Google Reviews: Everything You Need to Know
March 21, 2018 Comments
84% of people trust online reviews as much as recommendations from friends.
It’s clear, therefore, that online reviews can have a positive impact on your business. One of the best ways to generate reviews for your business is with the help of Google Reviews.
In this post, we’re going to take a look at how you can use Google Reviews, to make it easier for people to leave reviews for your business. We’ll look at how the platform works and what you can do to avoid some of the common pitfalls.
When you’re done reading, you’ll know exactly what you need to do if you want to grow your business, with the help of Google Reviews.
Let’s begin!
Odds are you have come across Google reviews while you have browsed the internet in the past. You’ll typically see them when you search Google for a particular kind of service or business. These reviews are especially prominent when you are performing a local search.
For instance, say you’re searching for ‘painters in Oregon.’ When you do this, Google is going to display a list of known painters in Oregon within the search listings.
Alongside each of the painters (and their contact information), there will also be a “star rating.” Using this, people can gain an insight into how good a certain painter is. Getting a lot of good reviews can also have a positive impact on your positioning, within the search listings.
As you might’ve guessed, if you have a lot positive “star ratings” for your business, the likelihood of potential customers reaching out increases.
If you provide a good service, they’ll leave a positive review. Others will see this review and then be more inclined to reach out. Over time, this positive feedback loop will help separate your business from the competition.
For this to happen, however, you have to first make it possible for people to leave reviews for your business on Google – which is what we’re going to look at next.
To make it easy for people to leave Google Reviews, you need to set up a Google My Business listing.
Apart from giving people a place to leave reviews, setting up this listing has a few other benefits. More specifically, you are now able to control how information related to your business appears in the search listings, and on Google Maps.
By setting up a listing, it also makes it much more likely that your business will be visible when people are performing a local search. You’ll also be able to make sure people have access to the correct contact information.
When setting up your listing, you will also need to verify your business. The verification process is important, as this too can help improve the visibility of your business in search listings.
Once you have created your business listing, you then need to think about how you can get people to leave reviews. Generally, if you want to get more reviews, you can just ask people to leave a review for you.
What you need to be careful about, though, is asking people to provide a review in exchange for some kind of incentive. Doing so, can have a negative impact on your profile. Make sure you stay up to date on the guidelines provided by Google if you want to avoid damaging your profile.
The easiest way to get people to leave reviews, is by asking them to do so within the period that follows a purchase.
If you are in a service business, you can ask someone to leave a review right after you are finished working with them. For example, a painter could leave a card with the client, that tells them where they can leave a review and how.
If you are in the product business, it’s better to ask people for a review a couple of days after they’ve received the goods. This will give them the chance to get acquainted with whatever it is that they’ve bought.
No matter what you do, it won’t be long until someone leaves a negative review. This can be a big headache and when this happens you might be Googling – how to remove Google reviews?
Luckily, you can flag a review so that it can be reviewed and moderated by the team over at Google. However, this can be a slow process and you might not always get the results you want.
In some cases, Google will get back to you and ask for more information. If they do, make sure you lay out a very clear case. Detail exactly what has happened and why the review in question should be treated as suspect.
In case you get no response from Google, it can always be a good idea to address a negative review by replying to it. This helps to show future customers that you take feedback seriously. Be careful about getting into an unproductive back and forth, though.
Though it sounds obvious, the best way to avoid negative reviews is by providing a great service. No matter what you do, people will kick up a fuss either way. You can implement damage control, though, by making sure your business offering is top-notch.
Your ability to generate positive reviews for your business can have a big impact on your bottom line.
In this post, we’ve taken a look at how you can use Google Reviews to collect reviews for your business. We’ve also taken a look at some of the things you can do if you get a negative review.
Generating positive reviews for your business can be tricky. But if you focus on providing your customers with a great service, you’ll find that a lot of the other stuff, tends to take care of itself.
Best of luck!
Want to learn more about marketing? Check out our blog to see what else you can find out about!
Search Engine Marketing Columnist
Read by small business people, our newsletter delivers a digest of articles from the top search engine marketing experts. You will learn about:
Our newsletter is the perfect way to stay up to date with all of the latest trends, events and techniques in using search engines to grow your business and make more sales. Subscribe here. Your email address will NOT be given to third parties.
FreeFind Site Search Engine – FreeFind adds a “search this site” feature to your website, making your site easier to use. FreeFind also gives you reports showing what your visitors are searching for, enabling you to improve your site. FreeFind’s advanced site search engine and automatic site map technology can be added to your website for free.
Buy UPC Codes
Get your products listed online!
Search marketing information for small business owners.
Fetching the best small business news.
A friendly place to share small business ideas and knowledge.
Small business support through education, resources and community
The directory of the best small business sites and tools.
Copyright © 1998 – 2018 Search Engine Guide All Rights Reserved. Privacy
Research & References of Google Reviews: Everything You Need to Know|A&C Accounting And Tax Services
Source
0 Comments