How Reviews Influence Local SEO Rankings and How to Get More of Them
Every business owner tries their best to stay relevant and beat their competitors be it in the online presence or offline presence. But one factor that is very powerful yet underestimated is Customer reviews. The authentic reviews not only adds up to your credibility and affects the purchasing behaviour of customers but also affect your Local SEO rankings. All the search engines, especially Google, tries to show up results that are genuine and trustworthy. And to do so they take into consideration different factors. These factors are relevant keywords, backlinks, mobile optimization and most important authentic user generated reviews. So therefore reviews should not be taken lightly, if you want to rank higher in the search results.
How Reviews Influence Local SEO Rankings ?
✓ Google’s Search Algorithm
First understand that Google uses three parameters when it comes to Local SEO rankings. One is relevance. Next is distance and last one is Prominence. Through relevance it considers how well your local listing matches to the person’s search. Next in line is distance. It shows how close or far each search result is from the place that someone types in during a search. Last one is prominence. It means how popular the business is. Including both online as well as in store.
Now considering all three parameters, reviews play a significant role somewhere in each of it especially in prominence. Moreover when you check Google’s documentation, in it also you’ll find that it provides good weightage to the reviews. Therefore a high volume of positive reviews can increase your chances of higher local SEO rankings.
✓ Review Quality, Quantity And Recency
Search engines don’t take into consideration only the reviews. But their quantity, quality and how recent the reviews are, is also taken into consideration.
So make sure for higher local SEO rankings, you take up reviews that are well-written and come from an authentic user. Next you need to ensure good quantity as well. Ask each client to put up a review as to how they like your service or product. To encourage reviews, you can provide them with some benefits like an extra discount. Lastly, recency of teh review also matters. As it shows the search engine that you are actively working.
✓ Keyword-Rich User Review
Suppose you own a cake shop. A customer visited your shop and had a cheesecake. Thereafter he/she leaves a review saying “I had the best cheesecake in Austin today at ABC cake shop”. Now unknowingly the user helped you optimize the listing for those keywords. This type of natural keyword inclusion is seen as more authentic by the search engine than keyword stuffing in the business description. It can enhance relevance in specific search queries also. So overall this is how reviews can transform your Local SEO rankings.
How To Get More Reviews?
Now as you know the relevance of reviews, it’s time to check out various strategies that you can take into consideration for increasing the reviews pertaining to your business.
✓ Simplify The Review Process For Your Customers
These days everyone is in a rush. Nobody likes to take up on a hassle that leads to unnecessary delays. Therefore the first task is to ease up the way your clients can leave the review. For this:
- You can send review links. Through email, SMS, or on whatsapp.
- Next use QR code and place it on your bill receipts, put them up on exit gate as well as on your business cards. This way the client can just scan the code and leave their valuable feedback.
- Sometimes, users like to leave a review but they need guidance on it. So make sure you assign this task to at least one of your team members.
✓ Time Your Request For Review Strategically
Timing plays a crucial role. Suppose you run a restaurant. You cannot ask the customer to leave feedback while they are having their meal or when they are in the middle of conversation. You need to strategies your move. After they complete their meal, interact with them about the quality of food, ambience and how authentic the taste was. Just after that ask them politely to leave feedback. If you can then also try to add up a little extra discount, as this strengthens the relationship.
✓ Respond To Reviews- Each One Of Them
When you revert back to the customer reviews, it means you value their feedback. No matter whether the review is in your favor or is negative, reply to each one of it. This simple step can encourage more people to leave reviews and also helps build up trust of other clients.
Moreover Google also takes this into consideration, when you value customer feedback. So overall it influences your Local SEO rankings. Remember one thing: do not turn offensive or defensive while reverting back to the negative review. Rather apologize if necessary, tell them about the resolution that you can provide and acknowledge their review.
✓ Train Your Team To Promote Reviews
Everyone who interacts with customers from front-desk staff to delivery partners should understand the importance of reviews. So guide your team about the same. Ask them to promote reviews strategically.
✓ Focus On Service And Product Quality First
It’s very obvious if your product or service stands out from others, the client will himself leave a review. Moreover he/she will recommend you to others as well. Whereas if your product or service is not upto the mark, then no matter how much effort you make into asking for customer reviews, it won’t serve the purpose.
Points To Remember
To avoid any penalties and removal from platforms, do not pay for reviews or write them on your own using various ID’s. Further review gating is also against Google’s policy. This involves filtering customers before asking for a review. For eg: only sending review links to those who had a “good” experience. Lastly, do not spam customers with continuous links for reviews. This comes across as unprofessional and will definitely be ineffective.