all forget many things. When you ask someone to leave a review, remember that they probably have many other things on their to-do list for the day. It may take them a week to drop the review. They may forget altogether. Make sure you make a follow-up with them within two weeks and remind them about leaving a review. Trust me, it won’t annoy them. We all need a nudge from time to time.
If you have not claimed your business yet. Visit this article to learn the step-by-step solution to claim your business. Moreover, how this could be beneficial to rank your business on the local map.
A Quick and very important tip before ending this article:
Google ranking factors:
Google Maps ranking is based on Proximity and industry categories. Furthermore, Google is including new factors in the calculation of ranking. This is an advantage for the owners with small businesses because they always face huge competition from large corporations and companies. There are many techniques, you can apply to increase your business rank and promote your business on Google Maps.
- Verify your business page information.
- Get Google reviews.
- Categorize your business.
- Insert a Google map on your website.
- Optimize the listing description.
- Use a local telephone number.
- Add a photo to the listing.
Therefore, we have covered a lot in this post on how to get more Google reviews. Make sure you consider all the points, which we have mentioned in the article. It has many advantages, you can get enough business once you get positive reviews, and a star rating would be the cherry on the cake. Through this, you can get an enormous opportunity in your business.
If you have any questions, you can contact us below.
Until then, ask for reviews!
