The answer is yes, Google Reviews do help improve local search rankings and overall SEO efforts. Many factors affect SEO and search rankings, but online customer reviews are a strong signal to various search engines that your website has authority and is trustworthy.
The way that customers find and choose businesses has changed drastically in recent years. In the past, consumers would rely mainly on a business’s advertising, previous experience, or recommendations from family and friends. With more and more people turning to local search Google is even starting to automatically filter out local businesses with less than a 4-star rating.
While advertising and personal recommendations still play a role in the buyer’s journey, most consumers now typically turn to search engines and online reviews when making purchase decisions. They do this for two reasons.
First, Google makes it ridiculously easy to locate businesses in your area. And second, and probably most important, online reviews help you make more informed purchase decisions than the opinion of one or two friends would.
Since Google’s Map Pack and Google reviews go together, businesses often wonder how much influence your reviews have on where you rank and your SEO efforts. The simple answer is a lot. According to a recent study, online reviews are now the fifth most important factor in where a business ranks online. But the important thing to look at is where online reviews are trending. The influence online reviews carry in local search ranking increased by more than 20% year-over-year.
Why Google Reviews Help With SEO and Rankings
Several factors contribute to where a business ranks in Google local search. Some of these factors your business can control and some you can’t. Businesses that rank high often have taken the time to optimize their Google Business Profile listing (formerly Google My Business), which gives them a leg up on the competition and increases their visibility to online searchers that are actively searching and looking to make a purchase.
Below are the main factors that Google looks at when determining local search ranking.
1. Relevance
Google’s primary goal is to serve up the most relevant content or the most relevant business based on the consumers’ search terms. To ensure that your business is served up during relevant searches, you will want to make sure all your listings are up-to-date and the information and descriptions include all the keywords that are trending in your industry.
2. Distance
Where someone searches from plays a huge role in local search and is something that you can’t control. Google wants to serve up the most relevant businesses that are near the person conducting the research, whether via search or on Google Maps.
3. Prominence
This final factor is where it can get a little confusing. What Google means by ‘prominence’ is how well-known a business is, particularly in the offline world. Well-known store brands are more likely to rank higher than lesser-known brands. Prominence is also determined by how much Google knows about a business from around the web, including links, articles, directory listings, and online reviews.
When evaluating online reviews, Google looks at the recency, frequency, quality, and quantity of your online reviews. What that means is businesses that have a high star rating with many reviews that are coming in regularly will get more consideration than businesses that don’t.
In addition to helping with prominence, Google Reviews help with your SEO and ranking efforts in the following ways. They:
4. Build Trust
Google recognizes that writing a positive review shows trust in your brand. When you have many positive reviews, Google trusts those customers’ combined opinions, boosting your business’ visibility.
5. Drive More Traffic
Most of your customers will only use your product or service if you have at least a certain star rating, typically about 4 stars. So, the higher your rating and the more reviews you have, the more traffic you are likely to have. You may see an increase in digital traffic to your ecommerce website and physical traffic to your store.
6. Improve Click-Through Rates
A direct result of driving more traffic to your website is that you will have higher click-through rates. This can reduce your cost per conversion and further indicate to Google that you are a popular, reputable website.
7. Increase Online Visibility and Reputation
As you gain more positive reviews, your online reputation improves, making it easier to acquire customers. You will also improve your visibility as the higher number of reviews boosts your search engine results.
Why Google Reviews Are So Important
Google reviews do so much more than just help you improve your local search ranking. They have an impact on the entire customer journey.
1. Awareness
We’ve already talked about how online reviews help businesses get found by making you more visible to online searchers. But it’s not just about getting noticed and staying top of mind, online reviews are where consumers go to learn about new products and businesses.
2. Consideration
Once online searchers find your business, your star rating and number of reviews will have a huge impact on whether or not the individual will click on your listing to learn more. Businesses with higher ratings are more attractive. It’s just that simple. According to research conducted by Podium, the minimum star rating of a business the average consumer would even consider is 3.3. And I would argue that you probably want to get your rating at least 4.5 if you want to stand out.
3. Purchase
Next, online reviews play a huge role in whether or not a consumer ultimately chooses your business. 93% of consumers say online reviews have an impact on their purchase decision and 82% of consumers said that the content of a review has convinced them to make a purchase.
4. Post-Purchase
Finally, after the purchase is made and a review is left, your reviews give your business valuable insights into its operation. Smart businesses are using the content of reviews to help them make decisions to improve customer experience in real-time.
Does Responding to Google Reviews Help With SEO and Rankings?
Yes, responding to Google Reviews helps improve your local ranking and SEO. It’s also a good idea to respond to other reviews on sites in addition to Google, as it influences how effective your digital marketing efforts are thanks to the Google algorithm. That includes local reviews on social media.
To start, when you respond to a review, it counts as new content. Google prioritizes websites that have new content, especially from a reputable sources (like Google). It also boosts engagement, which is a key ranking factor.
Additionally, when you respond to business reviews, you show potential customers that you care about their experience with your company. That can improve your reputation management, help you attract new customers, and help with customer retention.
That said, responding to reviews is just one of many factors that influence your SEO ranking.
Negative reviews can be especially concerning for business owners. They can influence your search engine rankings, but you can minimize that impact by properly dealing with the issues raised in bad reviews. You can also encourage satisfied customers to leave more positive reviews.
How to Improve Your SEO and Rankings With Google Reviews: 5 Tips
Because Google reviews help local search ranking so much, businesses should emphasize building a solid review presence through their Google listing. To help you get started, we’ve outlined five steps that have proven to help improve the quality and quantity of your Google reviews and therefore should be part of your SEO strategy.
1. Determine the right timing of the Google review invitation.
When your customer receives the invitation matters. The longer you wait to send an invite the less likely the customer is to leave a review. That doesn’t mean they didn’t have a good experience, but that experience is no longer top of mind. We suggest inviting your customers to leave a review as close to the transaction as possible. Businesses that see the most success are sending invites while the customer is still on site.
2. Set expectations for reviews.
Once you know at which point during the sales process you want to send the review invitation, it’s important to start setting expectations with the customer for that invitation. Make sure to let your customers know:
- When they will receive the invite
- How they will receive the invite (text, email, etc.)
- Why they need to respond
3. Eliminate barriers to leaving a Google review.
Research has shown that more than 70% of consumers would be willing to leave a review if asked. If that is the case, then why does it seem so hard to get customers to follow up on invitations? The reason likely is the process you had in place makes it too hard to leave a review. Businesses that have the highest response rates are making it as easy as possible for their customers to leave a review, maximizing their SEO efforts.
4. Send Google review invites via text.
One of the ways you can eliminate barriers is by sending review invitations via text message. Text messages are fast becoming the preferred communication channel for many consumers and have an astonishing open rate of 99% with 90% of messages being read within three minutes.
5. Use an online review management tool.
Finally, the best way to increase Google reviews to help your local search ranking is by implementing an online review management tool to streamline the process. Podium’s platform can enable your business to collect 100s of new reviews on Google, which will help increase visibility, influence purchase decisions, and obtain valuable insights to drive your business forward.
How to Get More Google Reviews?
The following steps will get you on your way to start getting more Google Reviews, boosting your ranking, and local SEO efforts in the process.
1. Learn to Ask for Reviews
Start asking your customers for Google Reviews. You can ask them in person after they purchase at your store. Even better, use Podium to automatically send them email or text links where they can submit reviews.
2. Use a Google Review Link Generator
Podium’s free Google Review link generator makes it incredibly easy to send review requests, boosting your response rate.
3. Follow-Up with Your Customers
After your customers buy your products or services, follow up to confirm they are satisfied with their purchase. Take customer feedback to heart, whether it comes via reviews, surveys, email, text, or the phone.
4. Offer Rewards
Consider offering rewards if customers leave reviews, such as a discount on their next purchase. The bottom line is that more reviews lead to more business for you, and Podium streamlines the process of getting reviews.
Google Reviews SEO FAQs
Q: How many Google Reviews do I need to increase my ratings?
A: You should aim to have at least 20 reviews for your business. Keep in mind that you need about ten 5-star reviews to make up for a single 1-star review.
Q: Do Google Reviews help?
A: Yes. Google Reviews impact your rankings, although they don’t directly boost your search engine rankings. They are one of several ranking factors that work together to do so.
Q: What violates Google’s review policy?
A: Offensive and fake reviews violate Google’s policy, so make sure to watch out for these.
