Like it or not, consumers trust others’ opinions more than what you say about yourself. This is why there are so many reasons why Google Business Reviews are essential for your business.

As a marketer or business owner, this can be disheartening. We spend so much time and money controlling the message we publish on behalf of our brands, yet we need to remember to monitor the words spoken, beyond our control. This is because word-of-mouth may be more important than your marketing efforts, in its own way.

Looking from a psychology point of view, the principle of social proof, from the Six Principles of Persuasion to boost conversion by Robert Cialdini, speaks volumes.

It’s the influence on individuals’ buying behaviour, based on what others are doing around them. For example, if it’s obvious others are using a product, then the individual is more likely to use it, too.

From here, you can see the importance which Google reviews (and other review-based platforms) and social media play in influencing purchase behaviour.

With this in mind, a 5-star Google review is incredibly valuable. Yet beyond this, you can imagine how having many 5 star Google reviews can benefit.

In this article, we’ll look into how you get to this point — answering the question of why Google Business Reviews are important.

Note: reviews can only be submitted once you’ve created a Google My Business profile.

Boost Brand Trust Through Legitimacy

When asking why Google Business Reviews are important, the easiest place to start is with the perception which they offer.

Without a doubt, being seen as an industry leader that is legitimate and transparent, is important, because they go hand-in-hand with being a trusted figure within your sector.

Having Google Business Reviews will help you get to this point.

With transparency becoming more important for consumers, greater emphasis is being placed on it. The good thing about this is that by receiving more Google business reviews, your business appears more transparent to your potential customers.

This is purely through the increase in information available, making it easier for your customers to make an informed decision when purchasing, instead of blindly committing to a purchase.

By having transparency, you build trust in your brand, boosting the potential for conversions later on.

To put this into perspective, did you know that 63.4% of consumers are likely to check Google Business Reviews to help determine the quality of a business?

That is a massive chunk of your potential customers!

Provides Feedback and Public Communication

The feedback loop available through Google Business Reviews (and social media) is invaluable for a manager or business owner.

Like social media, Google Business Reviews are excellent for understanding your audience, their thoughts and desires in your business.

It goes without saying that nobody wants negative reviews.

As a business owner, you can not delete your negative Google reviews, (there are a few examples of owners who have deleted fake account reviews, but the process is unclear without taking-it-up with Google).

For reviews below 5-stars, having a killer response strategy is key. You should make an effort to get them back on your side by trying to make it up to them, and ideally, getting them to change their negative review.

In doing this, you show your target audience a level of care and willingness to address issues, while alleviating their concerns about your not-so-stellar reviews.

Remember, when it comes to bad reviews, it’s not all bad — and not-so-perfect reviews can often provide you with a non-biased insight into parts of your business that might need improvement.

(READ: The 12 Essential Components of On-Page SEO)

Increase SEO Visibility 

In recent years, SEO is becoming more and more of a concern for business owners. This increase in competition forces business owners to get technical if they want to compete, and having positive Google Business Reviews can help do just that.

Google’s complex and ever-changing algorithms are the determining factor of whos-who In the race for first-page search notoriety—choosing between websites that have been carefully manipulated to rank as highly as possible and cherry-picking the relevant search terms & keywords, with reviews also playing into all of this.

As an example, if your Google My Business page has reviews attached to it with a link back to your website, the algorithm will recognise this information, and factor it into your page rank.

Another way you can make use of Google reviews while boosting your SEO ranking is by embedding reviews on your website. Google loves when brands link back to their services, and Google Business Reviews are no exception.

Note: SEO is not an exact science, but more of a set of best practices instead of rules, Even if you do everything by the book, you are not necessarily guaranteed the top spot in the search results.

Increased CTR and Customer Conversion

If you are looking for a way to increase the CTR to your website, Google Business Reviews can also be used as something of a Lead Magnet. This is because reviews on your Google My Business page show up when people search for your business or industry in a certain area.

For example, if we’re looking for a cafe in Perth, we’d search for “cafe in Perth”. Here, you will get a list of results displaying cafe options, including their reviews, proximity, opening/closing hours and more.

Having a Google My Business page set up and ready to receive reviews, can help direct traffic to your website and assist in selling your product, service or idea.

Once you’ve gotten the potential customers to click through, it’s now up to your search engine optimised website to finish the job and get the conversion.

(READ: Landing Page Fundamentals: What Is a Landing Page and Why You Need One)

Influence Your Potential Customers in AdWords Campaigns

Implementing Google ad extensions are an essential component when running AdWord campaigns, this is because, without adequate AdWord extensions, your ad can look bland, lacking information and lazily done.

To avoid this, you can implement the Seller Rating Ad Extension in AdWords, which is useful for showcasing your Google Business Reviews as well as the number of reviews you have acquired.

How to display your Google business reviews

At some point, you’re probably going to want to show off all your fantastic reviews on your website.

But how do you do that?

Including Google My Business in your content marketing plan can be great for business. Luckily there are many tools for displaying your Google reviews online.

I’ve even included a few below:

• Everest Plugin
• Easy Google Places Review
• WooCommerce Google Customer Reviews
• Google Reviews Widget

For simplicity’s sake, the Google Reviews Widget may be the best for you, as it’s free and has excellent reviews.

Take action

Having the ability to use feedback to leverage what people like about your business and pinpointing the areas that could use improvement helps you to engage more thoroughly and genuinely with your target audience.

So go on, get your GMB set up today!

For more information about how you can engage more with customers, and moving them seamlessly along their customer value journey, contact us today. We’re always interested in hearing your story and helping you along your journey as a business owner.

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