How Important Are Reviews For Your Local Google Ranking

If you’re not too familiar with Google My Business, you’re missing out on the action. Tens of thousands of businesses all over the globe have joined the competition to put themselves right in front of their audiences via Google Maps. As a store manager/owner, remaining visible on local maps can be vital as customers continue to rely on their phones to look for things of their desire.

Google My Business – Online Presence:

Your GMB listing will be pitted against your existing competition; therefore, only your GMB optimization techniques along with genuine reviews can bring your store in the snippets, as well as in the Google local listing.

Let’s take a closer look at how reviews are one of the most important facets to taking your business to the next level.

Your rank among others in GMB listings may depend on many factors, but the factor which matters most is reviews. Google reviews add others’ experiences with you right on your GMB profile.

Reviews are basically your loyal clientele or customers with a positive experience about your business, which in turn will be further recommended to others looking for anything that your business is selling.

The reviews also affect your ratings, which basically means it will impact your google listings in a huge way. This could move your business either up or pull your store down, depending on the experience your customers go through.

Now that we’ve explained the basics of reviews, let’s get in a bit deeper and talk about how important they are and what they could mean for your business.

Ranking on Google:

When someone tries to seek any new business through Google Maps, their eyes usually scan through the reviews of each listing.

Reviews left by customers create an experience rating that shows up on the main page of your listing.

This can heavily impact your rank as well as the outlook of your main page. If your listings are ranked higher, they will appear on the top of every related search.

• Rank is also determined by how your business listing on GMB is optimized.

If a listing is specially optimized, it will show up on direct and related searches on the top three displayed results.

Don’t wait any longer and get your listing optimized today to boost your rankings.

Would you recommend this business to your friend?

People who post reviews on your listing also leave behind an experience rating. This ranges from 1 star all the way to 5 stars, and these stars also determine how others will view your page.

If your ratings are low prospects might not be convinced to buy from you.

Ratings also help you rank among the top three businesses that pop up when searches are made.

This is why it is vital to ask your customers for a review after every delivery of services, about which we frequently remind every customer.

Reviews also pave the way for effective interaction with customers through comments and replies. With the help of reviews, you can also stimulate an interactive dialogue with every customer that leaves a comment.

It stands out as a huge opportunity to showcase your customer handling skills since you may also need to handle a few dissatisfied customer reviews. 

Replying to reviews and creating an interaction can mean a lot for your business as this creates a rapport between you and the customer posting the review.

When others see this interaction, they will have a notion of your professionalism.

Introducing Further Improvements:

Not only reviews improve your standing among other competitors, but it will also bring change and improvement to your own operations and processes through customer feedback and suggestions.

A business owner may interact with the customers posting the reviews and get their thoughts on how the business can be improved.

When businesses take customer feedback and suggestions seriously, they have an opportunity to improve and show others that you are willing to take customers’ words on a serious note which in turn will get you even more loyal customers in addition to those you will be impressing with your feedback system.

Managing Unhappy Google Reviews:

Your GMB listing can’t always stand strong and steady when there is an inflow of unhappy customer reviews.

Negative reviews could spell disaster but there is always a way to get around that.

Reviews on Google can’t be deleted by the owner of the business which might be an obstruction to having a clean history.

Google has tried to make the platform fair for all by not allowing businesses to just delete bad reviews; however, it does have rules against reviews that violate fairness policies.

As for those reviews which are from unsatisfied customers, you will have to deal with them in the most professional manner in an attempt to sway their minds.

You will need to address the issues of bad reviews as a priority since the ranking of your GMB listing depends upon it.

It is advised that you respectfully communicate with the unsatisfied customer and try to reach a settlement.

The customer needs to see that you are willing to listen and improve your services and only then the customer may change their reviews.

This is the only way to convert bad reviews into good ones. Here are some techniques to tackle bad reviews

• Be respectful when you address them

• Ask for their feedback and suggestions so your business (and its ratings) may improve.

• Offer compensation for bad services to assure them that this is a rare case

Kindly request them to update their reviews when they’re satisfied.

Flagging Unwanted and Irrelevant Reviews:

It is not always the case that Google My Business listings will get legit reviews. Sometimes people may post irrelevant and fake reviews for bad publicity.

Oftentimes this is done by internet trolls and competitors trying to sabotage your ranking.

Luckily Google has enforced a list of violations that can result in the deletion of reviews if it crosses that line; therefore, making Google My Business listing a level playing field for all businesses. 

If you notice your listing has received a review that violates any of the rules, you can take immediate action to secure your ratings.

You need to first claim the business as your own.

Not familiar with how to claim your own business?

You could always hire experts to take care of that job for you. Once you have claimed your business, you could navigate to those reviews and flag them for inspection.

If you have experts handling your listings, they will instantly do this for you.

The Google staff will take a closer look at the flagged reviews and take immediate action.

Encouraging Customers for Reviews:

Strategies to ensure a customer will leave you a review could be enforced.

You may be able to encourage your customers to leave you a review on your GMB listing after the service has been delivered.

You could also ask your customers for feedback and suggestions to make them feel more in control.

You may also introduce discount schemes for customers to encourage them to post a review. Your offer will give customers a discount if they leave you a review.

This can prove to be an effective method to stack those much needed reviews.

Conclusion:

Reviews are extremely impactful for Google My business reviews. They dictate the standing of your listing among other competitors. Bad reviews could take your listing in the wrong direction but they can be used as a tool to get more customers. Always ask your customers to leave you a review after service delivery and watch them pile up in your favor.

If you are still unsure about how to handle leads, you might need to consult a specialist.