The Importance of Online Reviews

At this day and age, nearly all businesses are online. If a business doesn’t have a website, they likely have a listing on Google, Facebook, Yelp, or one of the many sites that allow online reviews. With online reviews being so readily available, the Netvantage staff decided to share the importance of having online reviews for your business. Read on to determine why your business needs ratings for your customers and for Google’s search engine rankings.

Abbey Hadar Twitter	Reviews continue to play a big part in SEO for local businesses, especially Google My Business reviews. In today’s world, consumers read reviews for pretty much everything. Whether they are booking a hotel room, looking to try a new restaurant, or researching a new product to buy, online reviews play a big impact on buying decisions. A business that has a high amount of positive reviews will typically rank better in local results because Google finds credibility and trust through reviews, which thus provides better user experience. If your Google My Business listing currently has no reviews or very little, find out how to ask your clients for a review here.
Adam Henige Twitter	Aside from the internal factors, online reviews are just another avenue for self-improvement. Obviously getting reviews can factor into your rankings and provides social proof, but it also provides you a mechanism to see if your customers are legitimately happy with your services. Building in processes to obtain and review feedback is a valuable component for nearly any business.
Breanna Ratering Twitter	One of the first things I look at when making a big buying decision is the reviews. If all customers are complaining about the same thing, I most likely won’t purchase that product. I see online reviews as essentially a free form of marketing. Businesses get reviewed on Google, TripAdvisor and Yelp, but there are also millions of video reviews of products on YouTube and Instagram posts with reviews in the caption. This provides another resource and form of earned media that some businesses don’t even think to tap into. Consumers trust the people they follow on social media and will buy the products if they like them.
Jerod Karam Twitter	Let’s not overlook the advantage(s) for the person/people who are leaving the reviews. This gives any person a chance to have their voice heard by the business owner. My family has owned and operated a restaurant for 59 years. While my father and the other managers strive to speak to many guests, their time is not infinite, and not every guest has the opportunity to voice praise or concern directly to the business owner. Having a system of online reviews helps the guests feel like they are contributing to the betterment of the establishment even in the cases when personal communication with management is not possible.
Joe Ford Twitter	I will take a different angle here and provide a paid search reason as to why reviews are so important. You can now use Review Extensions as a part of paid search ads. Using reviews can help your search ad stand out amongst competing ads and increase click-through rates. Learn more about Review Extensions here.
Lexie Kimball Twitter	Positive and negative reviews are beneficial for businesses. Positive reviews help potential customers learn more about a product and service and possibly affirm their decision to buy. Negative reviews, if handled properly, show that a business cares about their customer enough to right a situation. In terms of local SEO, both types of reviews help provide fresh content and can help increase organic and map rankings.
Michael Hall Twitter	Online reviews serve the needs of humans and search engines in similar but different ways. Google isn’t necessarily looking to see if your business only has 5-star reviews, but whether or not your business is active and popular. Online reviews organically happen with businesses that get a large number of customers, so it is a good indicator of business activity, which signals to Google and other search engines that they should rank your website ahead of other less-active businesses. Of course, there are many other factors at play with local search engine rankings, but the frequency of your business reviews shouldn’t be overlooked.
Rianna Middleton Twitter	A survey done by BrightLocal said 88% of people consult reviews regularly or occasionally. This means, essentially, that reviews can make or break a business. According to Moz, review signals were ranked in the top 5 search ranking factors, meaning they can also have a big impact on SEO. Review quantity and diversity and quantity of third-party reviews are just a few factors of review signals. But knowing the power of reviews is only the first step. Businesses that want to improve their reviews and ratings should implement a digital strategy like the one Moz lays out here.