Google reviews are a critical part of digital marketing. They affect your rankings in local search as well as how consumers perceive your business online.
But what exactly are Google reviews? How do consumers use them? How do you get more of them?
In this post, I explain what Google reviews are, why they’re important and how businesses can use them to increase sales.
What are Google Reviews?
Google reviews are reviews made for businesses who have profiles on Google Maps.
They show up in a few different places while you browse Google but are most likely to appear in the Places section of a regular search engine results page (SERP):
You’ll first notice them near a business’ name on Google as a total average rating calculated from every review a business has received as well as the total number of ratings that business has received.
Clicking a business’ name on Google brings up that business’ profile, allowing you to read all of their reviews in full.
You might have a profile on Google even if you’ve never created one yourself. If you do, claim it. If not, create a Google Business Profile for your business so you can start receiving reviews.
Key Components of Google Reviews
The Reviews section of a Google Business Profile begins with a review summary that includes:
- A breakdown of your ratings
- Your overall review rating
- The number of reviews you’ve received
- Three featured reviews with bold text emphasizing the most important parts of the review
If you scroll down, you’ll see filters (which include keywords relevant to your business) and sorting options for most relevant, newest, highest rating and lowest rating.
The reviews follow this section and are listed in whichever sorting option you choose.
An individual review has the following components:
- Reviewer profile – Reviewer’s name, profile picture, total number of reviews they’ve written, total number of photos they’ve added to Google, and whether or not they’re a “Local Guide”*
- Rating – Star rating out of five possible stars, plus how long ago the rating was published/updated
- Tags for order details – Such as “dine in,” “$10-$20” and “breakfast”
- Review – Review text, which may have a “more” button to hide the rest of the review if it’s quite lengthy
- Photos – Photos added to the review
- Engagements – Likes from other users, and a share button for sharing the review to other platforms
- Response – A response from the business owner will appear at the bottom of a review
*Local Guide: A Google review contributor who has reached a contribution level of 4 or higher.
How Consumers Write Google Reviews
When a consumer wants to write a Google review, they’re given a form to fill out.
The form allows them to assign an overall rating for the business as well as individual ratings for things like food, service and atmosphere.
They’re encouraged to include a written review and can add photos and videos.
They can also choose selections that describe the types of products and level of service they received based on questions like:
- Did you dine in, take out, or get delivery?
- How much did you spend per person?
- What dishes do you recommend?
- Were there any special offers or deals available?
The consumer can also specify details about dietary restrictions, parking, kid-friendliness and other attributes.
In short, potential customers can learn a lot about your business on Google depending on how thorough customers are when they fill in their review forms.
The Importance of Google Reviews for Businesses
Online reviews are important for businesses in general, but just how important are Google reviews?
According to data from BrightLocal, 71% of consumers read online reviews regularly while browsing local businesses.
Among customers who read online reviews, 83% read reviews on Google, the most of any platform.
This demonstrates the influence Google reviews have in the marketing world.
You could create the most clever marketing campaign your industry has ever seen, completely blowing your competitor’s latest campaign out of the water, but if you don’t have a presence on Google or don’t have as many reviews as your competitors, your campaign could potentially create a path of discovery to your competitors rather than your own business.
Plus, the number of Google reviews you have does matter. There’s a direct correlation between the number of reviews you have and how high you’re able to rank in local search.
According to data from Localo, businesses that rank in one of the top three positions in local search have an average of 240 Google reviews each.
Reviews are also important in general because they:
- Help customers research your business online
- Help customers verify your business as a real business
- Add local keywords to your Google Business Profile
- Add more photos to your Google Business Profile
- Help you identify issues with products and services
- Increase traffic to your website
How to Get More Google Reviews
Follow these tips to get more reviews on Google:
- Ask customers directly
- Include a review link* on handouts
- Include a review link on packaging
- Add a review link to your website
- Build a review funnel
- Improve the customer experience
*Review link: A link that takes customers directly to your review page on Google. Learn how to create a Google review link.
The most effective way to get more reviews on Google is by creating a review link that makes it easy for customers to find your review page, and then asking them to leave you a review directly.
Keep an eye out for customers who seem pleased with your service, and ask them if they’d be willing to write you a review on Google.
Don’t offer them anything in exchange for their review. This is against Google’s policies.
If you have your customers’ email addresses and phone numbers, create a review funnel that guides them to your review page.
This is something our plugin Starfish Reviews can help with.
Finally, take the time to come up with ways to improve the customer experience, and follow through.
According to a survey conducted by BrightLocal, 24% of customers choose not to leave reviews because their experience wasn’t exciting enough to want to share.
Spy on competitors who have more reviews than you for inspiration. See if they’re doing anything better than you. Look at businesses in other cities as well.
How to Manage Google Reviews
Monitor your online reviews regularly and manage them by:
- Removing fake reviews
- Responding to reviews
- Recording review metrics to track your progress over time
- Making note of customer feedback
The most important strategies from this list are removing fake reviews and responding to reviews.
Fake reviews damage your reputation. Real customers will be skeptical of fake positive reviews, and fake negative reviews damage your overall review score.
It’s not easy to remove a fake review. On Google, all you can do is report a review you suspect is fake. It’s up to Google to decide whether or not they want to remove it.
That’s why responding to reviews is so important.
If you respond to a review calling it out as fake, customers will have more context when they read through your reviews.
Responding to Google Reviews
Responding to reviews is important. It shows customers that you care about their feedback, which may encourage them to do business with you again.
It also shows potential customers that you care about your customers enough to thank them for their service and acknowledge any concerns they had.
In fact, according to data from BrightLocal, 46% of consumers consider business owners responding to reviews to be an important review factor.
Related: What Do Customers Look for in Reviews? (Review Factors)
Your responses don’t need to be elaborate, but they should be sincere.
You can have customer service representatives post them, but it’s more effective if they’re written by the business’ owner or employees who work directly with customers.
To spice up a response to a positive review, share behind the scenes details about things your customer praised you for or specific products they purchased.
Write responses to negative reviews carefully. Since you likely won’t get a negative review removed, your response to it could be the deciding factor for potential customers who are on the fence about purchasing from your business.
Accept responsibility for mistakes your business made or allegedly made. Share insight into how you plan on improving your business so the issue never happens again, and invite the customer to give you another chance.
How to Display Google Reviews On Your Website
Google reviews are excellent ways to demonstrate social proof online.
The theory behind social proof is that by observing other customers enjoying your products and services, potential customers will be more likely to buy them.
Since some customers will first learn about your business from visiting your website rather than your Google Business Profile, it’s best that you display them on your website as a way to demonstrate social proof.
Starfish Reviews can help with this as well with the review collection feature, giving you a way to display a review slider on your website.
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