Google Reviews are the Fuel of Successful Local Prominence

The Importance of Good Google Reviews

While there are numerous business review services providing details and ratings on the internet, perhaps the most influential due to its all-encompassing nature is Google Reviews. They are built right into the world's most utilized search engine, so they have an advantage against other review sites like Yelp or Trustpilot in that they are given priority on the search page as they are the first information a possible customer will see. Successful businesses understand that in order to beat out competition for a customer’s choice, adequate Google Reviews are a major contributing factor. Let’s take a look at where Google Reviews play an important role and how businesses can take advantage of this free data to improve operations.

Boost Local SEO

Google uses a complex set of algorithms to recommend businesses and a contributing factor in those algorithms is Google Reviews. While the actual weight Google Reviews contribute to the algorithm fluctuates regularly with algorithm updates, it is one of the major factors in establishing presence in local search, therefore they can be especially important for smaller brick and mortar style businesses.

Building Online Reputation

Google is the world's most popular website, so its reviews naturally have a major influence on customer decision making. Google Reviews allow a business to establish an online reputation for free and provide a lasting record of customer feedback over time.

Understand Business

While negative customer reviews absolutely can harm the business, they are also a means of obtaining the valuable information of customer opinion. Businesses can use negative Google Reviews to identify areas of the business that need to be adjusted in order to better satisfy customers and encourage better reviews.

Acquire Testimonials

Google Reviews don’t just have to stay on Google itself, they can be incorporated into your website or social media to highlight customer testimonials about the business. Google Reviews can confidently be displayed as they are a reputable source of information regarding the value of the business to customers.

Reviews Explicitly Searched For

We are presented with so many options in our modern world that it’s now common practice to explicitly search for reviews before even considering patronizing a business. If a business has inadequate or too few Google Reviews in a competitive location, potential customers are most likely not even going to be presented with the business as a viable option through search. 

Google Reviews provide potential customers with so much data to make informed decisions. They show how many people are taking the time to review, they provide an easy to understand one-to-five-star rating system, they allow customers to provide explicit details about the service which other potential customers can then utilize to obtain the information they are interested in, and they provide a timeline of service information so one can identify if the business has been consistent over time. Google reviews are a wealth of information that all businesses operating in the modern age should take care in cultivating well in order to establish an online presence.