The main goal of Google’s algorithm is to assess a website by measuring E-A-T that is Expertise, Authority, and Trust. Google reviews play a key role in measuring ‘T’ in E-A-T that is Trust. The positive reviews from real-life customers signal to Google that your business is trustworthy and thus eventually improve your brand image.
As per various studies, it is evident that third-party reviews play an immense role in improving search ranking and SEO efforts. In this blog, we will discuss the five ways in which third-party reviews are helpful for your SEO.
What is a third-party review?
A third-party review is a review presented on websites other than your website for example third-party review sites like Facebook, Google and Yelp which help customers to know your brand. These reviews are very useful because this allows customers to know your business, instils trust, and exhibits the credibility of your product or services.
Nowadays, consumers rely upon third-party review sites which offer invaluable insight from an unbiased perspective to evaluate the brand reputation and are also beneficial in attracting potential customers. Hence, it shows that a large number of positive and genuine reviews would bring on improved rankings on search engine results pages.
5 ways in which third-party reviews can be beneficial
- Reciprocate to both positive and negative reviews
- Responding to both negative and positive reviews shows customers that you appreciate their feedback.
- Use negative reviews as an opportunity to improve and win back that customer.
- It is difficult to respond to every review. So, creating a corporate-approved template would be the best option.
- Your responses to customers, send signals to Google that your business is actively escalating all reviews and you value your customers, which is great for your SEO strategy.
- Build on your review score
There are various approaches to enhance your overall review score for your business.
- The first thing is to take a look at your business listing and optimize the items that need attention. This will improve your local search rank and site traffic thus leaving you with a higher review score.
- Responding to all of your reviews makes the reviewer have a favourable view of your business which may lead to recommending your business to family or friends and thus improve sales.
- Emphasize the volume of reviews
- High-quality, positive reviews from customers appear to be more trustworthy and will improve the business’s visibility that might also make the potential customer visit your location.
- A solid review gathering strategy can help you bridge the gap of having too few reviews and can also help authorize your business with search engines.
- The ideal way is to ask customers to leave their honest feedback regarding their experience but it is important not to violate any policies such as paying in exchange for reviews, disallowing negative reviews etc.
- Focus on review velocity
- Review velocity refers to how often you get new reviews. A regular flow of new reviews provides your business with new content.
- Customers also prefer to read new reviews to learn more about your business as they believe old reviews are no longer relevant.
- Encourage happy customers to leave feedback by sending an email or a follow-up text to keep a steady stream of up-to-date reviews.
- Reckon with the content of your reviews
- Google continuously relies on business information to deliver accurate and timely results to searchers. Some of that information may be obtained from the review content such as the location of your business etc.
- Additionally, a review with positive language from a local customer sends signals to Google that your business is trustworthy.
- Reviews on third-party platforms drive traffic to your website and increase exposure, credibility to your business.
Conclusion
Third-party reviews act as credibility standards for online businesses. They are less manipulated than reviews that are shown directly on your website. The quantity and frequency of third-party reviews are the most important local SEO signals that help determine the place of any business in their local SEO plan because more positive reviews will probably boost your business’s local ranking.
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Durga
About The Author…
Durga has a master’s degree in engineering. Technological advances in digital space interest her a lot. Digital marketing is her forte and she passionately follows latest trends in the digital marketing space. She has written many trending articles on various social media platforms. Her areas of interest include SEO Optimization, structured data, SMM, Keywords research and analysis etc. She is focused, resourceful and dedicated.