The SEM Zen blog is here to provide you with insights and ideas to help you with your online marketing – the strategies, tools and tips designed to help web users find your business on the internet and, then, ideally, help you convert those people or businesses into happy, paying customers.
This post discusses search engine optimization at perhaps its most fundamental level – local search – with a focus on how customer reviews help your business.
What happens when you, say, want to grab dinner or drinks with friends, but don’t know where to go or want to try something different? If you’re like most people, you probably hit up your favorite search engine for ideas. (Unless Siri is your gal for recommendations – which is a topic for a later post.)
When using Google for search, links to general directories (such as Yahoo Local and TripAdvisor) might appear toward the top of the first page, but featuring most prominently and with the most detail will be a selection of Google Places listings.
For example:
You’ve seen this before: The Google Places listings all conveniently include a description, address, phone and a summary of reviews. It’s a good starting point for you to make a decision, right? And unlike the general directories, if something catches your eye, you don’t have to slog through heaps of listings. That’s especially nice when you’re on the go with a mobile device, which is increasingly the case with online searches these days.
How did those establishments get those coveted “Places” placements on the search engine result pages (SERPs)? Notice that all the Google Places listings featured in this search had a high number of reviews. Google keeps the details of its search algorithms under a tight lock and key (and as we have mentioned, those algorithms frequently change), but it’s common knowledge that trust and reliability are becoming more important to Google.
To compete as a business owner (that includes businesses of any kind, not just establishments focused on dining/entertainment), here are two fundamental things that you must do:
- Ensure your business is properly listed with Google Places and Google Maps, as well as with the major online directories
- Make it a point to ask your customers/clients for online reviews
Directory Listings
People trust reviews. They will be more likely to consider giving you their business if they see that other people care to take the time to review your business online and if most of the reviews are positive. You probably don’t want to spend time getting listed with every directory – it’s not difficult, but it can be time-consuming, and there are just far too many. A firm like SEM Zen can help you with this, but in addition to Google, some listings you might want to secure (or verify for accuracy) include:
- Angie’s List
- CitySearch/CityGrid
- InsiderPages
- SuperPages.com
- Yahoo Local
- YellowBook
- YellowPages
- Yelp
Getting Online Customer Reviews
You might have heard the term “user-generated” content. With the rise of social media, content that is written by web users – whether it’s a response to your blog, a comment, like or share to your Facebook page post or, yes, a review posted online – is becoming at least as important to marketing as traditional advertising.
Asking for reviews from your customers might seem awkward, but if you’re providing good service and let your customers know that you’d appreciate their feedback, you’ll eventually get results. Some ways to solicit reviews include:
- Ask in a message in your business correspondence (print or online), particularly right after providing a service
- Occasionally post a request on Facebook, Twitter or whichever social media platform(s) you use
- Prominently display a sign or cards at your place of business, alerting people to review sites
- Include a link to your preferred review sites on your website
Start with the customers that you know to be most satisfied or with whom you have a good relationship.
While there isn’t a surefire way of knowing the impact ratings have on how your business ranks in the “local” search algorithms, reviews (and ratings) catch the eye, which can draw traffic to your website.
So, what are you waiting for?
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