From Reviews to Rankings: Do Google Reviews Help SEO?
Having a steady background of positive online reviews is pivotal for any business. When it comes to finding quality feedback they can trust, potential customers will often turn to Google for the best results.
We all know that a good reputation on Google can improve brand reputation and encourage new business – but did you know that Google reviews can also impact your SEO (search engine optimisation)?
Find out more below.
What are Google Reviews?
Google reviews are customer reviews collected and stored via Google. They can be left by anyone and read by anyone who searches for your business through the search engine. Google will use these reviews to determine your overall star rating on your business profile.
Typically, a good star rating is anything between 4 and 5 stars. It communicates a high level of satisfaction and a consistently positive experience with your business, product, or service. This is one of the most effective ways to boost your reputation and win potential customers looking for a trusted and reliable business.
Google reviews can also impact your SEO by factoring in both positive and negative reviews when ranking your website. This means that investing time and effort into acquiring positive Google reviews can help you bring more traffic to your website and encourage more sales.
What are Google Reviews?
Google reviews are customer reviews collected and stored via Google. They can be left by anyone and read by anyone who searches for your business through the search engine. Google will use these reviews to determine your overall star rating on your business profile.
Typically, a good star rating is anything between 4 and 5 stars. It communicates a high level of satisfaction and a consistently positive experience with your business, product, or service. This is one of the most effective ways to boost your reputation and win potential customers looking for a trusted and reliable business.
Google reviews can also impact your SEO by factoring in both positive and negative reviews when ranking your website. This means that investing time and effort into acquiring positive Google reviews can help you bring more traffic to your website and encourage more sales.
How Do Google Reviews Help SEO?
One way Google determines where a website should rank in SERP (search engine results pages) is by using customer reviews. The algorithm will look for various factors, such as a high star rating, how recently and regularly the reviews are made, and whether reviews are consistently replied to.
Google reviews are particularly important for local SEO and targeting local users. When Google ranks websites for local search terms, it considers three key factors: distance, relevance, and prominence. For example, if a user searches for “SEO services in Sheffield”, Google will aim to display websites that offer SEO services, are based in or around Sheffield, and have positive Google reviews.
As we know, potential customers are more likely to click on a search result with a high star rating and a good number of reviews to support it compared to one without. This can also benefit your SEO efforts - if your website has a high click-through rate, Google will generally rank your website higher in the search results.
What is Google Searching for in Your Reviews?
When determining where to rank a website, Google is constantly searching for off-site SEO ranking factors like Google reviews – but what exactly is it looking for in these reviews?
1) High Star Ratings
As we’ve mentioned, one of the first things Google will look for in your reviews is a high star rating. The algorithm is more likely to rank your pages in a high position for your target search terms if your customers leave positive reviews with a high rating.
2) Relevant Keywords
Google will be searching for certain keywords in your reviews to determine if you are a relevant website for each key search term. Your customers should use keywords naturally and appropriately in their sentences when leaving a review for your business – but this will often happen organically.
3) How Recently the Reviews Were Made
Another factor Google considers is how recently the reviews were made. The more time that has passed since a customer left a review, the less value it has to Google. Regular and recent positive feedback will give potential customers an accurate depiction of your business.
4) If the Reviews Were Responded to
Finally, Google will rank the businesses that consistently respond to their reviews more highly than those that don’t. You can also take this opportunity to include your target keywords in your responses to contribute towards your SEO efforts.
How to Manage Your Google Reviews
Investing in Google reviews will only help your business if you manage them effectively. Fortunately, there are several strategies you can implement to optimise your Google reviews and rankings.
1) Regularly Encourage Customers to Leave Reviews
For Google reviews to have any impact on your SEO, the first thing you need to do is collect them. Regularly encourage your customers to leave reviews by sending them an email once they have received their order, placing a postcard with a QR code linking to your Google reviews inside their delivery, or simply asking them directly!
Remember to only collect your reviews from real and trustworthy people – Google will recognise fake reviews, resulting in a negative impact on your SEO.
2) Regularly Respond to Reviews
As we’ve mentioned, Google favours businesses that regularly respond to their reviews. Responses to feedback are also a great opportunity to use your target keywords and will show users that you care about your customers’ needs. A good structure to follow is to make your reviews personal (use their name), appreciative (say thanks), and encouraging of future custom (tell them you hope you see them soon).
3) Don’t Ignore Negative Reviews
Google wants you to respond to your reviews – and this means all of them. Address negative reviews straight away by being polite and professional and ensuring that the customer knows you appreciate their feedback. If Google can see that you’ve responded to a low-star rating, it will be less likely to use it as a negative ranking factor for your website.
4) Use Google Review Insights to Improve SEO
Use Google Business insights to see the number of ratings your business has achieved over a certain time and the average rating of your reviews. Analysing your performance will help you determine if more work needs to be done to improve your Google reviews. This could mean focusing on gaining more reviews in a shorter time frame, gaining better reviews, or improving your responses.
The Importance of Google Reviews for SEO
Google reviews are one of the main ways that Google determines the quality of a website and where it should rank in its search results.
Knowing this, why would you not want to invest in gaining more regular and positive reviews? By improving your SEO, you will encourage more traffic to your website and hopefully from there - more business!
Find out how long it takes to see results from SEO by reading our Blog.
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16/02/2024