How Important are Google Reviews?
Google reviews are crucial for small local businesses. The larger companies, i.e., Starbucks, Wendy’s, Target, etc. have the luxury of not worrying about reviews. People aren’t researching Starbucks to see if they want to get their morning coffee there.
Smaller Local Businesses do not have the benefit of being an international brand, thus online reviews and word-of-mouth are important for building your business.
93% of US consumers searched online for a local business.
34% of US consumers searched local businesses online every day, while 73% searched weekly.
87% of consumers read online reviews for local businesses.
57% of consumers will only visit your business if it has at least a 4-star review rating.
In terms of reviews, quality and quantity are equally important. Detailed descriptions outlining the services/products customers were happiest than just a simple 5-star rating. Several reviews are better than one or two. Google averages the stars and provides an average score for consumers. The more reviews with more star ratings will average out better.
How Can I Get More Reviews?
The best way to get reviews are to ask for them. First make sure your business is providing quality services/products. Train your staff to request reviews after purchasing your services/products. Additionally, providing a link to your Google Reviews on your website is another way to ensure customers have an easy time finding where to leave the review.
Other ways to request reviews are posting requests on your Social Media accounts and requesting reviews with follow-up emails to your customer database. Again, providing links to your Google Review page.
How Can I Remove Reviews from Google?
You can’t just remove negative reviews unless there is a legitimate reason it is not a real review. However, you can flag reviews for removal.
If the negative review is not accurate or it is potential slander from a competitor or disgruntled employee, you can potentially get the review removed. Google provides a Policy for removal, if you have reviews you think should be removed check out the Google Policy to see if you can flag the review for removal.
(Side Note: We have had a few clients that had disgruntled employees leaving negative reviews on Google. With a bit of explanation, we were able to get Google to remove these reviews.)
SOURCE: BrightLocal