Why Google Reviews are so Important to a Local Business

The majority of people will trust online reviews left for a business as much as they would the opinion of a friend!

This highlights just how important it is to get reviews for your business, on the world's largest search engine, and many people will view your online reviews when deciding on whether to purchase your products, hire your services or eat at your restaurant.

Google reviews will increase the credibility and trust customers have in your business without spending a penny! Other benefits of getting reviews include:

• Improving your local SEO and Google ranking
• Increasing website traffic
• Improving your interactions with customers and more.

 We have put together a definitive list of reasons why you should be asking your customers to leave you a Google review on your Business Profile.

If you don't have a Google Business Profile setup, then please get in touch as you are missing out on one of the best free marketing tools available.

We also offer advice on how to get more Google Reviews at the end of this post.

1. Google Business Reviews Increase Trust in your Business

So many people use Google's search engine to find the product or service they are looking for. From looking for restaurants and cafes to visit, to sourcing an amazing local website design company. Recent research states that 91% of people regularly or occasionally read online reviews to determine whether a local business is good or bad. Positive Google reviews are a critical part of developing trust and making a good first impression with potential customers.

2. Achieve Higher Organic Rankings for your Business

Google is in the business of providing users with the best results for a search query. Google Reviews are one of the things that they will look at when considering where to rank a business in the search engine listings. It will look at whether they have a high number of good or bad reviews and how responsive they are to those reviews.

A high volume of good reviews can push your Google Business Profile in to the first 3 results that appear near the top of the search results page based on location. If your website also ranks well organically this can mean that your business may be listed on the first page of Googletwice . Three times if you are also running a successful Adwords campaign.

3. Improve Clicks to your Website Through your Google Business Profile

If a prospective customer has found your business profile and you have a lot of positive reviews, it is natural that they will want to visit your website, directly from your profile, to find out more about you or the products and services you provide.

4. Interact with Customers and Improve your own Business

All reviews left for your business, whether positive or negative, give you the opportunity to learn about your business and your customer experiences. This can help you make the necessary improvements or identify a problem that you didn't even know existed. The interaction alone can also be a benefit as it shows customers, and Google, that you are actively responding to reviews, this in turn can increase your ranking positions.

5. Increase Direct Enquiries from your Profile

Every Google Business Profile has a link for customers to call a business directly, and with the increase in customers performing their search query directly from a mobile phone, many customers are now contacting businesses directly from the Google Business Profile call us button. In fact, some businesses will find that they are receiving more calls directly from their Google Profile than their own website.

It is important to make sure your profile is optimised, regularly updated and packed with great reviews! If you need any help with this, please contact a member of our team today!

6. You Could be Losing out to your Competitors

A large percentage of prospective customers will not even contact you if you don’t have at least 4 out of 5 stars (some want to see a minimum of 4.5 out of 5!).

There are two important factors to consider when it comes to your Google Reviews.

Firstly, if you have negative reviews, you aren't going to get contacted as much as you would if you had positive reviews. Go figure!

Secondly, if you have just a few reviews but your competitors have lots! It is likely that your competitors will be getting the call or click through to their website.

HOW TO GET MORE GOOGLE REVIEWS

Now you understand the impact that Google Reviews can have on your business, we thought we would offer some advice to help you get more reviews for your business.

Ask Your Customers for a Review

The easiest way to get a new review is to just ask your customers directly. I am sure that most of them will be happy to help after they have received a fantastic product or service from you. A direct link for customers to review your business can be found on your Google business profile listing.

Send a Follow Up Email

Once a customer has completed the purchase process, or you have completed a job with them, why not send them a thank you email that includes a polite request for them to leave you a review on Google. You can add the direct link to your email to make it as easy as possible for your customers.

It may not be a priority for your customer to leave you a review so don't be afraid to follow up with them after a few weeks if they haven't left the review.

Add a 'Call to Action' to your Website

Another way to get more Google Reviews is to add a 'Review' button or 'Google Custom Review Link' to your website (ask your website provider, or ask us , if you need help with this) - this will allow and prompt users to submit a review to your Google Business Profile directly from your website.

Use Social Media

You can use your social media platforms like Facebook and Instagram to showcase reviews you have received and ask your connections if they mind leaving you a review. Perhaps explain the benefits and offer a review of their business in return (as long as you can confidentially recommend it/them of course).

We hope you found this information useful and if you would like to learn more or if you require any help than please get in touch with us to speak to a member of our team.