Customer reviews for better local search results
Getting customer reviews is one of the best things you can do for your local SEO efforts. The reason is that people that are looking for a local business read customer reviews to give them an idea of the business reputation and build trust. It’s the first step in giving your potential customers the confidence that they need to reach out to you. Google trusts what other people are saying about you much more than what you say about your business.
For local businesses the goal should be getting included in the Google Map Pack results. And positive customer reviews have a direct impact on those results. It can determine if your business is in or out. So investing the time to ask your satisfied customers to leave your business a great review is a great way to build trust with people and search engines.
Positive online reviews are now just as important as getting a direct referral from a friend or family member. A study performed by Whitespark released findings from their annual Google Local Rankings Survey, showing that reviews accounted for over 15% of how Google ranks a local business. That’s powerful!
