Why Google cares about your business reviews

We’ve become accustomed to finding reviews for almost anything online. From Amazon to Yelp, you can find millions of user-generated reviews to guide your purchasing decisions. Now Google is becoming more and more concerned about reviews, too.

In almost every search you make, you can find some form of user review. Whether it’s reviews for local businesses or online shopping reviews in Google’s Shopping Ads, Google wants businesses to get reviews and it wants its users to see them.

As a result, getting reviews can have a huge impact on your business. Not only can they increase your reputation, they can increase the amount that you show up in Google. That’s right, Google is rewarding businesses that get more reviews. Here’s why and how.

Reviews help you rank higher in Google search results

Your business’ organic presence in Google can have a huge impact on sales. Unlike paid ads, which become annoying to users after a while, organic results are overwhelmingly positive for users. In other words, customers aren’t going to get fed up with your brand showing up loads in Google’s organic results.

Unfortunately, you have to rank on the first page of Google if you want to get any traffic at all. The overwhelming majority of clicks (almost all) go to businesses listed on the first page. So how do you get to the first page of Google.

One way could be to get more reviews. Whether you are a local brick and mortar store, a national brand or an online business, getting more reviews can improve your organic presence in Google. That’s because Google uses them as trust signals. The better your reviews, the more trustworthy your business is. Google wants to show the best businesses in its search results, so it uses reviews to guide part of this decision.

Reviews alone aren’t going to get you to the top of Google, but they are going to go along way to helping you get there.

Reviews and off-page SEO

Getting more reviews can also form part of an effective off-page SEO strategy. How? Because off-page SEO is about creating a strong online presence as a brand. Creating presence on sites like Facebook, Yelp and Tripadvisor shows Google that you have a wide-reaching platform. This is another trust signal that Google uses to rank websites.

Google might change but reviews will always be important

Google might change how it ranks websites in the future. But that doesn’t mean you shouldn’t go all in on trying to get as many good reviews as possible. Why? Because reviews are always going to be a great way to promote your brand and get the recognition that you deserve. Even if Google suddenly decides to ignore reviews (which is unlikely), all the reviews you have got will still be valuable. Customers will always look for reviews when they want to find out more about a particular product or service.

Reviews improve your brand’s reputation. Period

Most businesses spend way too much time trying to please Google rather than improve their brand. By focusing on reviews, you can do both. The more reviews you get, the higher Google will rank you. The more reviews you get, the greater your presence online will be, especially if you build a strong presence on third-party platforms.