Often dismissed as a platform for disgruntled customers to air their grievances, the reality is that Google reviews do matter – much more than you might think.
Did you know that roughly 60% of consumers check Google reviews online before they visit a business? As they’re looking for social proof and reassurance that the brand or business in question is right for them, it makes sense that their first port of call to verify the experiences of others is Google Reviews.
Despite the potentially lucrative benefits, many business owners make the mistake of failing to make the most of a happy customer’s experience through proactively requesting a review. What’s worse is the fact that there’s just as many who completely ignore any negative feedback as well.
For those who still aren’t swayed by the publicity power of Google reviews, what if we told you that there’s also a technical aspect linked to SEO as well? Either way, there’s no denying that Google reviews matter.
Understanding The Importance Of Google Reviews
Google reviews are tied directly to Google Search, Google Maps, and your Google Business listing. Google reviews make it easy for people to leave feedback, add pictures, and tell others about their experiences.
In addition, the design and layout that Google uses for such feedback are very easily viewed by anyone having a casual browse, meaning that even one sentence has the capacity to make or break a user’s decision to click through to your website, or instead choose to browse elsewhere.
Like it or not, word of mouth is one of the most powerful marketing tools out there, and the past experiences of others on a platform like Google reviews can’t be fudged, or removed. It’s for this reason that they are considered to be one of the most authentic forms of peer based feedback, as it’s incredibly hard for a business to delete or amend any negative comments from the general public.
Thankfully, there are many ways in which brands and businesses can actively chase Google reviews. For some, it’s a handwritten note left in a ‘click and collect’ package. For others, it’s manually sending an email to request one or instead opting to use a software tool such as Podium to help automate the process.
Aside from having the potential to draw in more visitors to your website, the quality, quantity and engagement levels linked to your brand’s Google reviews could also impact your ability to get seen online through SEO.
The team behind Google have spent years perfecting their craft, specifically when it comes to things like matching its search results to what users are really looking for. The search engine giant no longer just shows links based on keywords, but also takes user intent into consideration when deciding which site, listing, or webpage to display first.
As an example, try searching for a term like “best car dealership” on your phone or laptop. Google knows that you’re not necessarily on the hunt for the best car dealership in the world, but simply on the hunt for options within your vicinity that matches your search intent. In turn, Google delivers search results for local business listings based on data that it’s already collected linked to a user’s search history, as well as their location.
For businesses trying to harness this new ranking factor, actively pursuing and engaging with Google reviews is a must. Your reviewers will inevitably mention specific keywords that you may or may not already be trying to capitalise on, and Google now rewards brands that are active online, as it helps them to deliver the most accurate search engine results. While Google reviews have always mattered, recent changes to the algorithm have also elevated their importance from a technical standpoint as well.
Needless to say, producing digital content for your brand’s Google Business listing that’s both user friendly and meets SEO standards is hard. Even the most gifted of in-house marketers usually identify as either technical wizards, skilled visual gurus or natural born writers, but rarely ever is it all three. If your brand is struggling to produce top notch content that Google deems worthy enough to showcase, it might be time to consider outsourcing.
The Key To Good Marketing Is Great Content
Producing quality, consistent and on brand content takes time, effort, experience and resources, but avoiding these responsibilities altogether may actually be doing your brand a disservice. Thankfully, investing in a solid content marketing strategy has actually never been easier.
Here at Content Hive, producing top quality digital content is exactly what we do best. We have itemised a list of digital content services, and allocated credits next to each of these. This means that each month, you can use your credits with us to produce digital content such as blog articles, social media posts, videos and even animated Instagram stories. By using this model, we believe that it enables us to produce high quality content with faster delivery times.
If you aren’t quite sure where to start on your digital marketing journey and would like to speak to a professional, why not book in a free discovery call with us at Content Hive today to discuss how we can get your brand buzzing online.
