5 Advantages of Using Google Reviews To Help SEO and Organic Rankings

Do Google reviews help SEO? Absolutely.

If you run a small business that relies on foot traffic or online traffic, the benefits of your customer leaving Google reviews are second to none. Not only are Google Business Profile reviews free of charge, but they provide a huge local SEO boost. The more 5-star Google reviews you accumulate, the more you can expect in traffic, rankings, conversions, and click-through rates (CTR).

Google provides all of its users the opportunity to give personal feedback on their recently visited establishments and small businesses. These Google reviews help local SEO by signaling to Google that your business is active, providing positive customer experiences, and receiving valuable insights from your customers.

A shining Google reviews profile can out-perform some alternative forms of marketing that tend to be pricey and full of fluff. Consumers appreciate genuine feedback from others and use this information to make decisions on where to spend their hard-earned cash.

Word-of-mouth is powerful, which is why we’ve rounded up our 5 most important reasons you should use Google reviews to help with your SEO.

1.  It Doesn’t Cost A Darn Thing

There couldn’t be a better reason to utilize those sweet 5-star Google reviews. They’re free. The cost-to-benefit ratio makes this a no-brainer tactic that can produce incredible ROI for any sized business. Marketing can get expensive quickly. Optimizing your Google Business Profile listing with genuine feedback from customers is one of the most (if not the most) affordable ways to instantly boost your local SEO. 

 2. Google Reviews Translate Into Trust & Authority

Gaining trust and authority from your customers leads to more conversions. In today’s highly-competitive market, consumers value transparency and genuine feedback more than ever. Customers use Google reviews to gauge whether or not they will invest their time and money into a particular business.

Considering the amount of influence Google reviews have over local SEO and potential customers, the whole system encourages businesses to provide better experiences than their competitors. This ultimately results in a win-win situation for everyone involved (unless you’re getting bad reviews).

3.  Google Reviews Help Your Local SEO Rankings and Traffic

Google’s algorithm places a fair amount of gravity on the presence of reviews (estimated to be roughly 9%). Businesses with a high amount of Google reviews will gain priority over those with a lack of reviews and will get an SEO boost. With a generally positive Google review rating, you can expect to get into the 3 pack (map pack) of local searches. So, Google reviews will help SEO nationally and locally. 

 4. Gain Testimonials And Customer Insights (Positive and Negative)

Knowing your customers’ perspective of your business is invaluable. In addition, Google reviews provide you with extra website content in the form of Testimonials.

Consumers will not hesitate to voice their concerns over a bad experience. Fortunately, the occasional bad review won’t completely hurt your SEO. Instead, they provide you with an opportunity for improvement and can be a good signal to readers that your reviews are real.

 5. They Help Build Customer Relationships

Customer relationships and positive experiences can encourage true growth for a small business. Word-of-mouth referrals can go a long way, which is why it’s so important to place an emphasis on positive customer experiences. The other side of the coin? Negative experiences can travel by word-of-mouth faster than one might expect. 

It’s equally important to remedy negative experiences and reviews by immediately reaching out to a customer who isn’t satisfied. Following up with negative Google reviews by offering a solution is a great way to show your business is invested in providing a good overall experience.

Great, What Should I Do Next?

Google offers instructions on how to share your Google review form for easy access. Other effective ways to get more Google reviews to help SEO are:

• Asking in person
• Sending emails
• Placing signage in your brick-and-mortar location

Thanks for reading this far! We hope you learned something new today and can use this information to grow your small business.

CG Marketing Group is a digital marketing agency based in Minneapolis providing digital and print marketing services to all sizes of business. We specialize in local SEO and national SEO services and can attest to the benefits of Google reviews.

Need help with your Google strategy? Let’s get to work!