As the most popular search engine in the world and a core pillar for future SEO strategies, Google plays a central role in the visibility and conversion of the offerings provided by modern companies, as it’s the primary tool utilized by clients when assessing the viability and cost-efficiency of potential purchases. 90% of all online search traffic comes from Google, and around 8 out of 10 customers read online reviews before visiting the offline headquarters of a local business.
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Boost Your Google Reviews
Likewise, around 48% of people trust digital reviews as much as personal recommendations and, in recent years, the local ranking signals gathered by Google via crawling bots have started to have a direct effect on pages E-E-A-T rankings. Do you want to improve your site’s organic traffic, increase the number of Google reviews and gain a positive understanding of your digital marketing strategies? In that case, you should ask for reviews 24-48 hours after the completion of the digital transaction that involved your customers, provide a direct Google review link in the personalized messages you send out, and of course, respond to any review in a positive manner.
Optimize your Google Business Profile
Do you want to utilize our SEO services in order to improve the visibility of reviews in Google Maps and increase your page’s CTRs? If that’s the case, the first thing we’ll need to do is update your site’s contact information and ensure that your provided working hours and embedded photos are relevant for your operations. Websites with up-to-date photos obtain up to 35% more CTRs in Google Maps, as well as +40% more requests for location addresses.
Therefore, our local SEO experts will make sure that your venture’s Maps photos make use of geotagging, we will optimize their format and size for mobile devices, and on top of that, we will verify your NAP information and listed working hours. But that’s not all. To increase reviews and aid with customer service reviews, we will also ensure that your venture’s operations are properly listed in the GMB profile and we will choose categories for your business that best reflect your operations.
Are you, for example, a small local bakery, and do you want to increase Google reviews? Then, we will choose: artisanal bakery as a primary category, add second categories based on your signature products and then finally, utilize attributes, like “card-payments” which can make you appear in filtered searches. Not least, we will leverage short or long-tail keywords in your product descriptions and ensure that these texts have a pronounced CTA that can be used in future link-building strategies.
Ask for Reviews: But Do It Right
Video of How to Leave a Review on Google
87% of digital users read reviews when deciding whether or not to try a local business. Do you want to enhance the visibility of your venture’s Map page and obtain more reviews? Then, you will need to directly encourage these reviews. But there is an art in properly asking for them. Timing, when it comes to this, is pretty much everything. You should wait at least 24 hours after purchase or delivery confirmation for the product/service you sold, and you should also include your Google review link directly in the content of the message you sent out. You are not really the creative type? Then, maybe you could use these page templates as a starting point:
Review Request Template:
Hello (Customer name)
Thank you for selecting (Business name) for your shopping endeavors. We hope you had a fantastic experience with (The product/service purchased). Your review is important, and it can help us continue to expand on the quality of our customer service. Would you be willing to share one minute of your time and give us a review on Google?
(Insert Google Review link)
Thank You!
(Name, and contact info)
SMS Review Request Template:
SMS Review template Image
Hello, (Customer name), thank you for trusting (Business name) with your purchase. Your review is valuable and can help us improve our customer service. Could you please give us a quick evaluation via the attached Google Review link? (Insert Google Reviews Link)
Make Leaving Reviews Effortless
On average, only around 16% of digital customers bother to leave reviews for the purchased service. But, this percentage can grow significantly if you make the process of leaving reviews as easy as possible and accessible directly via messaging. Creating a direct Google reviews link, embedded in the message sent to your venture’s clients, will give users the opportunity to share their experience about your products without actually searching for your business on online directories.
Likewise, QR codes printed on the product’s packaging or receipts have a similar effect to asking for reviews. How can you create review links that will redirect users directly to your venture’s Google Maps page? Well, the best way to go about it is to visit this link and search for your venture’s name. Then, you will need to copy the venture’s place ID, as shown in the screenshot below, and paste it at the end of this URL format, while replacing the YOUR_PLACE_ID with the code copied before.
E.g., https://search.google.com/local/writereview?placeid=YOUR_PLACE_ID -> https://search.google.com/local/writereview?placeid=ChIJhwbuke8bdkgRgjKmX1iULGY.
Find the ID of a particular place
Respond to All Reviews (Positive or Negative)
Leave a review Image
As a business owner, in order to improve your customer service review, you will need to interact with both positive, well-written reviews as well as with negative ones that paint a bad picture about the quality of your service. Responding to these reviews will showcase the transparency of your venture’s management and can help improve the brand’s local signals while simultaneously boosting visibility on the Google Maps page.
In fact, according to BrightLocal, no less than 89% of consumers say they are more likely to utilize the offerings of a business that doesn’t shy away from criticism and responds to reviews. Plus, 67% of negative reviewers can be persuaded to change their opinion by a positive customer support response. How can you reply? Well, you could make use of these page templates:
Replying to a Negative Review:
Hello (Customer name). We are sorry to hear about your negative experience with one of our products. Your reviews are valuable to our customer service department and we would like to hear more about your problem so we can make it right. We kindly ask you to contact us at (Contact information), so we can find a solution for what you’ve experienced. Kind regards (Company name)
Replying to a Positive Review:
Hello (Customer name), thank you so much for your review. We are thrilled that your experience with our products matches the quality standards we had in mind when we first started this digital endeavor. Your reviews are valuable to us and we look forward to seeing you again. Kind regards (Company name).
| Situation | Best Practice | Example Phrase |
|---|---|---|
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Negative Review
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Respond within 12–24 hours, stay calm and empathetic.
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“We’re sorry to hear this and appreciate your feedback…”
|
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Positive Review
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Personalize the response and show appreciation.
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“We’re thrilled you enjoyed your experience with us!”
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Mixed Review
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Clarify the situation and offer support or contact options.
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“Thank you for your input — we’d love to learn more about your experience.”
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Review Response Tips
Showcase Reviews on Your Page and Social Media
Write a review Image
Showcasing reviews directly on your page will not only improve the trustworthiness of your brand but also help with SERP visibility, as a page with displayed reviews will have around 35% more conversions than one without them. Showcasing reviews is an efficient way to improve organic search rankings and it can make your products stand out. That said, in order to force search engines to display the average rating for the products displayed on your website, you will need to make use of the “aggregateRating” schema markup via JSON-LD.
Additionally, in order to improve your page’s CTRs and enable you to stay ahead of the latest algorithm updates implemented by Google, our team will utilize a Google reviews widget like Trustindex in order to add reviews carousels directly to your page. Carousel widgets are an embedded section of your page that will display the latest reviews, sourced from Maps, for your products. Not least, we will share these reviews in social media posts and newsletters, which should generate authentic engagement with your products and have a strong, positive effect on the credibility of your brand.
Diversity Reviews on Multiple Platforms
Diversify Reviews Image
Diversifying reviews on multiple platforms, by encouraging customers to leave reviews not only on Maps, but also on Facebook, Trustpilot, or Yelp, can be one of the best ways to improve your page’s local SEO signals, align with the E-E-A-T framework, and diversify your backlink catalog by inviting referral traffic from external sources. By benefiting from reviews on pages that Google trusts, such as Yelp, you should improve the likelihood of your page appearing in review snippets and also enhance your page’s CTRs.
Multiple reviews on diverse platforms are a sign of a healthy business, and in the digital medium, the perception of your business activity is sometimes equally as important as the quality of the products you commercialize. The well-written, CTA-rich messages developed by our company should boost the total number of reviews you can expect on external review aggregators, and the SEO audit we will perform on your online page will give us the metadata necessary to further your SERP visibility, and hence attract more reviews from core audiences.
Deliver Exceptional Service: The Foundation of Reviews
No matter which SEO review strategy you choose to engage in or the on-page and backend modifications implemented on your page, the main driving force behind your page’s reviews will always be the quality of the products you commercialize. More than half of digital consumers say they will not engage with a business whose reviews fall under 4/5 stars. Moreover, according to PWC, more than 80% of customers are willing to pay more if that means they will receive a better sales experience.
How to improve the quality of your offerings and thus encourage new Google reviews? It’s quite simple. First, you will need to gain a better understanding of your core customer base and leverage online tools in order to identify pain points in their review interactions with your page. Then you will need to provide professional training to your employees and implement clear service standards across all your sales channels. For example, you should never wait more than 24 hours to respond to customer messages, and public reviews, either negative or positive, should be acknowledged within the first hours after their publication.
How Google Reviews Impact Local SEO Rankings
How Google Reviews Affect SEO Illustrative
In order to determine the visibility of a business listed in its online directory, Google makes use of three primary core signals: Relevance, Distance, and Prominence. Google reviews fall under the Prominence category, and they represent a way through which Google’s algorithms can assess the overall credibility and popularity of indexed ventures. Companies with more reviews are more likely to appear in the top Maps results, also known as the “Local 3-pack”.
That said, the quantity of these reviews is only as important as their quality. Google will determine the credibility of your page’s reviews with the aid of NLP models that will extract the general sentiment from the review texts. Plus, these algorithms will pay attention to the date of these reviews. If your business is listed on Maps with a general review of 4.7/10, that should be enough to gain visibility in the local pack. But if none of your recent reviews are newer than a couple of months, that could signal to Google that your venture is either no longer active or non-relevant for core audiences.
About Author
Ion G. Tudorache
As a co-founder and managing director of GAMIT I am the first contact of our clients. My job includes setting project objectives and offering SEO consulting advice to customers. My professional background and experience working in the SEO industry are essential in developing efficient SEO strategies and designing innovative techniques.
