By now you probably already know how important online reviews are for your business. With more than two thirds of Australian consumers (68%) reading online reviews about products or services, you can’t afford to ignore the value that customer feedback brings.
But aside from growing your online reputation, did you know that reviews can help you get found online and attract new customers? In fact, reviews are considered to be a key local SEO ranking factor.
Here are our top tips on how to leverage business reviews to get the maximum SEO benefit for your business.
Get as many positive reviews as possible.
Google has said that both a business’ ‘review count and review score factor into local search ranking’. In other words, the more reviews you have and the more positive they are, the higher up your business will appear in results pages for local searches.
Ask for a review with every transaction, and make it easy for people to leave feedback about your business. It goes without saying that customer service plays a big role here, because you want those reviews to be as glowing as possible!
Not sure where to get started? Check out our tips on how to get more online reviews for your business.
Insert relevant keywords in your responses.
Relevant keywords are one of the essential components of SEO success and reviews are no exception. This is because Google uses keywords to determine the relevance of your business to a person’s search. With this in mind, optimise your review responses by including relevant keywords, such as your business name, location and product or service, wherever they naturally fit.
For example, if a customer gives you a great review after visiting your mechanic, you could respond by saying, ‘Hi [Name], we’re glad we could help you out with your same day pink slip. From the team at ABC Mechanic Parramatta, we appreciate your feedback!’
RELATED: How to integrate keywords into your content.
Share reviews on your website and social media platforms.
Adding reviews to your website and social media profiles is another opportunity to utilise relevant keywords while building credibility with your audience. Here are some ideas to get started:
- Post a visual graphic with a testimonial to social media
- Use a carousel to showcase multiple reviews on your homepage and social posts
- Feature testimonial quotes on various pages of your website
- Create a landing page dedicated to feedback from happy customers.
Add review schema to your website.
Schema markup is code you add to the HTML of your web pages to give search engines more information about the content of that page. When you add schema markup to your website, search results for your web pages appear as rich snippets, which means they contain additional visual or interactive information.
Review schema is a type of schema markup that lets you display the average rating and reviews of your business as rich snippets, like this:
Although rich snippets aren’t a direct ranking factor, studies indicate that they increase the likelihood that people will click through to your website from search engine results. You can find out more about how to add this to your website in our schema markup eBook.
For more expert digital marketing advice, talk to the team at Yellow Pages.
