SMX Overtime: Managing your online business reviews
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SMX Overtime: Managing your online business reviews
Last month I spoke at SMX East about scaling online reputation management – specifically reviews. At the end of my presentation, "14 Tips to Scale Reviews Across Multiple Locations," I fielded a number of fantastic questions from session attendees and wanted to follow-up on some additional ones.
How do I convince clients to respond to reviews on Google?
First and foremost, responding to customer reviews builds trust. When a business responds to reviews, it demonstrates that it cares enough about its customers to respond to them. Being responsive builds trust not only with the person who wrote the review but also with future customers who might be looking at reviews as they evaluate you against your competitors.
Responding to reviews specifically on Google also improves your visibility. Reviews have been the fastest growing signal in Google local ranking factors for the past three years, according to the annual Moz Local Search Ranking Factors study. Review signals were overwhelming correlated with higher rankings in Local SEO Guide's Local Search Ranking Study from two years ago. And Google itself cites managing and responding to customer reviews as an important ranking factor.
Strictly looking at GMB and reviews, wouldn't negative reviews actually be helpful in rankings?
Google stresses that "High-quality, positive [emphasis mine] reviews from your customers will improve your business's visibility and increase the likelihood that a potential customer will visit your location." So, strictly speaking, negative reviews won't help.
But the bigger question is this: how can negative reviews help your business beyond rankings? They can if you are willing to learn fro