Whether you own a small retail store or a large chain of internationally recognized restaurants, all businesses that have either a physical location or that involve face-to-face contact need to take advantage of local listings and citations.
A crucial part of your overall SEO strategy and one of the key local SEO practices, understanding how to leverage online reviews to your advantage is a must for all local business owners.
If you are not sure how or indeed why you should be trying to earn more local business reviews, the below guide will tell you everything you need to know.
Why are local business reviews important?
In today’s increasingly digital marketplace, online reviews are more important than ever before, helping to increase your online presence, improve your user experience and help you rise in the ranks of Google.
In fact, a whopping 97% of customers read online reviews before purchasing a product to gain additional insight, and 95% of shoppers read review sites such as Yelp, Facebook, Google, and Trip Advisor before making a purchase.
This is why it is so important that you encourage your customers to leave reviews on as many different platforms as possible, resulting in maximum improvements to your local search rankings and your bottom line.
Currently, and unsurprisingly, Google has the largest market when it comes to search for local businesses, with an estimated 87% of all local searches taking place on this popular search engine.
What does this mean for your local business?
Namely, that it is Google you need to be focusing your local SEO efforts on.
One of Google’s methods when determining how useful you are to a searcher’s query is EAT. If you are unfamiliar with this acronym, see the below:
Expertise:
To impress Google, you need to show that you are an expert in your field. Achieve this by posting informational and professional content on your site. Also, focus on building trust and providing content that adds value to the user experience.
Authoritativeness:
The content you produce needs to be written by someone who has the necessary credentials to showcase your brand as a high authority source. If your business relies on community conversations and forum discussions, the quality of these is critical.
Trustworthiness:
Trust is vital for all businesses, no matter their size or niche, so you need to make sure that your customers feel safe when they share their personal information and sensitive data with you. One way to achieve this is by using SSL encryption, a process that protects customer data when it is being transferred. Interestingly, 70% of all websites that feature on the first page of Google use this type of encryption software to instill trust in their brand.
By building upon and using your local business reviews, you can improve your overall EAT performance, impressing Google and driving your business forward in the process.
Now let us move on to how you can earn more local business reviews as a part of your local SEO strategy.
How can I earn more local business reviews?
Whether you are struggling to get a decent number of local business reviews or you simply cannot get enough of these golden nuggets of customer approval, the below tried and tested strategies are guaranteed to get results.
1. Exceed customer expectation
When it comes to local business reviews, you want to receive lots of positive ones rather than ones offering up complaints. The simplest way to achieve this is by exceeding customer expectations so that they feel compelled to leave a review.
Ways in which you can exceed customer expectation include:
- Offer unrivaled customer service
- Provide thorough in-house staff training
- Improve your quality control methods
- Promote a positive company culture
2. Promote reviews in-store
If you have a physical store or even if you visit customers’ homes to carry out a service, it is a good idea to have visible signage that encourages your customers to leave a review. This could be in the form of a poster on the wall, a little note in their shopping bag, or a printed t-shirt that you wear to callouts.
Other signage ideas include:
- Banners
- Business cards
- Message on receipts
- Menus
- Flyers
When it comes to encouraging people to leave local business reviews, less is definitely not more, so be sure to communicate your interest in feedback in as many ways and places as possible.
3. Use email marketing
Email is one of the most effective methods for encouraging customers to leave reviews, offering the opportunity to appeal to people when they at their most engaged with your brand, such as right after a purchase or a visit to your store.
To encourage positive reviews, send an email that contains a promotion or special offer as well as a request for feedback. Also, ensure that you make the process of leaving a review as simple and straightforward as possible and offer multiple review sites for them to choose from.
4. Audit your review process
As briefly mentioned above, if you want to receive lots of local business reviews, you need to make leaving one as easy as possible. People are busy, and any issue or interruption may well result in them abandoning their review and never returning.
The simplest way to ensure your review process is without problems is to carry out regular audits. These should include:
- A check of how easy it is to find the reviews page on your website
- A check of both your links and instructions to leaving a review
- An evaluation of the number of platforms that customers can leave reviews on
- A check to see if any review platforms contain reviews about your business that you are unaware of
5. Respond to ALL reviews
Some businesses make a point of responding to positive reviews but prefer to ignore negative ones. At the same time, others feel the need to reply to less favorable comments but overlook thanking happy customers. Both of these options are less than ideal.
As a local business, you should make it a priority to reply to all reviews left about your business, even if it is simply to say thank you.
If you struggle to know how to respond to negative reviews, follow the below tips:
- Always address the customer by their name
- Offer an apology
- Sympathize with the customer’s issue
- Explain how you are going to solve their problem
- Ask for a second chance by providing a gift or other incentive to return to your business
If you manage to rectify the issue, it can be good to ask the customer to change their review to reflect the follow-up service they received from your business. Most people will understand that mistakes happen and will be more interested in how you have resolved them.
Conclusion
Unlike other SEO strategies, which can produce very fast results, the effects of earning more local business reviews can be more of a slow burner. However, this does not make their contribution to you the success of your business any less valuable. In fact, with the ability to build trust, set yourself apart from your competitors, and establish your brand as a leading expert in your niche, local SEO and, in particular, local online reviews, can transform your local business and put it on the map so to speak.
Need help earning more local business reviews or with your overall local SEO strategy? Why not hire a professional SEO agency that specializes in helping local businesses grow.
