Reviews on Google My Business, a tool dedicated to small local businesses to present themselves on the search engine, are essential for improving your visibility on the internet.
You can immediately tell a company has invested. Just search the name on Google to find a summary with information. You’ll find photos, opening hours, address, map, and starred reviews.
Why is it important to get reviews on Google My Business? What are they for? And how can you increase customer feedback on this listing? Here’s what you need to know to improve.
What are Google My Business reviews?
The opinions of customers who have tried your product or service are summarized in a visible online profile on your Business Profile on Google. People who search for and find your business can receive a summary with all the relevant information.
It’s on the right and is the Business Profile tab on Google (formerly Google My Business).
Why are reviews so important?
These reviews are considered an excellent way to encourage other users to buy, purchase, and follow what others have done. It’s worth working to encourage satisfied customers to leave their reviews. But why in Google My Business reviews?
First, because these opinions are immediately visible to those doing online searches. If you search for a company name, you’ll receive a summary, prominently displayed on mobile and desktop, of what the company does.
And here are the featured reviews. These are texts that work to give potential customers an extra reason to choose your business. Here’s some data from www.brightlocal.com that can help you understand what it means to focus on Google My Business reviews (and more):
86% of consumers read reviews for local businesses.
Consumers read an average of 10 online reviews before trusting something.
40% of consumers only consider reviews written in the last 2 weeks.
57% of consumers will only use a company if it has 4 or more stars.
91% of consumers aged 18 to 34 trust online reviews.
89% of consumers read companies’ responses to reviews.
How to best use Google My Business?
This data certainly shows that reviews are essential for businesses looking to do good local web marketing.
Reviews are useful for local SEO
Want to rank higher in local and geo-targeted searches? You need to get more quality reviews. This is one of the reasons that should drive business owners and web marketing consultants to develop a strategy to increase them.
The goal? To receive as many positive reviews as possible. Google uses both the number of reviews and the average rating in its algorithms that determine which businesses appear first, both in Google Maps and in the local pack in the SERP. Not surprisingly, according to Moz, it is one of the local SEO ranking factors.
Get more reviews on Google My Business
If they’re so important, it’s only right to value Google My Business reviews. But above all, you need to ensure they increase and are of high quality.
How do you get these reviews? First, you should know that there’s an official guide that encourages users to request and obtain reviews. But what are the rules?
First, you need to present your listing in the best possible way: a well-organized Google My Business section is an invitation to leave a review, but it’s not enough. You need to encourage users to leave a review with a direct invitation. Small local businesses in particular have this option, which is specifically indicated by Google:
But having more reviews isn’t enough; to complete the job, you also need to respond to comments from your audience. This way, you can improve the user experience when they search for information about your business and what you do every day.
How to Create Links for Google Reviews
To increase your Google My Business reviews, it can be helpful to have a direct link to share via email, social media, or your website. This way, you can also ask for reviews from online customers. To work best, you need a link to share. I usually do this:
Go to Google.
Search for your company.
Go to the GMB tab
Go to the review section.
Click to write a review.
Copy the URL.
This way, whoever opens that address will go directly to the section that allows them to leave a review with a rating, stars, and the option to add photos.
Alternatively, you can use developers.google.com to search for your business ID and add it to the end of this link. The result is the same.
How to integrate the Google widget into your website?
Another important way to leverage Google reviews is to integrate them into your site with a dedicated widget. How do you do this? Simple, you can use a plugin.
The best way is this: Google Reviews Widget. The plugin displays Google reviews on your websites in the sidebar widget. A unique feature?
It saves reviews in the WordPress database and doesn’t rely on Google to display reviews in the widget. The paid version also includes Schema.org integration to implement rich snippets and display reviews in the SERP.
