If you have an online business, getting to the top of Google’s homepage is likely one of your goals. SEO strategies can propel you towards this milestone by producing content that utilises keywords relevant to your industry, ensuring you get noticed by the people searching for your goods or services.
But did you know that online reviews account for almost 10% of Google’s search ranking factors? This means that if you aren’t collecting those gold stars from your happy customers, you’re probably not reaching
your full SEO potential
. Here’s a few reasons why they are so
important to the SEO process
…
They naturally include your relevant keywords
When someone is writing your business a review, they are very likely to use the keywords or phrases that you already include in your
SEO
. Whether it’s ‘the best coffee in Melbourne’ or ‘cheap car repairs’, this customer-created content is authentic, SEO-friendly and, perhaps most importantly, free! Your SEO will get a boost with the more reviews that are posted, so be sure to keep them flowing!
They are unique, organic and user-generated
It’s the winning content trifecta. Reviews are…
-
Capable of creating organic traffic, meaning it costs you nothing to get.
-
Uniquely created for your business, a quality that Google looks favourably on.
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Written by unbiased customers who have had first-hand experience with your business, which visitors to your site trust more than any other content.
The power of this content to achieve all three of these pivotal qualities cannot be understated. It will keep your social pages and website active with information from (hopefully) happy customers and help to convert visitors faster and more effectively.
They make your Google ads stand out
With so many different companies, products and services to choose from, customers are well and truly overwhelmed with choice whenever they use Google. But one sure-fire way to make your business stand out is to flaunt your glowing reviews right in front of them. If you’re running an Adwords campaign, you can employ the help of Google Seller Ratings to show your star ratings from the reviews you’ve gotten. For businesses who have an average rating of 3.5 stars or above, ads will become far more enticing to search engine users.
They can increase your rankings
Google’s algorithm crawls across pages
all over the net to find information. So, whether it’s on your website,
Google My Business
or Facebook, your reviews matter. If you have a lot of great reviews all over the web, Google will see this and reward you with a higher SEO ranking. After all, its mission is to provide users with reliable and trustworthy information, and that means putting them in touch with the best of what they’re looking for.
They make your Google My Business page more appealing
Google’s development of a business information hub means the very first thing that pops up when people search for your business or businesses of your kind is important information, photos and – yep, you guessed it – reviews. These reviews stick to the first page like glue, showing everyone whether or not your recent customers are happy with your service or product. Although it might seem overwhelming to keep up with all the different platforms on which to collect reviews, this one is particularly important as it is the little sister of Google – meaning it holds a fair amount of weight when it comes to your online influence.
They can improve your social media engagement
It’s no secret that
social media
is one of the most powerful advertising tools of our time, giving your business the ability to reach literally hundreds of thousands of people with just one post. And with some great reviews on your side, the potential for success is even greater. As we mentioned earlier, customers trust reviews more than any other type of content, so encouraging your customers to post them and sharing the most impressive ones is a sure-fire way to attract attention to your business!
For all these reasons and many more, collecting reviews for your business should be at the top of your priority list if you’re looking to put yourself ahead of the pack.