According to leading industry analysts, optimizing your website for local search is becoming more and more important. Most people reach for their smart phones when they feel the need to research something online, and if your business isn't on the first page of results chances are people will never find you. The good news is customer reviews can help with local SEO.
It is essential nowadays to provide customers with the means to leave you a review, which is why we created the Google Review Widget. The widget displays the 5 most relevant reviews (according to Google) alongside a strong call-to-action for people to leave a review directly on your Google Business listing page.
The advantages are twofold. First, it provides the customer with enough information to make an informed decsion before they choose to engage with your business. After all, would you do business with a company which had poor customer reviews? Secondly, it provides your business with the much needed reviews in order to help boost local SEO efforts and increase your overall credibility and trust factor.
Earning a steady stream of customer reviews is one of the most important pieces of a local business's online marketing campaign. Experts believe customer reviews can improve a business's rankings on Google—and plenty of consumer research suggests they are a key piece of the purchase-decision process.
- Moz.com
Customer reviews form a core part of the customer journey which feedback into the never ending cycle of new customer acquisition. For example, when somebody starts researching a product or service they may happen across your website or Google Business listing. If you have positive customer reviews it can help to influence their decision making process which may lead to them becoming a customer. If they are happy with your product or service they may leave another positive review which feeds into the next person's research cycle, and so on.
Of course this can work to the detriment of a business as well if they have negative reviews which is why it is so important to manage your customer reviews and deal with any negative customer reviews promptly. Customers may withdraw a negative review if they feel their problem has been resolved satisfactorily and you have been seen to publicly address their concerns.
Disclaimer: The Google Review Widget has been developed independently by NetRite Ltd and is no way endorsed by Google. The 'powered by Google' logo is the registered trademark of Google and is displayed in accordance with the terms of the Google Places API.
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