What we do after receiving a Google Maps review (6/10)
At sixth course on Local SEO, we'll talk about what to do after you get a review on Google (and beyond) and whether you should handle all kinds of reviews. Positive or negative, benign or malicious..
The reviews are not only important for potential customers, but are also important for important factor in Google's local algorithm. Remember what we said in one of the previous lessons - Google's local algorithm has always been entity-based, and customer reviews are basically entity data coming from its users.
Think about how you decide to visit a local business - the first thing you will do is read their reviews. Right? You want to see what others think. Studies have shown that people now trust online reviews as much as they trust a review from a friend or family member.
If a business has bad reviews, you are much less likely to go there. Google's algorithm uses reviews in the same way - if a business has bad reviews and especially if there is no response from the business, they are less likely to show up higher in the search results. Why would Google think you value your customers when you don't even reply to them and don't manage their dissatisfaction?
What Google is considering
Google doesn't just look at the overall review score. The number of reviews matters, as well as the general feeling of what was written in those reviews. Now will you tell me how you can see the general feeling? It sounds complicated. Right? So how fantastic would it be if you could harness the ever-evolving AI and have it do it for you. (ask me and I'll show you the way)
Also, if some keywords tend to show up in your reviews, you are more likely to show up for those keywords. Have you read about power of keywords for local SEO; Do your homework and display the most important keywords in your answers.
Google is also considering review speed. If you get a few reviews here and there, this is a natural pattern. If you get a huge number of reviews one day and then no reviews for weeks or even months afterwards, it's an unnatural pattern and Google might look at it more closely.
Don't be afraid of Google reviews
The most important step is care just for customer service. If you provide an amazing customer experience, you will get good reviews. If you don't care about your customers, you'll get bad reviews.
Businesses that are afraid to put effort into reviews and reputation management because they are worried about bad reviews are usually businesses that know they will get bad reviews. So if you are in these businesses, then unfortunately nothing we say in our courses will help you. But if you fix your internal problems and provide excellent customer service, you don't have to worry about bad reviews and the road to success is open!
That being said, one or two bad reviews help you look more "real". No one expects any business to have a perfect rating.
So a few bad reviews here and there is only natural. When you start seeing consistent bad reviews that mention the same problem, then you know there's something to worry about. Several studies have shown that you don't want a perfect assessment score. The ideal score is an assessment score between 4.2 and 4.5. In that range, you get a good rating overall, but a few bad reviews here and there. No one will think your reviews are fake and you're more likely to attract customers.
How to respond to negative Google reviews
Responding to a bad review is always a challenge. When responding to negative customer reviews, a business should adopt an empathetic, friendly and professional approach not only to resolve the issue at hand but also to demonstrate that it genuinely cares about customer satisfaction. First, efficient early identification of the client's concerns is vital, expressing sincere regret for any inconvenience caused. Respond publicly to the criticism with a brief, empathetic message and an assurance that the matter will be addressed. Then, take the conversation offline by providing contact details or directing the customer to a customer service channel to discuss the issue in more detail. Once the issue is resolved, return to the review to share the resolution and thank the customer for their patience. In addition, use negative feedback as an opportunity for internal improvement, learning from experience to improve products or services. By managing negative reviews professionally and constructively, a business can not only save its relationship with the customer, but also demonstrate a commitment to continuous improvement and customer satisfaction.
Which reviews matter most to Google
Think back to the last time you decided to visit a business. What is the first thing you do when you look at reviews? Change the sorting filter to read the bad reviews first. You want to read about the bad experiences people had and how the company responded. Everyone knows that sometimes human error happens (who among us doesn't) or a customer has a bad day. It's a generally accepted thing. But what is not acceptable is not responding to customers. It shows disrespect to them and looks highly unprofessional. And remember, you don't respond for the client who gave a negative review. You are responding for the tens of thousands of potential customers who will see how you handle dissatisfied customers and choose the next business over yours.
It is also important to get reviews on different sites. Although Google reviews are the most prominent, appearing first when someone searches for your business, you need reviews on other sites as well. Not all of your customers will naturally leave a Google review.
Google's algorithm expects your reviews to be spread across many review sites. In addition to Google, you should receive reviews on Facebook, Trip Advisor. Booking etc. It depends on the specific industry your business belongs to. Most of the time the website that powers Apple Maps is Trip Advisor and, secondarily, FourSquare.
You don't want to have a great rating with lots of Google reviews, just to appear in the Apple Maps with a handful of reviews and a 2-star rating. How many customers will pull out their iPhones for directions, only to decide not to visit when they see your low rating? We'll tell you. 18.8% of users!
Google reviews gravity and how to increase them
Google reviews will always be the most important, because, as I mentioned just a minute ago, they're the first thing people will see when they search for you. You want to make sure that you have a great rating, hopefully somewhere between 4 to 5 and you want to make sure that you have more reviews than your competitors.
It's not hard to get good reviews - you just need to make it easy to submit reviews and you need to ask every customer. This is why we have created a service to increase positive reviews on Google. We are so confident in the results of this service that we are offering 3 months FREE trial of the service without any other commitment.
It's not really human nature to leave good reviews. If I'm at a restaurant that offers shrimp pasta and I find a hair inside, they're more likely to leave a bad review. But if it's the best shrimp pasta I've ever had, I'm not as likely to leave a review. However, if the waiter walked by and noticed that I was really enjoying my shrimp pasta and asked how it was, I'd probably say something about it being the best shrimp pasta I've ever tasted. If the waiter said then that he was happy that I was enjoying my food and would appreciate a reviewI was almost certainly going to leave a 5star review.
Asking every customer is key, but you also need to make sure they don't have to try too hard to leave a review. You need to create a page on your website to send customers - something like myrestaurant.gr/reviews. That way, every staff member knows where to send customers and it's an easy URL to remember. You can have a card at each table with a qr code where all they have to do is scan it.
On this reviews page, you should have a short message thanking the customer who chose you and asking them to rate their experience with you.
With one click the customer should be redirected directly to your Google My Business profile so they can easily leave a review. This is a much better process than just asking for a review and hoping the customer can figure out how to find your Google profile, how to log in and where to click to leave a review.
Watch your reviews from everywhere
You should also monitor all your review sites so you know when new reviews are received. It is important to respond to every review - yes, even positive reviews should receive a response. Google notifies reviewers when the business responds to their reviews. If someone takes the time to say something nice about you, you should take the time to write a response. It makes your customer feel even better about you and allows others to see that you pay attention to each customer. Here of course if you copy-paste the same response to everyone "Thank you very much. We hope to see you again" then you're not paying much attention are you? Here's how reviews should be answered by one of our partners (the review you see was automatically answered by our AI tool within 1 hour). Awesome answer?
On negative reviews you must answer in any case and as soon as possible. When writing your response, understand that it's not really for the person who left the bad review - it's for the rest of the world who wants to see how you handled the bad situation.
Sure, you should take all the steps and try to contact that customer and try to make things right, but your response should let everyone else know that you care. Don't make the common mistake of using the same standard response to every bad review. If every bad review has the same standard response of "We are sorry you had a bad experience, we strive to provide excellent customer service. Call us at 210 5657 567" - you actually look lazy or, at best, like you don't really care much about bad reviews.
Be honest in your answer. If someone in the company has made a mistake, admit it and let everyone know how you've made sure it never happens again. Being honest and truthful is something that will go a long way!
No fake reviews on Google!
It should be common sense, but we're going to point out - don't write fake reviews! It is contrary to Google's Terms of Service (and the Terms of Service of any review site) and is often against the law. It is usually very easy for Google to detect fake reviews and often easy for users to detect it. If your reviews appear fake to potential customers, you will lose your customers, lose your business as your Google My Business profile will be closed - but, more importantly, if you are caught, you will be penalised by Google and potentially face huge fines.
And in fact, you have no reason to do that. Your customers will be more than happy to leave you a review. All you have to do is ask them. Now that you can do it for free with our service for increasing your Google 5 star reviewswhat reason do you have to wait?
Why the reviews are not shown on Google
There may be a number of reasons why your Google reviews may not be visible. One common factor is that the reviews may not be visible. filtered or labelled by Google's algorithms. The usual reasons are if they look suspicious or violate their review policies. This can happen if
- Many reviews come from the same IP address,
- Seem overly positive or negative without sufficient detail
- There is a pattern of reviews from accounts with little activity.
In addition, Google may be undergoing updates or experiencing technical issues that temporarily affect the visibility of reviews. To address this:
- Make sure your reviews comply with Google's guidelines
- Encourage authentic comments from different users
- Monitor your Google My Business account for any notifications or updates on review visibility.
If the problem persists, contacting Google Support is a good option.
The importance of reviews for local SEO: Lesson Summary
So this is the sixth lesson on Local SEO. We hope you learned something useful for your own business. In the next lesson we have the most important Google ranking factor. The professional profile of the company. If you want to show you in a free presentation how you can manage your reviews and the reputation of your business online, we are at your disposal.
And in general, for any questions you can contact us.
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