Positive Google reviews are extremely important for high visibility in Google rankings and for trust in a company. Whether you are looking for a restaurant, stores or supermarkets - you will most likely use Google Maps. Reviews from other users play a major role in the selection process. Positive reviews are therefore very important.
Why are Google reviews so important?
Google reviews can now be seen in various places on the internet. You can see reviews of a company on kununu, Facebook or Google Maps, for example - Google conveniently displays a preview of the review as a snippet
If you use Google Maps in conjunction with Android Auto, the average rating is displayed directly for the respective destination. This means that all people who navigate to your company using Google Maps immediately get a first impression. Remember that these people could be existing customers, team members, suppliers, cooperation partners and investors. Or even potential new employees who enter the address via Google Maps on their way to a job interview.
To illustrate the reach of a simple rating on Google, just take a look at the views of reviews. Within a few months, images of reviews can generate more than 1,000 views. Accordingly, many users have used a review to make a decision during this period.
What are the benefits of positive Google reviews?
Numerous studies show that 92% of consumers read company ratings on Google Reviews before making a purchase decision. At the same time, 80% of consumers trust online reviews just as much as their own personal recommendations. It is interesting to note that the best possible and most trustworthy conversion rate is not 5.0, but 4.9. The reason: users consider a rating of 5.0 to be impossible and suspect fake or purchased reviews behind the top rating.
More and more often, users enter direct attributes such as "best", "cheapest" or "closest" when searching. In the following search, we first searched for "dentist Stuttgart" and then immediately entered "best dentist Stuttgart". The search results were completely different, as Google also takes into account the number and quality of reviews. So please note that the results can differ significantly with additional search terms.
Get more positive Google reviews
People are often more influenced by negative experiences than positive ones. As a result, customers are unfortunately more motivated to write negative reviews than positive ones. How can you counteract this? To get as many good reviews as possible, you should ask your customers to write a review. To do this, generate a short URL address on your review portal so that users have the shortest possible path to the portal. If possible, speak to customers personally and give them a reason why they should rate your company.
Beware of the "premium for review" method! Theoretically, the competition can give you a warning for unfair competition. Such offers are also less likely to ensure high-quality ratings, which is exactly what matters.
Which comments does Google rate particularly well?
From a technical perspective, the ranking of the review is based on a similar algorithm to that used for Google search results. Google lists the results that are most relevant to visitors first. The review of a pizzeria serves as an example here. But why is exactly this comment fixed at the top, even though many more new reviews have been written in the meantime?
Google finds it particularly informative because:
- it contains many photos that have high added value compared to pure text
- it contains an important keyword - original Italian pizza
- the author has already captured numerous other reviews
- the comment got a reaction (thumbs up)
- the company owner has responded
What do you do with negative comments?
Dialog with customers is immensely important. This also includes how you deal with and respond to negative customer feedback.
How do you respond to negative feedback without damaging your company's reputation?
Start your answer with the following sentences, for example:
"Thank you for your feedback and for reporting the problem"
"Dear [name], thank you for your feedback. We are sorry that your experience with us did not meet your expectations. This was an exceptional case and we will do our best to resolve your issue"
"We are very sorry that your experience with us did not meet your expectations."
"Thank you for your feedback. We are sorry to hear that our product was not of the expected quality. We would be happy to investigate your feedback further."
"Your feedback is very important to us. We would appreciate it if you could contact our customer service team at [phone number] and tell us about your experience with our product."
When can you mark a rating as unacceptable?
If a negative comment is not true, in some cases you can have it deleted. Below are some types of feedback that are considered unacceptable under Google's rules. If you find any of these types of reviews on your business profile, you can mark them as inappropriate so that they are then removed by Google.
The feedback is not relevant for this location
Google wants to make sure users get accurate information about your business. If you see a comment that is in no way relevant to your business or customer experience, ask the helpdesk to remove it
.Violations of the law
You can have reviews deleted that contain images of illegal products or services.
Inappropriate contentGoogle will remove any content that is deemed inappropriate or offensive. If you notice such feedback on your profile, flag it immediately to protect your company's image.
Conflict of interests
Google strives for objectivity, so you should not leave feedback about your own business. Also, you cannot leave feedback on a competitor's profile as this could manipulate the rankings in your favor.
Violation of privacyGoogle does not mislead users or provide them with false information. For this reason, the review should only be published by the person who writes it. You cannot publish it in the name of another person.
How do you distinguish between genuine and purchased reviews?
One of the most frequent Google queries is: How and where can you buy Google reviews? Since reviews are an effective marketing tool, there are unfortunately some companies that order reviews for little money from freelancer exchanges.
The writing of configured reviews is usually done like an assembly line: the author does not go into the characteristics of the product, but uses formulaic formulations and shows his emotions too obviously without backing them up with facts.
How to recognize purchased reviews:
Long text
Pay attention to the relationship between the product and the length of the text. It is unlikely that the buyer of a pot will take 20 minutes and write 3000 characters to report in detail on their experience. Authors are paid for the number of characters - so more text means more money. Exceptions for extensive reviews only apply in the fields of law, medicine and psychology.
Degree of enthusiasm
Expressions such as "delightful", "excellent", "extremely happy" evoke mistrust. Few people can be so enthusiastic about products that we use every day without paying much attention to them.
Listing the names of all employees, their positions, etc.If the names of several employees with whom you have been in contact 1-2 times are entered in the evaluation, that is suspicious. Are you good at remembering the names of people you have seen once in your life? This rule does not apply to doctors, teachers, hairdressers and similar professions.
Links
If the review contains links to external websites of other companies where the product can be purchased, caution is advised.
Fake author
The author doesn't have a real name, but instead a wild string of letters or unusual special characters? Then it is most likely a purchased review. For additional certainty, take a look at the author's previous reviews. If they have given either one or five stars everywhere, it may be a fake commentator.
Conclusion
Positive Google reviews are important for your company - because they guarantee a high position in the Google ranking and the best possible trust among customers. Positive reviews shape your target group's opinion of your company and contribute to its image. However, it is difficult to please everyone! Because some customers give very poor ratings because of minor things. Therefore, take enough time and respond to all reviews in detail and individually, as this will give your site more weight. Users who read reviews will also see your comment, which leaves a good impression - even if the review is negative. Review management is time-consuming but definitely worth it!
