Get Google+ Local Reviews & Yelp Reviews. Reviews are important. Reviews are important! Yes, I had to say it twice. If your competitors consistently have more reviews than you, they’re going to consistently outrank you on local search terms. Reviews don’t only help your local search position, though. They also increase the likelihood that a visitor turns into a customer. So, now that you get it, how do you get customers to leave you reviews?
I’ve been asked countless times about how to get Google reviews & Yelp reviews. Fortunately, we’re here to give you 8 simple methods you can begin implementing today to improve your reviews on Yelp, Google and other popular local business directories. Before we hop into our 8 tips (I know, you’re excited and probably skipped right to them) I have some advice you should take before employing these methods. Don’t push too hard too fast! If your Google+ Local and Yelp pages were stagnant for the most part, getting 10 reviews in 1 week is going to look unnatural. Okay, let’s get to it! Review Handout Generator from Whitespark and Local Visibility System. About This Tool The design of these review handouts is based on the one created by Phil Rozek of LocalVisibilitySystem.com. He originally created one-page handouts just for his local SEO clients, and since 2011 has created custom-made review handouts for hundreds of business owners across the globe.
We loved the concept, so we talked with Phil about some ideas for how to get these simple, effective instructions into the hands of the business owners and customers who need them. The result is this completely free review-handout generator tool. Additional designs are coming soon. Phil Rozek is one of the smartest local SEOs in the industry. Our Other Tools & Services Local Citation Finder Citations are a key component of local search rankings. Rank Tracker The best local rank tracker. Link Prospector Quickly and easily find link opportunities for guest blogging, niche directories, link pages, sponsorships, and more. Citation Building Services Hire us to build citations for you.
Google+ Local Reviews: 5 Tips for Serving Up Customers. Wouldn’t it be game changing for businesses not receiving customer feedback, to do so? The June release of David Mihm’s local search ranking factors has further highlighted the importance of native Google reviews. In combination with Google’s social-local mash, reviews will become vital to keeping those business phones ringing. So often, physical businesses have trouble soliciting reviews from customers online, and for obvious reasons. However, establishing a strong social profile allows prospective customer to gain better insight into the strengths of a business through marketing’s most powerful tactic: amplified word of mouth, as some call it. For the business out there uninformed about Google Plus, these will need to own or register a Google account, by using this guide you can increase the chance of receiving feedback from valued customers, even promote a closer connection, between so called “brick and mortar” establishments and the clients that are their lifeblood.
How to Boost Your Search Ranking with User Reviews. Harnessing the power of Google Places to bump your ranking means getting user reviews. Here's how to do it. May 15, 2012 If you run a local service-based business, you might already be using Google Places as part of your online marketing strategy. However, if you're not, know that businesses that take advantage of Google Places listings consistently remain at the top of the Google search engine rankings for their most important local search terms.
The reviews that accompany a Google Places listing are imperative because they come from a mixture of big "localized" sites— such as Yelp, InsiderPages, and Citysearch plus niche sites like TripAdvisor, Zagat and others. Reviews Boost Page Rank When a large website like Yelp or Citysearch publishes a user-written review, those reviews are believed to be considered relevant by Google’s search system (Google keeps the precise details to itself). Promoting Your Reviews First, claim your Places page.
Getting Those Reviews 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. How to Get more Google Reviews & Fix the Bad Ones | MilkMen blog. 7 Reasons Why Reviews Matter for Small Business 1. People trust Reviews According to a Neilsen study in 2009, 90% of consumers online trust recommendations from people they know. 70% of consumers online trust recommendations from people that they don’t know. According to the study a minimum of 6 reviews are required for the consumer to have trust. 24% of of Adults that say they have posted comments or reviews online about the product or services they buy. 2. Reviews effect Search Rankings Search engines use reviews as a signal of trust and popularity. 3.
Businesses 5 or more reviews stand out in the search results with the stars highlighted in yellow. 4. Getting the visitor to your Google Places page or website is only half the battle. 5. Reviews will go away when the internet goes away – never. 6. Dentist, Doctors, Lawyers, Plumbers, HVAC contractors, Rehab Centers, Hotels, Restaurants, Yoga Centers etc. all win when they have more reviews than their competitors. 7. Review Inventory. Google Places Reviews: Getting Offline Online. Ratings, Reviews & Reputation: Their Growing Impact On Search.
Welcome back! I hope you had a scrumptious lunch wherever you are because it’s time to talk about reviews, ratings, reputation and possibly other things with the letter R. We’ll have to see what this group of panelists can come up with. Maybe some rib eye. Anyway. Up on stage Matt McGee is moderating speakers Rhea Drysdale, Chris Silver Smith, and Gregg Stewart.
Lets just jump into it. First up is Gregg Stewart. One in five searches has a local intent. 76 percent using search engines – 19 percent growth YOY67 percent using print YPs A good percentage of consumers still have a decision to make when conducting local search. 37 percent users are researching to help decide which P/S will fulfill their needs.25 percent Looking for info about a specific P/S that I have already decided fulfills my needs18 percent To compare businesses In fact, when searching locally…. Ratings and reviews become even more important with the platform Next up is Rhea to talk about review signals and techniques. Ratings. Is Google Filtering Reviews or Reviewers? A couple of weeks back I wrote a post outlining a review plan for local businesses. On that post I received a very thoughtful comment from David Mihm, a local SEO in Portland OR.
I was asserting that a business should get reviews from Citysearch and Insider Pages and Google almost as an after thought. David commented that he thought getting reviews on Google should be job #1. We had a friendly back and forth and than I read this post on Understanding Google Maps, which said that many of the reviews from Citysearch had been stripped out of Google’s results. With a resulting loss of “review stars” at the listing level and loss of business. Applying What Was Learned From Links To Reviews? The question lingers, however, why would Google discount these reviews from Citysearch? Conversely, what if I wanted to game the system? Here are the Stats Insiderpages shows 4 reviews and citysearch has 15.
Moving on I came across a restaurant credited with reveiws from superpages.com. How To Ask For Customer Reviews – Nicely. Kelly Mooney from Resource Interactive recently shared an email her friend received from apparel retailer Boden. Soliciting customer reviews is a challenge because you want to tread carefully in asking for them. Including an incentive with your request is a good strategy, but some experts advise against offering discounts on future purchases. Jay Shaffer from Power Reviews recommends offering a chance to win something, rather than a $ or % discount which may serve as paid user reviews. Boden uses this strategy in follow-up emails after a customer has made a purchase. (click to enlarge image) Here’s what I believe Boden does well: Good subject line. Boden also solicits customer feedback from its website for a crack at a $500 spree. Do we give you satisfaction? The page links through to a survey customers can do right on the website, using a tool from eCustomerOpinions.
In fact, there’s a lot of light-hearted information about Johnnie Boden on the site. 3 Tips To Leverage Ratings and Reviews. Gregg Stewart | July 28, 2011 | 7 Comments inShare22 And why Google Place deserves your immediate attention. The majority of consumers, 59 percent consider ratings and reviews an important factor in selecting a business, according to the 2010 15miles/comScore Local Search Study.
However only 27 percent actually use ratings and reviews in their purchase process. As it turns out, the reason for the difference in importance and usage is the availability of ratings and review content for consumers to use. Only 23 percent of consumers have submitted a rating or review online, the study found. So if ratings and reviews are important to consumers, it then stands to reason that businesses and brands with more content will be considered and selected by consumers more often.
Tip #1 – Ask existing customers to rate your business. Many ratings and review sites like Yelp discourage this practice, stating it affects "authenticity" of the rating. Tip #2 – Make Google your focus first. New: Customers See Google Places Results When They Type “Review” I just noticed something that I’m pretty sure is new: When you type in a local search term PLUS “review” or “reviews,” you see the Google Places 7-pack of local businesses.
Try it out. Type “restaurant review” into Google: Then try it when you search for a service or product: It even works if you type in “review” or “reviews” after a longer-tail, highly specific search term: By the way, what’s interesting about the 2nd example is that “roofing” is an ambiguous term: are people looking for reviews of roofing services, or are they looking for reviews of different types of roofing materials? Anyway, unless I’m going soft in the head (quite possible), this represents a change by Google. This seems to be part of Google’s recent hard push to get more people to write reviews through the Google Places interface (rather than through third-party sites like Yelp, CitySearch, InsiderPages and so forth). So what does this mean for your local visibility and ability to get customers? 1. 2. 3. Great Infographic on Customer Reviews. Here’s an excellent infographic on customer reviews and how they affect your visibility in Google Places, how reviews help you attract more customers, etc.
Take a second to look it over: you’ll probably see ways to get more and better reviews (resulting in more local visibility for your business and more customers, of course). It was made by the local search specialists at 540SEO.com (thanks to Keith from 540SEO for passing this along). It’s a great application of some of my data on customer reviews plus excellent info from Mike Blumenthal, David Mihm, and other really knowledgeable people.
Enjoy! Add this graphic to your site. How Local Businesses Can Grow Using Online Customer Reviews. Google Places Review | How to Get a Review on Google Places? Are Online Reviews Killing Your Business? | Full size Infographic | 540SEO | Avoid Fake Reviews Online. Popular Today in Business: All Popular Articles Online Marketing By Bill Treloar, Published September 7, 2011 Great reviews at places like Google Local and Yelp can help your search engine rankings and encourage shoppers to buy your products or services. Is it any wonder, then, that some businesses have succumbed to the temptation of soliciting fake rave reviews? Of course not. And a mini-industry has appeared to satisfy that temptation. 5-Star Reviews The more fake 5-star reviews that are handed out, the more you need to rise above the competition.
The New York Times recently wrote about an attempt to deal with this. Determining the number of fake reviews on the Web is difficult. Google? I’m sure Google is working on this as well. We don’t know if Google has fake review detection in place, or how effective it is, but you can rest assured that they will develop a very effective system for it in the future. Your website can’t afford a serious Google slap-down. Author: Bill Treloar. 5 Tips To Get More Online Customer Reviews. Google’s acquisition of Zagat last week and Yelp’s excellent snarky response has brought customer reviews to the forefront of the news again, so it’s a good time to start thinking about how garnering more online reviews fits into your business. In my experience, when it comes to reviews there are four types of businesses: Businesses that get most of their business from referrals, don’t get any online reviews and could care less about them (perhaps the biggest chunk of businesses).Businesses that get most of their business from referrals, get online reviews and think that nobody reads them or cares.Businesses that think reviews are hugely important and work hard to get a lot of them.Businesses that think reviews are hugely important and work hard to get them, but don’t get many, if any.
If it gets around, which it usually does thanks to Google, their referrals are at risk of drying up. If the first thing that shows up in Google for your brand is a negative, you are potentially screwed.