Without a doubt, we can say that reviews and testimonials play a significant role in local SEO. People look for credibility. Local reviews will allow your brand to have better visibility and trust with all the potential customers. When people search for any business, the reviews show up and plan an immense role in Google’s ranking factor.
Role of Review in Local Search Engine
SEO for local businesses has a significant role in ranking pages. Reviews carry 8.4% weightage in local search ranking factors. The number may look small, but this number only increases the chance of your business becoming visible. Apart from this, we all know 90% of people use reviews to decide the performance of the business. From several reviews, service keywords to the diversity of sales, a lot of factors determine the ranking of the firm through reviews.
Google My Business Profile
All the reviews on Google my business page appear on Google Maps on the right side of the search results. Any business needs at least five reviews for stars to show up next to their business name. If you are aiming to rank better on Google maps, the first goal should be to have more reviews than your competitors. It alone has a lot of potentials to get you into the business. More than aiming for five stars, the focus should be on getting more reviews.
Avoiding Yelp Review Filter
Unlike Google, Yelp has a review filter that can sometimes make legitimate reviews also not get published. There are several ways in which you can make sure that these reviews don’t get filtered out.
Responding to Reviews
Almost all the websites give businesses the option to respond to reviews. You should be responding to all (negative and positive reviews). Not only does it increase the SEO score but responding to a review initiates a discussion by which you can get more reviews. Get help from an experienced advertising agency for the same.
Appearance of Reviews
The best branding is when people search for your business name online. You need a filled out my business profile. The first aim should be to get five reviews so that stars appear on your business. The visibility of your brand could be both on the right side, as well as on the search section of the page. When you have enough reviews on other websites as well, the star rating appears on yelp as well.