How Customer Reviews Can Help Your SEO
Many small businesses live and die via word of mouth. The last thing you need is someone talking badly about your business. These days things can get out of hand because of the Internet. People can post anonymously and say anything they want, and the the entire world can read it. It is important to have a good online image.
It is a fact that most people occasionally or regularly consult online reviews when determining if they are going to use a business. You need to remember that people generally believe in these reviews and these reviews do influence them.
Another thing you need to worry about is that reviews don’t only influence people. Your reviews can lead your rankings on search engines. In fact Moz released some research last year that shows reviews rank 5th among the most important search engine ranking factors.
There are a few best practices you should follow:
- Review Quantity: most people won’t trust you until you have seven to ten reviews.
- Authority of Review Sites: some customer review sites have greater authority with Google than others.
- Quality Reviewers: having reviews on influential people’s blogs will give you a huge boost.
- Always, always review your reviews. If there are bad ones, see if there is something you can do about it. Reach out to the reviewers or the review site. Sometimes ‘trolls’ can chip in even if they have never been to your business or used your services.