Everyone knows the benefits of Google reviews far outweigh the negatives. Yet, how strong of an impact Google reviews have on your business may shock you. Scroll down as we explore the advantages of Google reviews backed up with industry facts and consumer behaviour statistics.

Often left to fester, your Google My Business profile is a critical asset for your business. Not only does this profile offer hard and fast information about your company, but it also provides immediate insights into your popularity and brand reputation.

Let’s say you are a plumber in Melbourne. When somebody searches for this phrase, your Google My Business profile will appear within Google Maps. The likelihood of the searcher clicking on your profile when they see that you have bad reviews is pretty low. And so, without even a chance to speak to them and show them your worth, you have lost the sale.

This is where Google Reviews and any other review platform for that matter needs to be controlled by you. There are so many places on the internet where you do not have control over what people say about you and therefore controlling the places where you are allowed some level of management is critical. If you are still not convinced then keep scrolling to read about the advantages of Google reviews for your business.

Importance of Google Reviews.

Before we delve into the benefits that Google reviews will add to your bottom line, let’s quickly take a look at the importance of Google Reviews and commanding a stellar online reputation. It goes without saying that a glowing reputation is paramount to success in most industries. However, you may be shocked by how many people care about your overall review score.

In fact, according to a local consumer review survey by Bright Local, 87% of consumers looked at company reviews before making a purchasing decision. That is a whopping number of consumers who really care about what other people think. If that figure alone does not convince you, here are some other fun facts about the importance of Google reviews and how much consumers research.

84% of consumers trust online reviews.
73% only read reviews that are 1 month old.
Reviews impact 67% of purchasing decisions.
48% of consumers trust businesses with fewer than 4 stars.

So, if you have historically been neglecting to monitor and improve your online reputation then think again. In fact, for every one-star increase in a Yelp rating, businesses reported 5 to 9% increases in revenue. Over the course of time, that is a phenomenal amount of money that you could be leaving on the table through poor reputation management.

Benefits of Google Reviews.

Okay, now the importance of Google Reviews has been established it’s time to listen to some of the benefits that Google Reviews can bring to your business. From your general online reputation to improving your businesses visibility, there are plenty of benefits to be had.

Adding the management of your Google review profile on top of the million other things you need to complete may seem like an unnecessary burden. However, the benefits of Google reviews will make you think twice about ignoring this on your to-do list. Other than just being a proud 5-star rated company, here are some other reasons why you should pay attention to your reputation.

1. Local SEO visibility improvement.

A lesser-known advantage of Google Reviews is that frequent positive engagement on your Google My Business profile will positively impact your SEO campaign. In particular, your local SEO marketing campaign will benefit from increased visibility on Google Maps.

Although Google Maps does not show businesses in order of popularity, regular reviews on Google go a long way to ensure your business stays relevant. No, you are not going to shoot up the local maps by collecting a handful of reviews. Yet, no matter how small the ranking factor it is still a ranking factor from Google nonetheless.

Google’s local search algorithm focuses on ranking signals including:

Quantity (number of reviews)
Velocity (the speed at you receive reviews)
Diversity (various review sources)

There are a number of factors that Google monitors when ranking websites. However, Local SEO helps local customers find your business. If you have a storefront, improving your local SEO can also ensure consumers see your Google My Business listing.

2. Stronger brand trust signals.

There is no running from the fact that we live within a transparency hungry society. As more media is publishing surrounding hidden agendas and a lack of transparency from some of the biggest organisations, consumers want to deal with brands they can trust. It is not uncommon for consumers to research heavily into businesses before making a purchase and therefore your Google Reviews is a perfect place to start building brand trust.

To highlight the extent of how important your profile will become, 72% of consumers say that positive reviews make them trust local businesses more than may have done otherwise. By keeping on top of your Google Reviews you will quickly gain the upper hand on your competition who may have fallen asleep on their profile.

3. More website visitors.

With greater visibility via Local SEO and improved brand trust, you bet that your website will start to receive more traffic too. The first stage of any purchasing journey is to research and by standing out from the crowd with stellar Google Reviews, the likelihood that customers will click-through to your website is much stronger.

Online marketing companies spend thousands of dollars every single month to get your business in front of the right audiences. To make the most of this visibility, your Google reviews should be absolutely perfect so you do not waste this potential traffic. After all, all it takes is for a handful of negative reviews before red flags start to be raised.

4. Increased conversion rate.

Another compounding factor to trust signals from Google reviews is that your conversion rate will increase. The art of marketing is to eliminate as many purchasing hurdles as possible when dealing with customers purely online. By maintaining an impeccable reputation, one of the biggest purchasing hurdles, trustability, is immediately eliminated.

As a result, when customers do eventually start to engage in conversion with your business there is less chatter surrounding your performance and more natter surrounding how you can specifically help the customer. It takes a huge effort to get your business into the right positions to even pitch for the work. So, by making the most of every opportunity and displaying a Google reviews badge on your website, you will convert more traffic.

5. Cheaper cost per lead.

Often forgotten, everything that you do with your marketing boils down to your cost per lead or cost per acquisition. For every customer that you waste by not managing your online reputation, your cost per lead will increase. This is a factor that not many small business marketing campaigns consider.

It’s a trickle-down effect. Regular and positive reviews ensure slightly better visibility. Of which, you receive more traffic to your website. Then, this traffic is closer to making a purchase because they have skipped over the trust hurdle. This in turn means that you convert more business and make a greater return on investment from your marketing. It’s actually quite simple.

Advantages Of Google Reviews Roundup.

So that concludes our summary of the benefits of Google Reviews and why your business should pay more attention to your online reputation. No matter whether you are a small business or a thriving organisation, your customers are everywhere and you should pay attention to profiles that you can manage. Not everywhere on the internet is manageable by you and therefore having a handle on the platforms which are is worthwhile.

If your business is struggling to maintain its online reputation due to a handful of negative reviews, you should read our guide on how to remove Google reviews and start cleaning up your profile. The process is not exactly quick, however, the juice is worth the squeeze.

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Article Disclaimer: Google’s algorithm is constantly changing. Therefore, while this article on the advantages of Google Reviews has been authentically written and published to the best of currently available knowledge, we make no guarantee that comments within this article will remain factual.

If you believe that any of the comments within this article are outdated, please feel free to contact us at info@digitalnext.com.au and we would be more than happy to update this content.

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Benefits Of Google Reviews Online (& Shocking Facts!)