The Google My Business platform is well established and regarded as an essential part of any local SEO strategy. 

What’s more, even in 2021, Google reviews won’t lose their importance and will play a significant role in attracting new customers.

Google Reviews Are An Initial Deciding Factor. 

We see the Map Pack first, and this is where the reviews are displayed for the top 3 results.

People are lazy; they look for the top results and compare only what they can quickly see.

If your rating and reviews are positive and you have more than your competitors, you will likely get more calls.

You can have the best-designed logo, professional branding and a swish website. But if your online reviews are terrible, you will not get the volume of inquiries than the business that may have done the business set up by themselves, but their ratings are leaving you in the dust.

Google Reviews Instill Trust

Google reviews are an essential part of attracting more customers to your business.

The obvious reason is that when potential customers compare different businesses in your area, reviews are the one thing that stands out first.

They give a business trust and credibility and encourage a customer to click through and make an inquiry.

It is then up to a business to win them over with their customer service and close the sale or make the booking.

Reviews Will Help You Rank

The other not so obvious reasons have to do with Google rewarding your business by using the platform and gaining trust.

Google ranks sites for different reasons – Great content, website in good order and speed and a list of other reasons.

Having Google reviews can contribute up to 17% of the ranking signals 

Now you may not think that 17% is a number worth considering, but it is!

Click Through Rate Helps You Rank

The other not so apparent reason is that good reviews will encourage potential customers to click through to your site.

Google’s primary function is to be a search engine – You ask a question and it supplies you with the BEST answer.

If people in your city are typing in a search term like “Electrician near me”

And your business gets shown in the map pack alongside 2 or 3 other companies.

If your business has the best reviews and rating – More people will click through to your site.

Google is aware of this. If more people click on your site more often ( it is called click-through rate)

Google is more likely to show your business for that search term, making you start ranking for that term.

So now those reviews have done their magic and 17% is nothing to be sneezed at!

Google will start to show you more often because people were more trusting of your business because your reviews were better than others.

You have a better CTR which shows Google that you are the best answer for that search term

Now, this starts to make a big difference to a businesses bottom line!

Why Reviews Build Trust

When you shop online, what do you do before you checkout? 

When you are booking a holiday, you look at the TripAdvisor reviews about the hotel.

87% of people read the reviews before they buy or book and the negative ones are often read first!

Trusting The Reviews

Before I click on a product, I look at the star rating, as you can see above. At a glance, I can see if other people like the product and can decide right away if I’m interested in learning more. 

If the star rating is low, I can assume that the experience or the product is not suitable for me

I can also spot fake or planted reviews – They often have poor English or are really vague. Too many of these types of reviews can also put me off. 

Review numbers are also part of my research.

How many people have rated the product? If only one person rated the product five stars, I would still be dubious. One person is not sufficient to get my trust. 

I look for a minimum of 3 reviews before I make a decision. 

If there are dozens or even hundreds of reviews and the rating is still 4 or 5 stars, I know I can trust that company or product.

Google Reviews As A Deciding Factor

Let’s do a quick test to understand what we’re dealing with here.
Let’s say I’m looking for someone to clean my solar panels

These are the first three results, along with a map showing that they are both local.

If you are looking for a solar panel cleaner which one would you call? 

Google has revolutionised the way we do business locally and online. 

We can now really research before we even make a call or visit a store. 

We can read reviews, look at posted photos, look at the business on Google maps all on my phone.

When it comes to getting more business, local SEO is critical!

Reviews matter, and it is usually the #1 deciding factor from acquiring new business through local Google searches

Are You Ready To Start Getting More Reviews?

You may be wondering – how do I get more Google reviews? Where should I even start?

Here’s how …

THE THREE MOST IMPORTANT, BUT THE EASIEST WAYS TO GET MORE GOOGLE REVIEWS ARE:

Ask your customers for a Google review

Show them how to leave a review 

Give them some tips on what to write

How To Get More Google Reviews 2021 Style?

Easy – Ask for them and make it easy!

Ask for Google reviews.

You can’t avoid asking your customers/clients to rate you; it’s that simple. You need to ask someone to leave a review if you want to get a review. 

Take every opportunity to ask a customer to rate you. 

Although it seems easy to say, it can feel awkward to ask a customer for a review.

Find customers with whom you have a good rapport and start practising and soon enough, it will feel natural.

Now Watch The Video And See Our Method In Action

Make It As Easy As Possible For Customers To Review You

You can do it 2 ways

In-person and this way gets the best results because you have a degree of control.

Tap a card against their phone or they can scan a QR code.
Did you watch the video above ??
It shows these cards being used and new reviews EVERY DAY

Reviews on the spot, they can go to the right place and review. You could even suggest some words for them to write. Get some keywords into the reviews they leave. Even suggest they take a photo of the product or service you have just provided and this can be added to the review. It will make it even more relevant.

The second way is to send a direct link and this can be done in an email or even a text message.

It is not as effective as getting them in person but it will still bring in a trickle of new reviews.

Good luck with hitting your Google Review Goals and making your business more credible and stronger.

With more reviews – a malicious competitor cannot do damage with negative reviews being left about your business 

The Article Get Google Reviews 2021 Method was found on https://limitsofstrategy.com