Customers prefer business accounts that have reviews on their profiles. Reviews next to your Business Profile in Maps and Search can drive traffic to your site & help you get more customers. Google has provided some tips to help you get more reviews.
Best practices listed by Google include:
Verify your Google Business Profile
Remind customers to leave reviews
Reply to reviews to build customer trust
Many business owners have a mindset that only positive reviews can help improve their business, but this is not true.
Google recently updated the guidelines page and added a new point: “Value All Reviews.” According to this, honest & objective reviews are more helpful for new customers. A mix of positive & negative reviews is more reliable & trustworthy. The team at Google also suggests responding to customer reviews so customers know that you care. In case the reviews don‟t follow Google‟s posting guidelines, the business owner can send a removal request.
Google thinks having 99% positive reviews is unnatural, and the team may audit the reviews if such a case exists. So, it‟s totally fine to have mixed reviews. This won‟t even affect your rankings!
We think businesses can now share their review link to all customers without fail and stop worrying about negative reviews. However, make sure you are responding to such reviews.
If you need help with review management, we are just an email away.