Harnessing the power of online reviews to supercharge your SEO

Harnessing the power of online reviews to supercharge your SEO

Online reviews can often make or break a business. Leaving dubious practices such as review brigading aside, a large quantity of favourable reviews for your product or service not only influences buying decisions – but 98% of the population check online reviews before they buy, according to a study by the University of Twente in the Netherlands.

However, more good reviews for your business have an added boon: it boosts your SEO efforts.

Google My Business, which displays information about your business, products, and services in the right-hand corner of the desktop search results, comprises about 33% of your local search ranking factor according to RioSeo.

16% ties directly into your online reviews.

Even though you might have a killer sales funnel that converts more often than not, the sales journey isn’t quite over.

You must implement a strategy that collects as many positive reviews as possible – as quickly as possible after your customer completes a purchase.

Steer them toward a timely review

As soon as the purchase is complete – or after they have received the service or item  – follow-up with a communication to prompt them to leave a review. This could be through SMS, email, or a post-purchase landing page. It’s best practice to leave at least 24-48 hours before asking, and in the morning to get the best response rate.

Make it simple

We’re in business – and we know that time is money. That goes for everyone. Giving your customers endless forms and questions to fill out will turn them off. Shorter and simpler is better. Ratings out of five for relevant categories, short answer sections if they want to leave more information. Pros and cons is good, and can help you refine your processes.

Using third-party review sites such as TrustPilot, Feefo, Word of Mouth, or your own Google My Business page can also assist.

Don’t just send and forget

If at first you don’t succeed, try again – but not too often, as this can annoy your customer and possibly drive them to leave a negative review! If you do follow-up with your customer, leave the nudges a few days apart. Do some A/B testing and figure out the “sweet spot” for maximum responses.

Respond to reviews, good and bad

We’ve all seen business’ responses to snarky reviews go viral; though the unicorn “sticking it up a customer” response can also backfire. Badly.

Responding to good reviews is easy – thank them for their time and custom and always be grateful.

However, negative reviews are like mini pieces of crisis communication. In a crisis, we either fight or flight, i.e., we try to ignore what’s going on until it blows over (it doesn’t; the internet remembers everything) or we want to lash out and tell this ingrate how we really feel!

Feelings shouldn’t enter it – when approaching negative reviews, have a clear and logical process that avoids thinking with your “lizard brain.”

You need to thank them for their time for leaving a review, acknowledge their pain, apologise and empathise, and accept ultimate responsibility.

If possible, try to rectify the situation by taking the conversation out of the public domain. An email – or even better yet – a call – could smooth over a negative review. Do everything in your power to rectify the situation. Once cooler heads have prevailed, ask if they can change or take down their review.

Remember – the more glowing reviews you have, the more SEO firepower you gain.

Want to know more? Get your FREE SEO site audit with Conquerr today – and there’s no obligation to sign up. Click here to get started.

Related Post