In a world where almost everything can be purchased online, the desire to be, relevant, credible and be patronized have increased likewise, thereby; increasing the level of testimonials needed to earn credibility. It was said according to research that 9 out of 10 Americans check for online reviews about a business or product before they make purchase decision.
Even Search engines care about reviews because online reviews recently led to 9.8% of Google’s search ranking factors, asides voice search and others. Therefore, if you are to secure a spot on the page 1 of search results, here are some ways reviews can help you:
- Reviews are Organic User-generated Content (UGC)
The fact that reviews come at different intervals, it makes search engines to fall in love with them. Without undermining the power of consistent blogging about your product or service, it is rather considered biased and sales-oriented, which in turn, affects the relevance of your message. Unlike customer reviews, that come in fresh, bring attention to your business. These reviews reveal to search engines that your web page is active, consistent and gives customers assurance that you are the right choice.
- Reviews are filled with Relevant Keywords
It becomes a Customer-Driven Marketing strategy when your customers review your product or service with the same set of keywords that you have initially optimized with your SEO set up. If you were to put up SEO contents for your business, you definitely look out for keywords which you would eventually incorporate into your content to optimize them for visibility. Customers too are likely to use these keywords and phrases when writing reviews, which means you are getting more SEO work done without a dime.
- Reviews spice up your Google My Business Listing
Most importantly for businesses, Google My Business listings are relevant to drive more people to their offices through Google Maps. The Google My Business Listings work in such a way that it combines the ratings of businesses through reviews with other things to bring up businesses during a search. So, when a customer makes a search for businesses offering a particular service, Google My Business Listings gives prominence to businesses with an average 3.5-star rating to come up first on search results with their contact details. It brings you faster to your customers and makes you a choice to prospects.
- Reviews make your Google Ads Sparkle
Due to throng of services and products that come up on search, Google works with third-party websites and its review platform to fetch relevant information about the quality of services that your business offers – filled with the overall sentiment of your past customers and how well you have interacted with them, to decide your search rank. This is what works with Google AdWords campaigns, if you have great reviews, Google rewards you greatly. So, to attain such feat with Google AdWords, you have to have an average of 3.5-star reviews, combined with over 150 unique reviews in the past 12 months.
- High Star Ratings = High Search Ranking
To have more or high visibility during searches, search engine algorithms work with the quality of services businesses offer or the products they sell. This is what search engine uses to bring result. It means, if you have an average of 4.5-star reviews from your customers, you are certainly going to feature at the top in ranking.
- Social Media Engagement
Another way to enhance your visibility through reviews, is by sharing your best reviews on social media platforms. Positive customer reviews bring ripple effect and they are the most powerful advertisement. Sharing on Social media will not only grow your following and generate more leads; social media also serves as important SEO signal for search engines. Meaning, all the mentions your brand gets on social media from shared reviews would generate lots of tractions for you. You can also use Ratesight to do this automatically.
Customer reviews play an important role in your Google ranking. The more positive your company’s ratings are, the higher its ranking in search results. If to get your customers to write you excellent reviews is appearing difficult, sign up for a free trial of Ratesight to see how easy it can be to get new reviews and promote them on the web to attract new customers.
