Want to learn how to navigate corporate and become a preferred vendor?

Or are you just itching to understand what drives the hard-working (often surprisingly small) teams at the heart of franchise management?

In Local Search at Scale: Trials & Triumphs, a series of video interviews in partnership with Steady Demand, Ben Fisher takes to the mic to ask a guest about managing local search (and everything else besides) at scale within the USA’s biggest franchises.

These are the unsung heroes, the boots on the ground keeping everything moving. You won’t find flash-in-the-pan strategies or the latest fads in marketing—just inspiring stories about the people who really make things happen in the franchise and enterprise world.

In this episode, Ben speaks with Georgia Rei, ‘Queen’ of the Mr Duct Cleaner leadership team. Mr Duct Cleaner is a growing US franchise specializing in air duct cleaning, HVAC, and mold removal.

Watch to learn:

• The sorts of spammy tactics that will get you nowhere when approaching a franchisor

• The importance of understanding emotions and crafting effective messages in marketing

• The best ways to contact a franchisor (and what to avoid)

• The importance of referrals when it comes to winning new business

• and much more!

About Georgia Rei

Queen at Mr Duct Cleaner

Georgia is the ‘Queen’ of Mr Duct Cleaner (watch the episode to find out why!). Georgia’s background is in economics, family business, finance, and leadership development. She is experienced in strategic planning and team development. She successfully ran the first SBA loan diaper service and grew it into a commercial laundry operation. She taught economics, investment, finance, money and banking, sales, and marketing at several colleges and Universities.

Watch the Video

Liked this video? Join us over on BrightLocal’s YouTube channel and subscribe today to be first in line when the next episode drops!

Want more Ben Fisher? Check out his original series of articles on enterprise local SEO, Local Search at Scale, which covers everything from dealing with decision-makers to understanding where budgets are most impactful.

Want to learn how to navigate corporate and become a preferred vendor?

Or are you just itching to understand what drives the hard-working (often surprisingly small) teams at the heart of franchise management?

In Local Search at Scale: Trials & Triumphs, a series of video interviews in partnership with Steady Demand, Ben Fisher takes to the mic to ask a guest about managing local search (and everything else besides) at scale within the USA’s biggest franchises.

These are the unsung heroes, the boots on the ground keeping everything moving. You won’t find flash-in-the-pan strategies or the latest fads in marketing—just inspiring stories about the people who really make things happen in the franchise and enterprise world.

In this episode, Ben speaks with Premium Service Brands‘ David Raymond, an experienced Chief Operations Officer more than familiar with the highs and lows of franchise management and marketing.

Watch to learn:

• The mindset of a franchisee, and how understanding this can help you work with them

• How to learn your franchisees’ unique challenges and needs

• The power of active listening in vendor relationships

• Top tips that potential vendors need to know when speaking to potential franchisor clients

• How to use data to back up the value of local search marketing

• How to leverage technology to ensure scalability and exponential growth

• and much more!

About David Raymond

Chief Operations Officer at Premium Service Brands

David Raymond currently owns a ProLift Garage Doors franchise and just finished up a 5-year term as the Chief Operations Officer at Premium Service Brands. Prior to his time at Premium Service Brands, David served as a Franchise Business Consultant with College Hunks Hauling Junk and Moving where he cut his teeth in franchising.

David’s experience running a large, multi-state garage door company headquartered in Florida was incredibly valuable to the home service-based franchisors and the franchisees he worked with and supported. However, David attributes most of his leadership lessons to the United States Marine Corps, where he served two separate enlistments as an M1A1 Tank Crewman and Commander.

Watch the Video

Liked this video? Join us over on BrightLocal’s YouTube channel and subscribe today to be first in line when the next episode drops!

Want more Ben Fisher? Check out his original series of articles on enterprise local SEO, Local Search at Scale, which covers everything from dealing with decision-makers to understanding where budgets are most impactful.

You might be thinking: “Why respond? They’re happy customers!”

Think again…

Recent research from BrightLocal’s Local Consumer Review Survey shows that:

• 88% of consumers are “likely” to use a business that responds to all reviews, positive and negative.
• 59% of consumers expect to see a response to their review within two days of the review being left.

So… how can you respond to all reviews, leaving happy customers satisfied and addressing the concerns of less-than-happy ones, all within the time period they prefer, and still have time to crack on with the work that gets you these customers in the first place?

Simple. Become a superhero.

Our new Review Reply Templates feature in Monitor Reviews (with added AI!) will revolutionize how you respond to Google reviews and Facebook recommendations with BrightLocal and turn you into a Review Response Superhero. By setting your own response templates to common responses, you’ll leave every satisfied customer even more satisfied when you respond.

How does it work?

Create a Template

Review Reply Templates couldn’t be easier to get started with. Just create a template that fits your tone of voice and select which review ratings you want to apply it to. Agency customers can even link templates to clients, allowing them to manage all review responses in one place.

Select Your Template

Then, when you’re sipping your morning coffee and reviewing the plaudits and praise (and the rest), just select the template that works best for the review, adjust if needed, and hit ‘Use’.

What’s this about AI?

Want to make your responses even more tailored and less “templatey”? With the magic of our ‘Generate AI Response’ button, a response is created that speaks specifically to what the customer review mentions, and you barely have to lift a finger.

Didn’t love the first iteration? Easy, just click ‘Generate AI Response’ again. You can generate up to three responses per review.

Where do I start?

Reputation Manager users and ‘Grow’ plan customers can get started right away! Just head into BrightLocal and get ready to work some review response magic. Need a helping hand? Head over to our dedicated Help Center guide on this awesome new feature. 

While many aspects of listings management are the same across each of those four platforms, they do differ in some areas. Understanding the quirks of each local listing service can be a real timesaver. Plus, this insight can help you to feel confident that you’ve optimized each listing for maximum visibility, SEO benefit, and usefulness.

To help you build a clear picture of best practice across Google Maps, Apple Maps, Bing, and Facebook, we’ve compiled a list of the most commonly asked questions for each. Read on for the answers. 

How should I craft a business description?

Our Business Listing Trust Report found that 94% of local consumers have turned to a business information site to find information about a local business within the last 12 months. The business description will be one of the first things local consumers see—and if they are new to you, it could be the first impression they have of your business.

Your business description tells the reader about your business. Think of it as an elevator pitch. It outlines what you do and the products or services you offer. Right away this tells the consumer if you’re a potential match for their needs. The description may also confirm your niche, any areas that you specialize in, and any awards or industry accreditations that you hold.

Within your summary, you may also share something of your business history, such as the year you were established, or how long you have been serving the local community. 

Google

Your Google Business Description is a space to share meaningful information about your business with Google local search users. It forms part of your wider Google Business Profile and is accessible via the Local Pack and Map listings.

The first thing to know about crafting a strong Google Business description is that you only have 750 characters to work with. That means your text should be clear, descriptive, and succinct.

Your description shouldn’t contain details of current promotions or sales, nor should it refer to prices. Instead, this space should tell the reader about your business history, your unique selling points and the products and services you offer. No links are permitted and your description must abide by Google’s guidelines, which include no harmful or offensive content.

You should aim to include keywords in your description which reflect your service and location. As ever, avoid keyword stuffing and write for a human, not a search engine. 

Apple Maps

You’ll need to create an Apple Business Connect listing for your business information to show up on Apple Maps, Apple Wallet, Siri, Safari, and other Apple properties. Business information is collated under a ‘place card’. The max character count for the business description is 500 characters.

Apple recently upgraded how listings are managed to allow businesses to provide a wider range of text-based information, including a brief about section. You should aim to include at least a primary keyword in this field to enhance your search visibility.

You’ll also need to confirm basic details such as the company name, website, opening hours and services to create your listing. You can add photos and logos, share detail of promotions and special offers, choose a category, and add a link to your business app in the App Store. One quirk of Apple Maps is that you can reposition your business pin to better reflect your physical location—so be sure to check that you’re happy with where it’s placed.

Bing

If you already have a Google Business Profile description you’re happy with, you can import that information directly to Bing Places. If not, once you have claimed your business listing on Bing, you’ll need to manually input your details. Whether you choose to import your Google Business Profile info or create a new listing, your details will then appear on Bing Maps and in search results.

Your business description should accurately describe what customers can expect from your service. Bing suggests listing the services you offer, providing driving directions and outlining any affiliations, awards, or specialities.

Like Google, Bing’s local algorithm is based on relevance, distance, and popularity. That means you should aim to include keywords in your description to tick the relevance box. While research shows that adding keywords into your business name can increase search visibility and traffic, Bing warns that adding the location to the business name or keyword stuffing would trigger a spam filter and see the name automatically standardized.

Because Bing Places requires a physical business address, virtual office locations won’t be able to create a Bing Places listing. 

Facebook

Your Facebook Page provides two different sections in which to add your business description. The actual description field should be kept short and sweet at just one to two sentences. However, there is also a separate ‘About’ section where you can add supplementary details such as how long you have been in business, what you specialize in and your business values.

Your page information will be visible on Facebook but Page information is also indexed by Google so it could additionally appear in search results. 

Should I use phone tracking numbers or URLs in my listing?

Google

Google users can call your business from your listing on both Google Search and Google Maps. Google is currently trialing a feature called call history with certain businesses in the USA and Canada. Anyone placing a call to a business with call history enabled will be forwarded to a unique number for that business, which can later be tracked via Google Business Profile. Details of those calls are then kept for 45 days. 

Google doesn’t expressly forbid the use of call tracking numbers. It says that the phone number provided must connect to the individual business and shouldn’t redirect the user to anywhere other than your specific business location. You must also have direct control over the number, and it shouldn’t be a premium rate number.

It’s advisable to use the tracking number as the primary number and then your actual number as a secondary number. 

Apple Maps

Like Google, Apple Maps doesn’t specifically forbid the use of a phone tracking number or call tracking URL—it simply says the phone number should connect to the business location.

Even without a third-party tracking tool, the Insights portion of your Business Connect dashboard will provide some basic information in the form of the number of calls made to your business. Keep in mind this only tracks the calls made by those tapping on the number given in your listing, not those who manually dialed.   

Bing

Bing also doesn’t have any restrictions prohibiting the use of call tracking numbers or URLs. Like Google, it’s advisable to use the tracking number as the primary number and then your actual number as a secondary number. 

Facebook

There’s no rule against adding a call tracking number to your Facebook page. You can enter the call tracker as your business number in the profile or website URL to your Page profile. As an alternative, some call tracking tools can integrate directly with your Facebook Business account. If you’re coupling your organic Facebook Page with social media advertising, Facebook also offers its own call tracking solution with call ads.

How frequently should I update and optimize my listing?

Google

Your Google Business listing is likely the very first thing that local search users will come across on Google. It’s therefore important that it’s always up-to-date and optimized. You should update your listing as often as necessary to reflect any changes to your business offerings:

• Planning special opening hours due to a seasonal event? Update your listing.
• Changing your opening hours due to customer demand? Update your listing.
• Closed due to a private function? Update your listing.
• New products or services added to your offering? Update your listing.
• Different phone number? Update your listing.
• New service area now offered? Update your listing.
• New payment methods now accepted? Update your listing.
• Outdoor seating now available? Update your listing.
• Takeaway or curbside pick-up now available? Update your listing.

Optimization isn’t something that you can fit neatly into a box. Given the importance of your Google Business profile, it’s something that you’ll need to dedicate ongoing time and resources to. Each time a new review is received, you’ll want to quickly jump on and leave a response. Likewise, you should aim to upload new photos regularly and share a Post at least once a week, if not more frequently.

Apple Maps

This question is especially pertinent to Apple listings as Apple is known for the pride it takes in the accuracy of its Maps information.

It advises that your listing should be updated ‘often’ so that all location-related details remain accurate. That includes amending opening times if they change, along with sharing details of new special offers or promotions as they launch. Other tips include uploading seasonally appropriate images at regular intervals, for example during the holidays or at Easter.

If any of your ‘good to know’ information changes—such as the addition of new accepted payment methods—your Apple Maps listing should be updated right away. 

How to Optimize an Apple Maps Listing

Read More

Bing

As with Google and Apple Maps, you’ll need to update your Bing Places listing as soon as anything changes. That means any adjustments to business hours, payment options, services and so on should be reflected in your listing right away.

For optimization, in addition to keeping all business data current, you should be proactive about requesting reviews, responding to reviews across all review platforms (because Bing pulls in review data from sources such as TripAdvisor), and upload new images regularly. Don’t forget to add details of any special offers or promotions to Bing when updating your Apple Maps profile or creating a Google Business Post about the same.

How to Optimize a Bing Listing

Read More

Facebook

Almost half (48%) of local consumers turn to Facebook when they need local business information. That means you should update your listing as soon as anything changes within your business—ideally when you apply the updates to your Google, Apple Maps and Bing listings.

Once your initial page optimization has been dealt with (such as choosing your URL, filling in about information and uploading your logo and cover image), ongoing optimization will revolve around posting updates and building engagement. Aim to share new content (such as blog post snippets, curated content, video, and images) around two to five times per week. 

How do abbreviations affect NAP consistency?

We’ve already touched on this above, but it’s worth repeating that NAP consistency matters. Even knowing that, you may be unwittingly creating slightly different citations, simply by using street name abbreviations when creating new business listings. It’s all too easy to fall into the habit of using St. rather than writing out street in full, or Ave. instead of avenue. But does it matter?

Google

Google’s algorithms are smart enough to understand abbreviations, so you don’t need to worry if you have accidentally used Apt. and apartment interchangeably, or have inputted Rd. instead of road, or Expy instead of expressway in some of your business listings. You can find a complete list of all abbreviations and variations that Google normalizes here.

Apple Maps

Apple Maps pulls business information from lots of different sources and in turn, is used by a range of other platforms. It’s therefore best to be consistent with your NAP and if you do abbreviate some part of your street name, continue with that format across all other listings. 

Bing

The Bing Maps API can handle abbreviations in street names—so, like Google, it’s smart enough to recognize Ave as avenue or St. as street. 

Facebook

You can use abbreviations when inputting NAP on Facebook. Just keep in mind that the information you input will form part of your wider online collection of citations so you should always aim for consistency.

Where do suggested edits and external edits come from?

In accurate information about your business can hinder your local search visibility. It can also damage your relationship with local consumers who are known to become frustrated when presented with inaccurate information online. That means any changes made to your business listings must be accurate. However, you may notice that sometimes, those changes are made without your input. The reason for that is some listings sites allow consumers to make or suggest edits to business listings, even if the consumer isn’t associated with that business. 

Google

Google search users can suggest edits to business listings directly from the search results. They can suggest changes to important details such as the business name, opening hours, contact information, web address and location. They can also suggest the business be marked as closed, is non-existent, no longer open to the public, a duplicate or report a legal problem.

Apple Maps

Apple Maps users can report an issue with any business listing on Maps by clicking ‘More’ on the listing. They can then report an incorrect name, address, website, or phone number, tell Apple the location on the map is wrong, or that the opening hours are incorrect. Users can also tell Apple that the business is closed, in the wrong category or that there are multiple issues with the listing. 

Bing

Bing search users can suggest an edit directly from the local business listing in search and maps. The edit option is identical to that presented on Google, with consumers able to mark the business as permanently closed or suggest changes to the business name, location, contact information, and opening hours. 

Facebook

The new Facebook Page experience doesn’t allow users to suggest edits. They can report an issue with your Page however, such as flagging your listing as being fake, a scam, or conducting unauthorized sales. While these won’t directly impact on your listing information, they could still be damaging to your business. 

Why do publishers change the business data I supplied on my listings, and how can I prevent this from happening? 

To keep their listings accurate, listings sites will gather information about local businesses from a range of sources. They may use that information to push updates to listings they believe to be incorrect.

Google

Google uses a wide range of sources, including licensed content and suggested edits submitted by consumers. It uses this data to update listings as it deems necessary and will do so at any time. Any updates will then show across Search, Maps and other Google properties. You will be notified if Google has updated your listing and can then choose to edit those updates, apply them, or discard and replace with your own information. 

Apple Maps

Like Google, Apple Maps collates business data from a range of sources—including places like Yelp and TripAdvisor. Traditionally, Apple Maps allowed business owners only very limited input (this has changed with the recent launch of Apple Business Connect) meaning it has historically been dependent on information gathered elsewhere.

If your information isn’t consistent across the web, information gathered from those other sources could find its way into your listing. An old phone number or street address on a forgotten Yelp listing could be added to your Apple Maps listing because that’s what Apple Maps is being told is accurate by Yelp. To avoid this issue, you’ll need to be on top of your citation management and ensure all listings contain up-to-date information. 

Take Control of Your Listings with Active Sync

Learn more

Bing

As with Google and Apple Maps, Bing crowdsources local business information from a range of sources. Your business may even be listed on Bing Maps before you claim it. As with other listings sites, Bing’s own data may conflict with your actual listing details, which may prompt changes to be made. If your listing does show incorrect information, you’ll need to ensure you have first claimed and verified your listing. You can then log in and correct any inaccuracies. Again, to prevent incorrect information being pushed to your profile, you’ll need to ensure that you regularly review your business information across all listings you’ve created. 

Facebook

Unlike the other platforms, Facebook actually trusts your data and doesn’t (to the best of our knowledge) make any changes itself.

Do I need to add EXIF data to my business photos?

Exchangeable Image File Format (EXIF) data provides useful meta data about each image—such as the time and date taken, location taken, and the camera used. 

Google

Adding EXIF data isn’t thought to help your Google rankings, but it can make it easier for you to search for and organize specific images. That could make it easier to manage your local business listings.

Apple Maps

Apple Maps does support EXIF data. It can use the location data from EXIF to pinpoint the location the photo was taken on a map. 

Bing

In its webmaster guidelines, Bing says it can extract information from images, so adding EXIF data to pictures uploaded to your site could theoretically help with your local search visibility. 

Facebook

Facebook has confirmed that it collects and processes EXIF data. This includes collecting data specifying the date the photo was taken, and the type of device used. While it doesn’t state that it uses location information, the fact that it can process EXIF data suggests that it could be a worthwhile addition. 

Conclusion

Your business listings are an invaluable asset to your local business. They have the power to boost your search visibility, aid in new-to-you consumer discovery and provide local consumers with the information they need to find, locate, and buy from you. 

With thousands of listings sites and directories out there, staying on top of the latest trends, new features and best practice thinking can be a time-consuming task. In this post, we’ve provided answers to some of the most frequently asked questions to help you keep on top of your local listing management tasks.

Got a question not covered here? Send it to us via Twitter, or ask in our Facebook group, The Local Pack.

We discuss what makes for an impactful local marketing strategy, what marketing clichés he’d stick in Room 404 forever, and what goes wrong when no one really understands strategy.

Listen to learn:

• The difference between strategy and tactics
• The biggest mistakes often found in a marketing strategy
• How to build a marketing strategy that aligns with your local business strategy

Watch the Interview

Resources

Good Strategy Bad Strategy: The Difference and Why it Matters: https://www.amazon.co.uk/Good-Strategy-Bad-Difference-Matters/dp/1846684811

Mark Ritson: https://www.marketingritson.com/

Subscribe Today!

If you like what you hear and want instant access to the latest episodes, be sure to subscribe wherever you get your podcasts:

• Subscribe on Apple Podcasts
• Subscribe on Spotify
• Subscribe on Google Podcasts
• Subscribe on Deezer
• Subscriber on Stitcher

What’s new with Google Business Profile?

New Tests for Google Posts/Updates Overlay

Two new tests around Google Posts/updates have been spotted in the wild. In the first test, Google updates get overlaid over images for the business listing…

Noticing update or post from business. At mobile serp

Looks new to me .
cc @rustybrick pic.twitter.com/UWBW3PFDmF

— Khushal Bherwani (@b4k_khushal) February 24, 2023

And in the second test spotted, users can click to see ‘More Posts’ when browsing the most recent updates:

Google has added view all posts "more posts" feature in GBP. Before it was not shown on GBP.

Cc @rustybrick pic.twitter.com/bw3ZwrJk8f

— keyur shah | SEO (@Keyurshah3535) February 24, 2023

Source: Search Engine Roundtable

Google Shopping Results Displaying GBP Products

Google has started showing products added to Google Business Profile via the Products & Services feature in the Google Shopping section of Search. Great news if you’re selling products and you want more visibility of what you have in store!

First time seeing organic GBP Products that were manually added show up like this under the "Shopping" tab. I haven't paid too much attention to this section in the past but I had thought all the items under "shopping" were paid shopping feeds. Seen this before @rustybrick ? pic.twitter.com/JCVWMknMxJ

— Colan Nielsen (@ColanNielsen) February 28, 2023

Source: Search Engine Roundtable

Prompt to Link to Better Business Bureau Appearing in GBP Verification

Google has started including a few new questions in its GBP verification process, and one might come as a surprise…

New: Google Business Profile asking for BBB link in assistive help flow, and even more questions.

— I guess GBP trusts BBB a lot! Which is strange in some cases. pic.twitter.com/U3sg9213Z6

— Ben Fisher (@TheSocialDude) March 5, 2023

Yes, apparently Google trusts data from the Better Business Bureau enough that, for US-based business at least, it’s asking for a link to their company information on the popular directory.

Source: Search Engine Roundtable

“Similar To” Personalization Appears in Google Business Profile

Google users performing local searches may find themselves being prompted by Google that a business in their search is “similar to” another business they’ve frequented in the past.

How long has this been a thing on GBP? I've been to Green Zebra when searching for acai bowls and now I'm searching in a different town & "similar to" shows up. I like it! #LocalSEO #IsThisNew @rustybrick pic.twitter.com/oz85IZWyuv

— Tricia Clements (@yourbizwatchdog) March 11, 2023

It’s an interesting step in the name of personalizing your search experience, but sometimes this stuff just errs too much on the creepy.

Source: Search Engine Roundtable

Fixed: “Your Business Is Not Visible to Customers”

Local SEOs had a panic in mid-March when a confirmed bug at Google’s end left them seeing this message when accessing or editing their Google Business Profiles. A fix came a day or two later, and it seems like it was a glitch and that these businesses were actually visible and editable during that time.

Way to keep us on our toes, Google!

Google Inserts Incorrect Prices Into GBP Services

We all know Google, rather frustratingly, likes to pull your business information from places you might not be able to control, but this is the first time we’ve seen it completely make up your service prices!

Hey @rustybrick – when looking into a client's services in their GBP, we noticed that some of the predefined services had a "free" label which we nor the client added. Is this new? pic.twitter.com/jV0uOd5VMr

— Sukhjit S Matharu (@SukhjitSMatharu) March 17, 2023

Here's another where pricing is arbitrarily added in – not from the client… certainly not correct! pic.twitter.com/z3gwL4XdW8

— Carrie Hill (@CarrieHill) March 17, 2023

If you haven’t checked in on your services in GBP lately, now might be a good time to do so!

Source: Search Engine Roundtable

New ‘About’ and ‘Reviews’ Tab on Desktop Mirroring Mobile Experience

Is Google starting to go mobile-first with GBP, and bringing the experiences closer together? This new feature, in which ‘Reviews’ and ‘About’ are tabbed rather than appearing vertically in a desktop GBP, certainly suggests so.

Seeing an "about" and "reviews" tab on Google Maps that looks similar to the mobile experience. Only seeing this while logged in and not on every listing. pic.twitter.com/FKeOkdnOg4

— Joy Hawkins (@JoyanneHawkins) March 20, 2023

Manage Your Menus via the New Merchant Experience (NMX)

Restaurants can now use the NMX (in-SERP GBP management) to select a preferred source for their menus, or create a custom menu in GBP.

New select your preferred menu source for restaurants.

Custom Menu: Create your Own in GBP
3rd Party: Why would you ? pic.twitter.com/mkEIMR5v2g

— Tim Capper (@GuideTwit) March 1, 2023

We don’t know about you, but we’re still going to rely on the photo of the coffee-stained, laminated menu taken and uploaded by a visitor five years ago instead…

Source: Search Engine Roundtable

Online-conversion Local Ads (OLAs) Allow for More Targeted GBP Advertising

Shown in Google Business Profiles in Search and Maps, these ads allow you to promote products or services relevant to specific locations (e.g. a competitor’s GBP listing, or your own, if you want to ensure no one else can make the land-grab on your own listing).

Source: GMBapi.com

What’s new with reviews?

Google Expands Documentation Around Personal Info and ‘Fake Engagement’

In an update to its ‘Prohibited and restricted content’ guidelines, Google has turned existing vagueness around what personal info can be used where into an absolute rule (with exceptions, of course).

It has also added guidelines around fake engagement, e.g. using an automated tool to post reviews.

Definitely worth reviewing if you’re considering engaging in automated fake reviews. Whether this applies to businesses using automated tools to respond to reviews at scale remains to be seen.

Source: Search Engine Roundtable

Restaurant Reviews Encouraged to Include Recommendations of Specific Dishes

When reviewing a restaurant, you might now be asked to recommend a specific dish while you’re rating elements like food, service, and atmosphere.

Google adds an option for recommended dishes on reviews @mblumenthal @rustybrick pic.twitter.com/RtwsCrUsb8

— ClaudiaT (@ClaudiaTomina) March 6, 2023

Source: Search Engine Roundtable

Google Releases Reviews Mistakenly Removed as Spam as “New”

What the searcher doesn’t know, can’t hurt them, right? That’s true until Google hands the business reviews it mistakenly removed back to you, but labels them as “new”.

After Google’s initial admission that they would be reinstating these reviews, DAC found that over the following weeks, a significant number of them were being reinstated as “new” reviews on businesses’ GBPs.

If you like the look of lots of fresh, new reviews on your profile, then this is probably a good thing, but not so much if they are old reviews contain information and opinions that no longer reflect your business.

Google Details Progress Made in Tackling Fake Contributions in 2022

In its annual report on its progress towards finally making Google fakery-free (hey, we can dream!), Google released some key stats, including:

• 115m+ policy-violating reviews removed, including a 20% increase in the removal of fake reviews
• 200m photos and 7m videos were blocked or removed for being blurry, low quality, or violating content policies
• 20m attempts to create fake Business Profiles stopped

Google puts a lot of its success in these increases down to the evolution of its machine learning capabilities.

Surprise, Surprise: Review Spammers Are Using AI

File this under: no sh*t. Although OpenAI and Google disallow the use of their generative AI technology to produce spam, spammers aren’t exactly ones to follow the rules, so it should come as no surprise that AI is clearly being used to create fake business reviews at scale.

Perhaps Google could see which way the wind was blowing, hence the ‘Fake Engagement’ guidelines mentioned above?

Sources: Review Fraud via Search Engine Roundtable

What’s new in local search?

New Local Ranking Factors Survey Released

Whitespark have released their survey of local SEO expert opinions on what does and doesn’t impact local rankings, including questions around negative ranking factors, LSA ranking factors and suspension risk factors for the first time.

Darren Shaw goes into detail on what’s changed over at Near Media. It’s well worth a watch.

Google Explore Now Features Local Search Results

Google has added business profile overlays and scrollable business info to the Google Explore section of search (which Search Engine Roundtable’s Barry Schwartz rightly describes as “that weird feature you get when you keep scrolling and scrolling through the search results”).

Google explore with business in different way , it's with overlay feature.

Notice first time.

Before covered as – Google Explore" Testing As The Dynamic SERP Feature via @rustybrick @glenngabe – https://t.co/pDTJHdwRy9

now with business profile with overlay pic.twitter.com/hNZ3vFSIM7

— Khushal Bherwani (@b4k_khushal) March 1, 2023

Source: Search Engine Roundtable

Google Tests Blend of Search and Local Snippets

Here’s a strange one: an odd mix of local business info and standard search snippet appearing in search results. It has some of the local features you’d want to see (map, directions, how to call, etc.) but very little actually useful info like business or product description.

Just noticed this new hybrid search result, normal web link plus GMB listing together…is it new @rustybrick? pic.twitter.com/U6cr0h1kKp

— Manish Chauhan (@ManishK_Chauhan) March 15, 2023

Source: Search Engine Roundtable

Google Testing Reviews Icon Limited to One Star

You’d be forgiven for having a coronary if you spotted this one when searching for a client’s business!

I noticed on the local pack they are only showing one star next to the cumulative rating. This is the first time I've seen a condensed way they are displaying the number of stars. @rustybrick @glenngabe @DarrenShaw_ pic.twitter.com/nfb4w3W4Uc

— Jason Parks (@Jason_Parks1) March 19, 2023

No, those businesses don’t just have one-star average review ratings. That’s just Google trying to save a bit of space in the already cramped local pack by having the single star signify what the number next to it refers to, rather than showing the full amount of stars.

Source: Search Engine Roundtable

What’s new with Local Services Ads?

Services Supported by LSAs See Massive Expansion

In early March, Google expanded the business types that can use Local Services Ads far beyond the usual remit of home services, law practitioners, and real estate agents.

The new list of supported businesses, which you can find here, includes education, people care, pet care, wellness, and healthcare—so Google is clearly still sticking to the sorts of businesses that involve handing over a lot of trust, often known as YMYL (Your Money or Your Life) industries.

You Can Now Report (Some) Reviews on LSAs—Finally

In news that many have been looking forward to, Google has now added the function to ‘Report a review’ on Local Services Ads. This naturally doesn’t include verified reviews (a big part of Google’s offering here) but it at least helps to bring some parity between the usual GBP review experience and LSAs.

Yes!!! Finally we can flag/report Google LSA Reviews @keyserholiday @lenraleigh – time to build a dispute bot for this pic.twitter.com/99IrMjtTxz

— Curtis Boyd (@DataBoyd) March 14, 2023

Source: Search Engine Roundtable

It’s Now Much Easier to Add and Remove Verticals in Local Services Ads

The interface that allows you to edit, set up and optimize your Local Services Ads has been updated to make it easier to select those that apply best to your business.

JUST SPOTTED!!!! Google Updated The Local Services Ads Interface.

It is now easier to add/remove verticals directly in the LSA interface.

Not sure how I feel about it yet and still exploring.

Check it out!! #PPCchat pic.twitter.com/lRT5P8OWUI

— Anthony Higman (@AnthonyHigman) March 17, 2023

Source: Search Engine Roundtable

Since its inception in 2010, the report has aimed to help local businesses, consumers, and marketers understand the impact customer reviews can have on consumers, and see which trends change each year.

While 2020’s survey saw a big focus on how Covid impacted consumer behavior towards reading and writing reviews, this time we’ve asked more questions around fake reviews. This is to see if the reputation of the main review sites is as clean as they’d like to think it is.

Customer Review Trends 2022

Business reviews can be an incredibly useful tool for attracting new customers, not only through the psychological effect they have on the reader, but by boosting local rankings so that businesses are more likely to show up for searching consumers.

Throughout the twenty questions explored in this survey, we’ll cover everything you’ll need to make a strong case for online review management, be it for the purpose of building a loyal customer base, improving your online visibility, or both!

You’ll also come away understanding which direction the wind is blowing in terms of consumers’ preferences for star rating, review responses, and how recent reviews need to be in order to impact decision-making.

Without further ado, let’s get stuck into the results of BrightLocal’s Local Consumer Review Survey 2022.

How Consumers Read and Write Online Reviews for Local Businesses

Consumer reviews of products have been a staple of the online experience for years, but the sophistication with which people can leave business reviews has developed over time. Platforms like Yelp are bringing more and more features and functionality to businesses and consumers alike, helping to boost engagement within the platform.

To understand how these behaviors have changed over time, we asked several questions about how consumers look for reviews, read reviews, and leave reviews for local businesses.

How often do consumers search for local businesses online?

To help us understand why and how consumers read and write reviews, it’s important to first take a look at how often they’re using the internet to find local businesses. We can then consider these trends when looking at levels of engagement with review platforms.

• 99% of consumers have used the internet to find information about a local business in the last year.
• 78% of consumers use the internet to find information about local businesses more than once a week (up from 69% in 2020).
• 21% of consumers use the internet to find information about local businesses every day (down from 34% every day).

In 2021, far fewer people were searching for online businesses every single day than in 2020, which initially suggests a lessening need for their use. However, looking across the board, the frequency of use has risen greatly. We’ve observed a 9% year-on-year increase of people using the internet more than once a week to find information about local businesses.

We’ve seen a large drop of those less engaged with finding businesses online, too. 1% of consumers say they don’t use the internet to find local businesses at all; that’s an incredible 99% of consumers using the internet to find local businesses. I think it’s safe to say the era of those still relying on the printed business directory is over and that the visibility and impact of online reviews is higher than ever.

Ben’s Take: “It appears that the increase in the percentage of users that check multiple times a week has increased by 10%, whereas those checking every day has decreased by just a little more comparably. This may be because, as an industry, we have been trying to change the frame of mind our customers are in when it comes to success. Conversions over rankings.”

Which sites do consumers evaluate businesses on?

While there are a great many business review and discovery sites out there—some focused on particular territories, others on industries and products—it’s safe to say that a handful truly have a monopoly on consumer opinion and local businesses.

Let’s take a look at which were 2021’s winners and losers in the race to capture the attention, and opinions, of consumers.

• Consumer use of Google to evaluate local businesses has leapt from 63% in 2020 to 81% in 2021.
• Consumer use of Yelp to evaluate local businesses has climbed from 32% in 2020 to 53% in 2021.
• Consumer use of Facebook to evaluate local businesses has dropped from 54% in 2020 to 48% in 2021.
• Only 13% of consumers used Apple Maps to evaluate local businesses in 2021.

Google’s star continues to rise, with an 18% year-on-year jump in consumers using it to evaluate local businesses. This is to be expected, as it’s by far the search engine with the largest market share (87% of the market when this survey was carried out, according to Statista). However, it’s still a notable leap, and reiterates the importance of developing and monitoring your Google Business Profile, which consumers will see information about your business on.

The bigger story here is perhaps one of two parts: that Yelp saw an impressive 31-point increase while Facebook’s use for local business evaluation has slumped 6%. As we’ll see later, this chimes with an overall souring of public trust in Facebook, which has weathered, and is always weathering, controversies on multiple fronts.

The strategic takeaway here is that your efforts shouldn’t revolve around Google alone. A large and growing proportion of consumers are looking to Yelp to help them with their business decisions; your business or clients would be foolish to ignore it.

How often do consumers read online reviews for local businesses?

Now, onto the reviews themselves. We’ve established that 99% of consumers looked online to find a business last year, but how often did these people look to the opinions of other customers before making their decisions?

• 98% of people at least ‘occasionally’ read online reviews for local businesses.
• 77% of consumers ‘always’ or ‘regularly’ read online reviews when browsing for local businesses (up from 60% in 2020).
• The percentage of people ‘never’ reading reviews when browsing local businesses has fallen from 13% in 2020 to just 2% in 2021.

Over the last two years, we’ve seen a massive drop in the holdouts saying they ‘never’ read reviews. This has fallen 16%, from 18% in 2019 to just 2% last year. Looking at the rest of the data, we can be fairly confident that many of these have moved on to ‘occasionally’ or ‘regularly’ reading them.

For 43% of consumers, reading online reviews is now a regular occurrence. When looking at this data—in light of earlier results showing an increase in consumers using the web to find businesses—we can safely say that the importance of having a good review profile is growing. More people are regularly using the internet to find businesses, and more people are regularly reading reviews when they do so.

Ben’s Take: “The increase in those regularly reading reviews from 2020 to 2021 is interesting. I would have expected to see an increase in those answering ‘always’. I feel this is a very natural result. It is very normal behavior: when looking at a business, we are thinking of engaging to read about others’ experiences.”

Which business types do consumers pay the most attention to reviews of?

Not all business experiences are created equal: the risk in poor service from a plumber and a bartender just don’t match up. So it’s expected that people care more about, and will likely read more reviews of, certain business types than others.

To explore this, we looked at eight key sectors that we know reviews play an important part in, and asked how important a part reviews played in consumers’ decisions to use them.

• The top business types for which reviews play an ‘important’ or ‘very important’ part in consumers’ decisions are:
  • Service businesses and tradespersons (84% said reviews are ‘important’ or ‘very important’ in their decision)
  • Care services (83%)
  • Healthcare (82%)

As expected, businesses that are infrequently required, and come with a high level of risk, face public scrutiny far more than things like restaurants and bars, where a friend’s recommendation is sometimes all that’s needed. It’s heartening to see that care services come out on top in this, given what important, and likely difficult, decisions are involved in using services in this sector.

Healthcare and service, or service-area, businesses (SABs) stack up fairly evenly, which is definitely worthwhile tradespeople knowing about: your potential customers care about reviews for your business as much as they do for their doctors!

It’s also interesting to see that 6% of consumers consider reviews for financial and legal services to be ‘not important’. Could it be that years of Google Business Profile spam and fake reviews in the legal sector has taken its toll on the public perception of this industry?

How many consumers write reviews, and for what types of experiences?

We’ve explored where people read reviews, and for what types of businesses, but those reviews have to come from somewhere. That’s why we asked questions around the writing of reviews, trying to uncover the holy grail of reputation management: what makes someone more or less likely to leave a review?

• 74% of consumers left reviews for local businesses in the last 12 months.
• 67% of consumers will consider leaving a review for a positive experience, while 40% will consider leaving a review for a negative experience. A crossover of 33% will consider both.
• 7% of consumers only leave reviews for negative experiences, while 34% of consumers only leave reviews for positive experiences.

Ultimately, review sites are fairly dumb tools, and show all reviews on an equal footing (though admittedly not necessarily in the order they were left). They don’t take into consideration the different types of reviewers there are, the customer’s history of reviews, or what sort of people leave reviews in certain conditions. Therefore, these points aren’t taken into account when presenting the all-important average star rating.

That’s why it’s particularly interesting to look at the percentages of consumers that only leave negative reviews (7%) and those that only write positive reviews (34%). The cynic in me is happy that the former isn’t higher, but it’s definitely worth bearing this in mind when working on the quality of your customer service.

In total, 67% of consumers will consider leaving a review for a positive experience, while a comparatively low 40% will do so for a negative experience. This shows that the benefits far outweigh the risks associated with growing your review profile. And as we’ll see later, negative reviews can actually help your reputation!

Ben’s Take: “This stat is interesting. Only roughly one in three surveyed stated they have left a review for a positive or negative experience. This could be based on many factors, but the leading reason, I would think, is that they were not asked to leave a review. “

What factors influence a consumer’s decision to leave a review?

Providing a positive customer service experience is obviously the first step to getting a great review, but not everything that influences it is in the business’ hands. We wanted to explore what other factors could play a part in turning a positive experience into a positive review:

• 88% of consumers say they would be ‘likely’ or ‘highly likely’ to leave a review if the business went above and beyond to ensure they had an exceptional experience.
• 80% of consumers say they would be ‘likely’ or ‘highly likely’ to leave a review if they initially had a negative experience that was turned into a very positive experience.
• 74% of consumers say they would be ‘likely’ or ‘highly likely’ to leave a review if they knew that the business was family-owned, while only 43% feel the same about a large chain.
• 73% of consumers say they would be ‘likely’ or ‘highly likely’ to leave a review if the business had a low average star rating and they didn’t think it was deserved.
• 77% of consumers say they would be ‘likely’ or ‘highly likely’ to leave a review if they knew that the business was fairly new.

With the obvious out of the way (going ‘above and beyond’ is most likely to result in a positive review), there’s a few interesting things to note here.

Firstly, compare the proportion that would be ‘likely’ or ‘highly likely’ to leave a review if they knew the business was family-owned (74%) with the proportion that would feel the same about a large chain (43%). This shows the massive amount of potential of highlighting that your business is family-owned when it comes to marketing, and developing the customer experience with this in mind.

Conversely, large chains really face an uphill struggle to generate reviews, even after positive experiences. It’s cold comfort, but comfort nonetheless, that 22% of consumers say that the business being part of a chain wouldn’t impact their decision.

Another surprise is that feeling like a low average star rating is undeserved is what might push customers to leave you a review, with 73% saying that they’d leave a review after a positive experience in this situation. So, providing you deliver a genuinely excellent experience, there’s no need to feel down about a low average star rating. Your future customers will be willing to help you out if you deliver your best!

Ben’s Take: “61% of users state that after having a positive experience, they would leave a review if a business went above and beyond, and 43% said they would be highly likely to leave a review if a negative experience was turned into a positive one. Also, it appears that an equal percentage would review a business if there were not a lot of reviews and if they were asked to by an employee. Overall, it is a good idea to provide the best service possible and also ask for a review, if you are looking to get more positive reviews.”

What Really Matters to Consumers about Reviews

Despite being deceptively simple on the surface, there are lots of elements of reviews and business review profiles that can have an impact on how consumers perceive them, such as recency, length, responses, and so on.

With this in mind, we looked at the various elements of reviews to find out what really matters to the consumers reading them.

Which factors of reviews matter most to consumers?

Depending on your personal preference, perhaps based on experience with businesses, review sites, and even just other people, you might have a strong aversion to one type of review but implicitly trust another.

Does the review have a named author? Was it left recently? Has the business owner responded? Are there lots of capital letters in the review? Are photos attached?

We wanted to find out how much, if at all, things like these matter to consumers.

• The top three review factors that make review readers feel positively about a local business are:
  • The written review describes a positive experience (75% chose this)
  • The review has a high star rating (58% chose this)
  • The business owner has responded to the review (55% chose this)
• At least 25% of consumers don’t care about the review describing a positive experience, and at least 42% don’t care about a high star rating.

It goes without saying that to get a good review, you need to deliver a positive experience, so it’s natural that it’s these types of experiences people want to hear about most.

However, while you might think the star rating is the best barometer of this experience, in fact, people want to read written descriptions of experiences, and value these above star rating.

Anyone trying to decide whether to start responding to reviews should pay attention to the fact that 55% of consumers said that a response from the business owner makes them feel positive about that business. If that doesn’t sound like much, consider that only 3% more said that a high star rating would do the same, leaving us with the conclusion that consumers care about star rating and responses roughly the same.

So if you’re looking at a low star average and are worried about starting to respond to reviews, these results suggest that it could be a winning strategy.

Ben’s Take: “Overall, I think what we are seeing here is that the core tenets of reviews are about the same. It is important to have reviews that are recent, responded to, and highly-rated and positive in nature. This is good advice for any business, and a goal most merchants should strive for.”

What are the minimum star ratings consumers will accept?

Depending on the review site, the average sentiment across all your business reviews might be displayed in a different way, but the most user-friendly and most widely-recognised is the familiar star rating. We wanted to find out how consumer attitudes to this ‘shortcut to sentiment’ have changed over the years.

• The percentage of consumers who would only use a 5-star business has fallen from 12% in 2020 to just 4% in 2021.
• In 2021, just 3% of consumers said they would consider using a business with an average star rating of two or fewer stars. That’s down from 14% in 2020.

Perhaps in line with consumer trust in reviews somewhat dwindling (as we’ll see later), it makes sense that there’s been a drop in those only expecting to see five stars, from 12% in 2020 to just 4% in 2021. A clean sweep like this can seem untrustworthy and unreliable, especially when it comes to businesses with a large number of reviews.

However, at the other end of the scale, consumers in general expect more than they used to, with 97% only considering businesses with over two stars. Considering that 2.5 out of 5 is effectively a score of 50%, that’s a big leap in consumer expectations in just a year.

With more and more businesses learning the importance of review generation, and more consumers searching for and evaluating businesses, it makes sense that consumers expect more. But they also understand that nobody’s perfect. The much-publicized difficulties local businesses have faced during the coronavirus pandemic could explain this understanding, too.

Ben’s Take: “This makes tons of sense as users are looking for at least a 4.0 average rating. No business is perfect, and users understand this. They expect to see some negative experiences.”

How important is recency of reviews to consumers?

A review tells the story of a single customer interaction at a single point in time, but what if that point in time is long ago? Services can change frequently, so for the best representation of the current experience, it would make sense that the most recent are the most trusted, right?

• In 2020, 50% of consumers felt that only reviews left within the last two weeks impacted their decisions. In 2021, that figure dropped to 22%, with many more taking into consideration reviews left between the last three months to a year.

Interestingly, there’s been a big drop in the expectation for very recent reviews left in the last two weeks prior to evaluating the business. Accordingly, the amount of consumers willing to trust reviews left as long as a year ago are on the rise. As Ben suggests below, this could be because consumers are being more lenient about what businesses can achieve due to the pandemic, and therefore more realistic about how recently reviews should have been left.

It’s worth noting that 7% of our survey respondents said that review recency didn’t mean anything to them. Depending on your situation, this could be a good or bad thing. For example, if you had a slew of bad reviews a year or so ago, but have turned the ship around and now boast a 4-star profile, there are those who will look into your history and consider those old low-scoring reviews as relevant and representative of your business now.

Ben’s Take: “This is very interesting. For the longest time we have seen that users want to see fresh reviews that were made in the last few weeks. Based on this new data, that seems to have been extended out to a month. It’s possible that users are becoming more lenient on merchants, and noticing how hard it is for merchants to get reviews these days, albeit thanks to Google’s tightening of the review filter.”

Which elements of a business’s review profile matter the most to consumers?

Just as with a single review, there are plenty of elements of a business’s overall review profile that can have an impact on consumer decisions, such as the number of reviews or, as mentioned above, how recently they were left.

• How important consumers consider the range of review sites that businesses have reviews on has fallen from 79% in 2020 to 69% in 2021.
• How important consumers consider the total number of reviews for a business has fallen from 79% in 2020 to 69% in 2021.
• The top three factors of a business’ review profile that would influence a consumer’s decision are:
  • The overall average star rating of the business (85% said this was ‘important’ or ‘very important’)
  • The business having a higher average star rating than other businesses they’re considering (76%)
  • How recent the latest reviews are (73%)

We’ve been asking this question since 2017, but we included a number of new responses in this year’s survey in order to understand how certain elements compared. As we did last year, we found that the star rating, recency, and number of total reviews on a review site were considered important.

However, it’s worth pointing out that while 76% of respondents said that the business having a higher star rating than competitors was important, far fewer (39%) feel the same about the number of reviews. This means that it’s not just about getting as many reviews as possible, but ensuring that your service is genuinely deserving of a high star rating.

One final thing to note here is that how important consumers perceive the number of review sites you have reviews on has more than halved, from 72% in 2020 to just 34% in 2021. It’s clear that the number of sites people pay attention to is dwindling, so it’s best to focus your efforts on the handful of sites that are most relevant to your audience.

What Consumers Think About Businesses Asking for, and Responding to, Reviews

When it comes to your online reputation, it’s not just a case of ‘deliver a great service and hope for the best’. As we’ve seen above, consumers care about the quality and recency of reviews. This is why reputation management software exists to enable business owners to grow and monitor their reviews.

However, that’s only one part of the equation. We’ve already seen that 55% of consumers said that the business owner responding to the review would make them feel positively about a business, so this could be the key differentiator between you and your competitors.

Responding to reviews is also a great way of showing your brand personality, providing an example of your customer service, and highlighting fake reviews, so it’s a recommended strategy, as we’ll see below.

How does responding to reviews impact consumer decisions?

Some businesses like to respond to positive reviews every time and shy away from the potential conflict arising from replying to negative reviews. Plenty others leave their fans alone and just seek to counteract the negative impact of bad reviews by exclusively replying to those.

• 89% of consumers say they would be ‘fairly’ or ‘highly’ likely to use a business that responds to all reviews, positive and negative.
• 57% of consumers say they would be ‘not very’ or ‘not at all’ likely to use a business that doesn’t respond to reviews at all.

We found that an astonishing 89% of consumers would be ‘likely’ or ‘highly likely’ to use businesses that respond to all reviews. And at the other end of the scale, 22% say they’re ‘not likely at all’ to use businesses that don’t respond to any reviews at all. This goes to show the power of responding to negative reviews as well as positive ones.

Meanwhile, it’s interesting to see that, broadly, consumers feel more favorably about review profiles including responses to negative reviews, rather than those with replies to positive reviews only. This suggests that consumers respect a business owner trying to turn around a bad situation more than one basking in praise and ignoring the naysayers.

Ben’s Take: “I encourage all of our clients to respond to all reviews. The data backs this up as well. 59% of users said they are fairly likely to use a business that responds to all reviews. I feel it is important to respond to all reviews: respond to negative reviews so that prospective customers see how you deal with a negative experience, and respond to positive reviews as a way of thanking a user for leaving a review. What also makes sense here is that 52% said they would use a business if a merchant responded to only negative reviews, meaning that it is very important that, at a minimum, negative reviews are responded to.”

How often are consumers prompted to leave reviews?

We now know that consumers want to see responses to their reviews and the reviews of others, so it’s clear they’re happy for business owners to get involved in the consumer feedback process. But how many are influenced when businesses ask them to leave reviews, either directly or indirectly? And how many business owners are even asking for reviews in the first place?

• 17% of consumers say they haven’t been prompted to leave a review by a business in the last 12 months.
• 12% of consumers say they left a review every time a business prompted them to do so in the last 12 months.
• 35% of consumers say they left a review at least half of the times they were prompted to do so by a business in the last 12 months.

It’s clear that businesses are getting the message about the importance of asking for reviews, because just 17% of consumers said they hadn’t been prompted for a review in the previous 12 months. What should really buoy anyone investing time into this, though, is that a not-insignificant 12% of consumers say they’ll always leave a review when prompted to do so by the business.

That means you could potentially get 12% of all of your future customers to leave you a review, just by asking them. Take into consideration that 23% leave a review more than half of the time and that figure grows even further. Now, the number of reviews you get will depend on the frequency with which people use your business, or the level of foot traffic, but it’s a strong indicator that asking for reviews is worth every business’ time.

How are businesses prompting consumers for online reviews?

There are countless imaginative ways to ask for reviews or raise awareness of the importance of them to your business, from including a link in an email footer to displaying a request at the point of sale. To find out which of these types of request is growing in popularity (with businesses, at least), we asked consumers to tell us the ways in which they recall being prompted for a review.

• The methods of asking for reviews that have increased year-on-year are:
  • In an SMS text message (7% increase)
  • On a receipt or invoice (5% increase)
  • In person, during the sale/experience (1% increase)

While there’s been no significant changes to the methods most used for requesting reviews (via email, on a receipt or invoice, and in person), it’s worth noting the 7% increase in the use of SMS messaging to request reviews. This is impressive considering the extra lengths businesses have to go to get consent to use SMS.

Elsewhere, previously lesser-used methods are on the decline. Social media, over the phone, and via business card have all seen large drops, year-on-year. However, this doesn’t necessarily speak to their efficacy. It’s worth remembering that just because a lot of businesses don’t use a particular tactic, it doesn’t mean it doesn’t work. It could just be that one of these lesser-used methods is the thing that makes your review requests stand out from your competitors, so be creative!

What incentives are businesses using to encourage reviews?

Each platform has its own set of review guidelines, from Yelp specifically stating that businesses can’t request reviews to Google being against the practice of review-gating. However, there are some practices that are considered ‘less than legit’ across the board, with ‘offering cash’ being illegal in some parts of the world.

We wanted to find out how many businesses are offering direct incentives in their efforts to generate reviews, and so asked consumers how often they remembered instances of this.

• In 2021, 17% of consumers recall being offered a discount in exchange for a review. That’s up from 12% in 2020.
• In 2021, 15% of consumers recall being offered a gift or free services in exchange for a review. That’s up from 8% in 2020.
• The percentage of consumers who recall being offered a cash incentive for a review dropped from 9% in 2020 to just 6% in 2021.

Thankfully, it looks like the practice of offering cash as a review incentive is on the decline, having fallen from a surprising 10% in 2019 to just 6% this year.

Elsewhere, though, the tides are turning in the other direction, with both discounts and free gifts/services bouncing back in 2021 from a drop in 2020. It could be that, following a particularly hard year at the start of the pandemic, those businesses either opening back up or needing to stay above water in 2021, have resorted to these measures to get ahead of the competition.

How Much Consumers Trust and Distrust Reviews

While your business might not undergo significant change year after year, large tech companies certainly do. Public opinion of giants like Amazon and Google is always in flux or, in some cases, constantly in decline, depending on the latest privacy issues or anti-competition lawsuit.

This has a trickle-down effect to reviews on these platforms, too. But how much of consumer trust in reviews is down to the corporations themselves, and how much is down to the people who use (and abuse) them?

How much do consumers trust online reviews, compared to other sources of opinion?

For the first time, this year we sought to compare consumer trust in reviews to a wider variety of sources of opinion than just ‘personal recommendations’. This widening of the question and context has led to a large decrease in these figures, as respondents have more sources to consider and compare to.

• 49% trust consumer reviews as much as personal recommendations from friends and family.
• 28% trust consumer reviews as much as professionally-written articles by topic experts.
• 21% don’t trust consumer reviews as much as recommendations and reviews from friends and family, social media personalities, or topic experts.

It’s still interesting to compare the trust put into online reviews and their relationships with other sources. We have to do a fair bit of reading between the lines, but this data would suggest that 21% (those answering ‘None of the above’) don’t trust online reviews as much as expert reviews, social media personality recommendations, or the recommendations of their family and friends.

Considering that in 2020, 79% said they trusted online reviews as much as the recommendations of family and friends, this feels like a significant drop in trust. Throughout the following questions, we explore why that might be.

What elements of reviews make consumers most suspicious?

As you probably already know, review sites have a big problem with fake reviews. These might take the form of a negative review bomb (in which a group of like-minded individuals who haven’t actually used a business take to review sites to batter it with fake, negative reviews), they might be a competitor simply trying to artificially reduce your average star rating, or they might just be an excitable new member of staff hoping to make an impression by leaving a glowing review of the place they work.

None of this speaks to what consumers view as fake, though. The level of education on the part of the average consumer isn’t at a point at which they’d be able to reel off the list above. That’s why, without going into too much detail about what we meant by ‘fake’, we asked survey respondents to let us know which things might hint to them that a review they’re reading is suspect.

• The top three reasons consumers might think a review is fake are:
  • The review is over-the-top in its praise (45% chose this)
  • The review is one of lots of reviews with similar content (40% chose this)
  • The reviewer is anonymous or uses an obvious pseudonym (38% chose this)
• Only 26% of consumers say that the business owner responding to the review and saying it’s fake would make them suspicious of the review.

There’s a lot to unpack there, but it’s particularly interesting to see that 45% say that a review that’s ‘over-the-top in its praise’ would make them suspicious, while a lower 36% would say the same about a review that’s ‘over-the-top in its negativity’.

What does this tell us? Perhaps that consumers are naturally a bit more wary of positive fake reviews than negative ones. This could tie into the ongoing media coverage of platforms like Tripadvisor and Amazon having issues with bought positive reviews from ‘review farms’, with comparatively less coverage going to businesses bombarding competitors with fake reviews.

Sadly, only 26% of respondents said that the business owner responding to a review to say it’s fake would encourage the reader to believe them. This is worth bearing in mind when responding to reviews: responding is important but it’s not enough. You need to go through all proper available channels to get fake reviews reported and removed.

How many consumers have seen fake reviews?

We now know what makes consumers suspicious, but how big is the problem of fake reviews in the first place? How many people can confidently say they’ve seen one or more fake reviews?

• 62% of consumers believe they’ve seen a fake review for a local business in the past year.
• Only 9% of consumers believe that they haven’t seen any fake reviews for local businesses in the past year at all.

As you can see, fake reviews are still a big problem for review sites and for businesses, with 62% confident in their belief that they’ve seen a fake review. And as we’ll see later on, these have a really damning effect on trust in review sites and reviews in general.

Strikingly, fewer than 10% can confidently say they’ve seen no fake reviews at all. This leaves 90% of consumers at least wary of fake reviews.

Ben’s Take: “Over 60% of those surveyed feel they have seen a fake review in the last year. This does not really come as a surprise. Given how bad most platforms are at detecting fake reviews, and also how bad Google is at removing reviews, the frequency of fake reviews just keeps growing.”

Where have consumers seen fake reviews?

While fake reviews can, theoretically, be left anywhere you don’t need a verifiable login to access (and even plenty you do), some sites are bigger culprits for this kind of thing than others. This makes sense, as why would you pay for fake reviews on the sites people aren’t looking at?

Here we start to dig into which sites are the most likely to host fake reviews, and find out how much consumers trust these sites. We’ve included Amazon as, although it’s not a business review site, it’s highly relevant to the topic of fake reviews in general. Also, we can learn a lot by comparing trust in Amazon with trust of other sites more directly related to local businesses.

• The top three sources of online reviews that consumers are confident that they’ve seen a fake review on in the past year are:
  • Amazon (52%)
  • Google (50%)
  • Facebook (37%)

Due to the sheer volume of reviews on Amazon and Google, and the rise in consumers using these services to find reviews, it comes as no surprise that these are the leaders, but the sheer percentages involved here might surprise some, with over half of consumers saying they’ve seen fake reviews on these two sites.

Meanwhile, despite it being reported last year that Tripadvisor had to delete nearly one million fake reviews over the course of the previous 12 months, only 11% of respondents to our survey felt that they’d seen a fake review there over a similar period. Perhaps those gaming the system on Tripadvisor are just better at it?

Ben’s Take: “It’s no surprise that Google and Amazon lead the pack here, followed by Facebook and Yelp. Google is horrible when it comes to detecting and removing fake reviews. Amazon has always had an issue with them as well. Yelp happens to be the best when it comes to detecting and removing fake reviews, but, then again, reviews really are their business.”

How suspicious are consumers of reviews on the top review sites?

Now that we’ve touched on consumer experiences around fake reviews on the top sites, let’s look at how generally suspicious people are of their reviews.

• 93% of Facebook users are at least ‘a little suspicious’ of fake reviews on Facebook. 37% are ‘very suspicious’ of fake reviews on Facebook.
• 90% of Google users are at least ‘a little suspicious’ of fake reviews on Google, but just 10% are ‘very suspicious’ of fake reviews on Google.
• Better Business Bureau is, by far, the most trusted review site. Only 29% of its users are ‘fairly’ or ‘very’ suspicious of reviews on that site.

Surprisingly, the picture painted here is very different. Here we see that it’s Facebook, Amazon, and Yelp that take gold, silver, and bronze, respectively, for suspicion around reviews. Even though 50% said they’d seen a fake review on Google, a smaller proportion (45%) say that they’re ‘fairly’ or ‘very’ suspicious of Google reviews.

The results for Facebook, on the other hand, flip the script. While the data from the previous question suggests that fewer consumers have seen fake reviews here than on Amazon or Google, an incredible 70% of consumers are already ‘fairly’ or ‘very’ suspicious of fake reviews on Facebook.

What this tells us is that perception doesn’t have to match experience: plenty of consumers might have seen fake reviews on Facebook in the last year, but many more are generally suspicious of the platform and its content, and of what they might see in the future. Conversely, while 50% of users admit they’ve seen fake reviews on Google, fewer feel that they need to be suspicious of Google reviews.

Do fake reviews make consumers generally suspicious of reviews?

Finally, we wanted to ask a big question that could speak to the potential impact of fake reviews, to learn whether the rot is corroding the machine and dismantling trust in online reviews as it goes.

• 67% of consumers agree that the existence of fake reviews and fake reviewers makes them distrustful of online reviews in general.

This is a result that should send a shiver down the spine of anyone working in online reviews. Nearly 70% of consumers are distrustful of online reviews because of fake reviews. This, if nothing else, shows that the industry needs to do more to stamp it out, and even more to win back the trust of consumers.

In Summary

While online reviews in 2020 were largely dominated by the impact of Covid-19, in 2022 there are new issues to face—the prevalence of fake reviews, in particular, threatens to continue to diminish trust in some of the biggest review sites.

However, we’ve seen plenty of reasons to be cheerful, too. Consumers are being more lenient with businesses, accepting lower star ratings, and not expecting reviews to be left yesterday. More people are ‘regularly’ reading reviews than ever before, and we now know for certain what a pivotal part the business responding to reviews plays in the decision-making process.

The fight to get visibility of your business online is more competitive than ever, but we hope that by sharing these insights you can adopt, or tweak, a review management strategy to make your business more visible, more noteworthy, and more appealing to potential customers.

We’d love to hear your predictions for what could change in the world of online reviews over the next year—let us know your thoughts in the comments section below.

Methodology

The 2022 Local Consumer Review Survey explores trends in online reviews for local businesses over the past year. It’s based on the key SEO and local business reviews seen throughout the year to provide local marketers the information needed to maximize the impact of their online reputation management.

The statistics and findings are focused on local business reviews on sites such as Google, Facebook, Tripadvisor, Yelp, etc.

Based on the views of a representative sample of 1,124 US-based consumers, the Local Consumer Review Survey was conducted in November 2021 with an independent consumer panel. Age group breakdowns are representative of those in the US population.

In order to provide a better understanding of those that use reviews during a purchasing decision, consumers that said they don’t read online reviews weren’t asked questions around their review behavior.

Publishers are welcome to use the charts and data, crediting BrightLocal and linking to this URL. If you have any questions about the report, please get in touch with the content team, or leave a comment below.

Thanks for reading this year’s Local Consumer Review Survey!

“What are the best free local SEO tools and browser extensions to help me do the manual work?”

We all love a freebie, but when it comes to the complex and multi-location world of local SEO, the tool still has to be top-notch so that you can sit back and trust that it’s doing the job you want it to. There are a host of local SEO tools with advanced features that come at a cost, but we know how valuable it can be to perform some tasks for free.

In this reactive industry, you also want free local SEO tools to give you a quick and accurate answer as soon as you’ve thought of the question. That’s why we’ve compiled some of the industry’s top free local SEO tools and Chrome browser extensions so that you know where to turn. At the very least, we’ve made sure each of these tools offers a free trial.

Top Free Listings Management Tools for Local SEOs

Keeping on top of your listings manually could well feel like an impossible task. Listings management tools help to keep things organized and automate everyday tasks to free up time.

Postamatic

Postamatic allows you to easily create, schedule and publish Google Business Profile (GMB) Posts and Q&As through the GMB API. It’s perfect if you’re managing multiple locations and struggling to keep each place’s profile up to date. 

There’s no technical know-how needed to use Postamatic: just fire up Google Sheets, and you’re ready to go. You can also use Postamatic to schedule posts in different languages if required. 

Another helpful feature of this app is the ability to respond to Google Reviews. This is a must for local SEO success and can be accomplished easily with Postamatic. Couple it with one of our top keyword research tools to ensure your posts and review responses are optimized for local search.

Postamatic: Cost, Trial, and Features 

How much does it cost?

It’s free to use.

Does it have a free trial?

N/A.

What makes it unique? 

UTM tagging is included so you can track which posts are performing best via Google Analytics. 

Website

https://workspace.google.com/marketplace/app/%F0%9F%A4%96_postamatic/460920737213 

PlePer Local SEO Tools Chrome Extension 

PlePer’s Chrome extension features a wide array of features that allow you to dive deep into your competitors’ Google Business Profile listings. 

Stand-out options include shortcuts from the business listing to the Knowledge Panel (and back again) and quick links to speed and mobile-friendly tests. You can additionally use PlePer to see which Google Business Profile categories any Google Maps listing has selected. This will give you some insight into that business’ local search strategy and approach to GMB optimization. 

PlePer’s a no-brainer for any local SEO looking to save time conducting GMB competitor research.

PlePer: Cost, Trial, and Features 

How much does it cost? 

$10-$150/mo.

Does it have a free trial? 

There is a free Demonstration version to trial PlePer.

What makes it unique? 

It’s a simple way to scan for duplicate listings.

Website

https://pleper.com

Negative Review Removal

Negative Review Removal was developed by AI and software company Objection Co. It’s designed to enable users to check the legitimacy of online reviews. Simply copy and paste the review in question into the free tool, and you’ll receive a score generated by Objection Co’s algorithm. The score will tell you how likely it is that the review will qualify for removal. 

According to Founder Curtis Boyd, the tool uses NLP data and AI/ML frameworks such as NLTK and BERT to identify illegitimate content, such as reviews left by a person with a pre-existing bias against the business. It will base its decision on the review syntax and sentiment. 

Negative Review Removal: Cost, Trial, and Features 

How much does it cost? 

$199.99/mo.

Does it have a free trial? 

Yes. 7 days.

What makes it unique? 

The use of AI and Machine Learning to calculate how likely you are to be successful in getting a review removed sets Negative Review Removal apart.

Website

https://objection.co/free-negative-review-removal-tool 

Google ID and Link Generator

Whether you’re performing local SEO for your own business or acting as a local SEO consultant, acquiring fresh new reviews is likely to be a priority. Gathering Google reviews, in particular, can be a real boost to your search visibility. 

BrightLocal’s Google ID & Link Generator allows you to quickly find Google IDs and links for any local business with a physical address. You can share these links with your customers to make it simple for them to find you and leave a review. 

Google ID and Link Generator: Cost, Trial, and Features 

How much does it cost? 

It’s free to use, but you have a limited number of uses per day before a BrightLocal subscription is required for further use.

Does it have a free trial?

N/A.

What makes it unique? 

There’s no easier or faster way to generate Google ID and review link to share with customers.

Website 

https://www.brightlocal.com/free-local-seo-tools/google-id-and-review-link-generator  

GMBspy Chrome Extension

GMBspy for Google Chrome could just as easily have been included in our list of top competitor analysis tools. 

This handy extension focuses on unearthing and providing data about competitors’ Google Business categories. It’s easy to use with no tech expertise required. GMBspy provides data clearly, no matter where you are in Google Maps or Google Search so that you can get a better handle on any rival’s GMB optimization strategy.

Want to investigate further and gather even more intel? Use the ‘copy to clipboard’ function. This will allow you to compare and contrast multiple competitors across multiple categories. 

If you don’t have a particular rival in mind, you can also use GMBspy to snoop on common categories for the top 20 search results. This can be useful if you’re auditing and refining your Google Business Profile.

GMBspy Chrome Extension: Cost, Trial, and Features

How much does it cost? 

It’s free to use.

Does it have a free trial? 

N/A.

What makes it unique? 

GMBspy will show all current Google Business Profile categories for any business with just a click.

Website 

https://chrome.google.com/webstore/detail/gmbspy/hijfnlgdhfpmnckieikhinolopcolofe?hl=en 

GMB Everywhere Chrome Extension

Another handy Chrome extension to spy on the competition, GMB Everywhere Chrome is packed with helpful features. 

Once installed in your browser, you can use it to dig deep into Google Business Profile strategies. Whether browsing maps or local search results, it will show you the selected business category for every business listed. Category selection is crucial to local search success, so seeing what competitors specify can help you refine your approach. 

GMB Everywhere also has several audit options. Use it to analyze how frequently any listing shares new Posts and what content they focus on. You can use this information to review your Post strategy. Reviews auditing allows you to analyze review content and quality and calculate review ratings.

GMB Everywhere: Cost, Trial, and Features 

How much does it cost? 

It’s free to use.

Does it have a free trial? 

This Chrome extension is already free to use. 

What makes it unique? 

The Teleport feature allows you to perform a search from any simulated location to see search results for other areas.

Website 

https://chrome.google.com/webstore/detail/gmb-everywhere-gbp-audit/oibcaeeplepnjfjhokfcabnaafodppik 

Top Free Rank Tracking Tools for Local SEOs

Measure the impact of your local search strategy on your rankings with these free rank tracking tools. If you want something a little more advanced, BrightLocal offers local rank solutions like Local Rank Tracker and a geo-location rank tracker.

SERPTrends for Chrome

SEO Extension SERPTrends for Google Chrome is a lightweight SEO tool that shows dynamics for the search results within the search page. This means that when you perform a search on Google, you’ll see additional information to the left of the listing. The SERPTrends information will record whether the website has gained rankings, slid down the search results, has just been ranked, or retained the same ranking.  

In addition, you can see how many positions the website has gained or lost since your previous search. This information can be helpful to local SEOs who want to keep a close eye on rival businesses and how they are performing daily. 

SERPTrends: Cost, Trial, and Features 

How much does it cost? 

It’s free to use.

Does it have a free trial? 

It’s free to use. 

What makes it unique? 

For any searches you have performed previously, you can see changes to search results pages across Google, Yahoo and Bing.

Website 

https://chrome.google.com/webstore/detail/serptrends-seo-extension/nedmifdnblopopbcmdcgflboaclchebg?hl=en  

Local RankFlux

BrightLocal’s own Local RankFlux is the only ranking fluctuation monitoring tool for local search. We track daily ranking movements across 14,000+ keywords to measure volatility and identify suspected algorithm updates. 

As a user, you can choose whether you receive daily, weekly, or urgent-only alerts. This is especially useful after making changes to your site or when a new Google algorithm update is rolled out. Local RankFlux ensures that you’re in the loop when volatility hits local search results.

Local RankFlux: Cost, Trial, and Features 

How much does it cost? 

Local RankFlux is completely free to use, and there are no limits on usage.

Does it have a free trial? 

N/A.

What makes it unique? 

You can view search ranking volatility per industry if you wish to zero in on changes within your niche only. 

Website 

https://www.brightlocal.com/free-local-seo-tools/local-rankflux 

GS Location Changer Firefox Add-On and Chrome Extension

The GS Location Changer, available for Firefox and Chrome, does one thing and does it well: it changes your location in Google Search. 

Changing your search location without traveling can be very useful for local SEOs. This allows you to emulate the search experience from your chosen location rather than your actual location. When search results are returned, you’re able to see the search results specific to that area, with localized advertising and more. 

It’s no secret that local search results are determined in part by your location. So, simulating a different location is vital if you want to get an accurate picture of what local consumers really see elsewhere.

GS Location Changer: Cost, Trial, and Features

How much does it cost? 

GS Location Changer is free to use.

Does it have a free trial? 

It’s free to use.

What makes it unique? 

You can change where Google thinks you are located just by typing a different place into GS Location Changer. This allows you to pull up hyper-local results without being physically present at that location.

Website 

https://valentin.app/gs-location-changer.html 

MobileMoxie SERPerator: Google Mobile Rank Checker

Available for free use three times per month, MobileMoxie’s SERPerator lets you understand the messy world of mobile rankings. It even allows you to select the handset you want to emulate. 

You can also check mobile rankings from a specific address rather than the broader city, state, or zip code. This means you can be very granular with your search results reports. 

It’s also “the only SEO tool that lets you go back in time to see what real SERPs looked like” This is useful if you need to answer questions about historical mobile search rankings. There’s also a paid version if you need to perform more than three daily searches.

MobileMoxie: Cost, Trial, and Features 

How much does it cost? 

$29 – $399/mo.

Does it have a free trial? 

You can conduct three searches per day at no cost.

What makes it unique? 

This rank tracker allows you to turn back the clock to see what search positions were like previously. 

Website 

https://mobilemoxie.com/tools/mobile-serp-test/ 

Top Free On-Site SEO Tools for Local SEOs

Conducting on-site SEO can be a tall order without the support of specialist tools. Browse our selection for the best free offerings, whether you want to audit your content or check schema markup. 

Siteliner

Do you need a helping hand identifying key issues that affect your business website and rankings? Use Siteliner to flag up problems such as duplicate content and broken links.  

The great thing about Siteliner is that it’s so quick and easy to use. Simply add the URL for the page you want to check and wait as Siteliner gets to work. It will scan the domain and then present a series of graphs and charts. 

In addition to identifying pages with duplicate content, your chart will show the percentage of content that’s problematic, so you know how much work you must do. Reports can be downloaded to refer to later. 

Siteliner: Cost, Trial, and Features 

How much does it cost? 

$0.01 per page.

Does it have a free trial? 

There is a free version of this tool.

What makes it unique? 

As well as sniffing out duplicate content and broken links, its Page Power metric makes it easy to recognize which pages are most prominent to search engines. 

Website 

https://www.siteliner.com 

Microdata Generator 

Helping Google to better understand the purpose of your web pages by adding structured data can lead to improved search visibility. However, the thought of having to write Scheme code from scratch may seem daunting.

Luckily, Microdata Generator removes the requirement for coding knowledge. It enables you to generate Schema code with ease by inputting some basic information. 

Microdata Generator uses Google’s preferred Schema markup; JSON-LD. The older MicroData format is also available. Simply fill in the table, and Microdata Generator will build the code for you. Then, copy and paste it to your website. 

Microdata Generator: Cost, Trial, and Features 

How much does it cost? 

Microdata Generator is free to use.

Does it have a free trial? 

It is free to use. 

What makes it unique? 

This tool couldn’t be easier to use – just input some basic business information and wait while your Schema code is written for you.

Website 

https://microdatagenerator.org 

Da Vinci Tools Extension for Chrome

Da Vinci Tools for Chrome combines a series of useful tools for four fundamental Google properties: Google Analytics, Google Tag Manager, Google Ads, and Data Studio.

The toolset makes Google Analytics easier to understand at a glance and more powerful to use. Once installed on your browser, you can bring a layer of color to your Analytics reports with just a few clicks. Get insights into your search performance quicker by creating heat maps on tables, highlighting high and low points in overview graphs, and more.

You can also create heat map tables in Google Ads to highlight the most important data and create new tags in Google Tag Manager. When using Da Vinci with Data Studio, you’ll be able to automatically see sampling and auto-refresh your dashboard at your preferred interval. 

Da Vinci Tools: Cost, Trial, and Features 

How much does it cost? 

Da Vinci Tools is free to use. 

Does it have a free trial? 

It’s free to use. 

What makes it unique? 

The ability to create heatmaps directly within Google Analytics can make complex data easier to understand. 

Website 

https://chrome.google.com/webstore/detail/da-vinci-tools/pekljbkpgnpphbkgjbfgiiclemodfpen 

Top Free Keyword Research Tools for Local SEOs

Solid keyword research is the backbone of any good local search strategy. But it’s almost impossible to brainstorm relevant keywords manually. Keyword research tools make it easier to spot missed opportunities and identify potentially lucrative new keywords to target. 

Answer the Public

If you’re stuck for content and research ideas, Answer the Public is where you want to be. Add any keyword into the search bar, and the tool will list all the questions customers have asked search engines such as Google and Bing using that phrase.  

The list of questions returned is a treasure trove of inspiration and can make a notable difference to your local SEO strategy. You can tailor your content to what your customers want to know by reviewing the questions asked. In addition, the spider diagram format can be saved or printed, so you have all the content ideas you need, grouped by query type, ready to increase traffic to your website.

Answer The Public: Cost, Trial, and Features

How much does it cost? 

$99-$199/mo.

Does it have a free trial? 

There is a free version of this tool with a limited number of uses a day.

What makes it unique? 

Answer The Public doesn’t just provide keywords. It helps you to identify new opportunities to rank for ‘people also ask’ snippets as well as generate relevant content ideas.

Website 

https://answerthepublic.com 

Also Asked

The ‘People Also Ask’ space is an essential part of any SERP as it provides high-level exposure at the top of the page. AlsoAsked is a tool created specifically to identify those questions. It could just as easily have been included in our list of top content marketing tools. 

For any keyword, you can easily map out what’s ranking for which questions. In addition, the detailed report will tell you which other key search terms those questions are associated with. This allows you to see how topics are linked together and build a much broader plan of attack. 

You can use the attractive tree image for an overview or, in the paid version, export it to CSV for further analysis. This works to give you a whole host of great keyword ideas for your local content. 

Also Asked: Cost, Trial, and Features 

How much does it cost? 

$15 – $59/mo. 

Does it have a free trial? 

It’s free for up to three searches per month.

What makes it unique? 

It provides extensive search intent information in real-time with topic mapping for additional context.

Website 

https://alsoasked.com 

Other Top Free Tools for Local SEOs

Local-Pack-O-Meter 

Local-Pack-O-Meter is a brilliant free tool from Local SEO Guide. It uses SERP data from Traject to show how the makeup of SERPs is changing over time. It does this by tracking the appearance of features like People Also Ask, knowledge graphs, images, shopping boxes, news, ads, job packs and, of course, the Local Pack. 

This isn’t just a great tool for local SEOs, but for anyone who is looking to understand a potential drop in rankings. It’s also possible to use this tool to identify the SEO opportunities presented by features which are gaining visibility that may otherwise have been overlooked.

Local-Pack-O-Meter: Cost, Trial, and Features 

How much does it cost? 

It’s free to use.

Does it have a free trial? 

The tool is free to use.

What makes it unique? 

It will show the percentage of US search results showing specific SERP features. 

Website 

https://www.localseoguide.com/local-pack-o-meter  

USPS

That’s right, the US Postal Service has a great free tool that’s perfect for local SEO research. USPS allows you to search by street address, city, or state if you’re looking for a simple way to find a ZIP code. You can also search using a ZIP code to find out which cities that code covers. 

Are you wondering how or if you’d use a zip code checker when performing your local SEO activities? If so, you should know that this tool comes in very handy. 

You can use it when analyzing how well businesses are ranking in particular neighborhoods. Get the ZIP code from USPS, and then it can be used in tools like BrightLocal’s Local Search Results Checker to view localized search results for that area.

USPS: Cost, Trial, and Features 

How much does it cost? 

There’s no cost to use USPS’ ZIP Code lookup. 

Does it have a free trial? 

N/A.

What makes it unique? 

You can look up the ZIP code in three different ways, so it should be easy to find even if you are working with an incomplete address. 

Website 

https://tools.usps.com/zip-code-lookup.htm 

ZipSprout

It’s fair to say that local link building can be challenging. But it’s not impossible if you have a few clever tactics and approaches up your sleeve. One of the ways that you can acquire highly relevant local links is by partnering with other local organizations. 

That’s where the hyper-local focus on ZipSprout comes in. You can search for local sponsorship opportunities at scale with ZipSprout by automating city or topic-specific searches. You can also save time by favoriting certain locations and letting ZipSprout’s matchmakers take care of the outreach. It’s a perfect solution for local businesses who haven’t got the team or the time to send hundreds of emails themselves.

ZipSprout: Cost, Trial, and Features 

How much does it cost? 

Contact sales. Zipsprout is completely free for non-profits and charities.

Does it have a free trial? 

No.

What makes it unique? 

ZipSprout will seek out local event and sponsorship opportunities on your behalf and report back to you for approval. 

Website 

https://zipsprout.com 

So, as you approach the holiday season, when your shoppers are more present than ever (pun intended), you need to make sure that you’re putting your best face forward for all of their holiday-related searches.

For many businesses, the holiday period sees fiercer competition than the rest of the year, so standing out in local searches at this time is critical. If you’re running or working with a business that needs to do this, getting the best from that “virtual shop window” is a solid strategy.

So: how do you stand out when consumers look for businesses like yours during the holidays?

Below I’ll cover some general advice on preparing your GBP (Google Business Profile) for the holiday season, then pick out ten GBP features that most businesses can use to take the experience of potential customers to the next level.

How to Prepare for Optimizing Your Google Business Profile for the Holiday Season

Perform Some Seasonal Local Keyword Research

Depending on your business, there’s every chance that the types of search terms consumers use to find businesses like yours will either change or expand during the holiday season.

So spend a little time researching seasonal variations of your top business keywords and see what comes out. An obvious example would be restaurants and venues wanting to research and optimize for phrases around ‘christmas dinner’ and ‘christmas parties’.

With this extra local keyword research in hand, you’ll have the knowledge you need to help you build out your profile to appeal to your potential customers’ seasonal needs.

Free Video Course: How to Master Local Keyword Research

Enroll today

Avoid GBP Suspensions at All Costs

As is par for the course, due to bugs and tweaks and various things going on at Google, we’re finding it a little too easy to get your GBP suspended.

While I’d always recommend a few tests here and there to see what works in your GBP, particularly around testing different categories, doing this too much can greatly increase your chances of getting your profile temporarily suspended.

The last thing you want ahead of the holiday season is a business profile that just doesn’t appear in search at all, especially considering the new, slightly unnerving approach Google is taking to suspensions.

So, when approaching the holiday season, it’s probably a good idea to leave off any big changes to your business information that you think might be risking a suspension.

For the record, by “business information”, I mean core data like category, description, address, and so forth. Using Google Posts, Q&A, photos and the like (which we’ll come back to later) shouldn’t impact your chances of getting suspended—but as with everything to do with suspensions at the moment, I make no guarantees!

One last tip on this: consider staggering any significant changes you’ll be making to your profile, as sometimes lots of changes at once can trigger a suspension.

Record and Reflect All Changes You’ll Be Making to Your Business Information

Below, I’ll be making recommendations of the sorts of things you can add to, or change about, your Google Business Profile over the holiday season. But, while your GBP is important, you mustn’t neglect your business website, especially if you link to it from your profile and see regular visitors.

The same is true of your other business listings. Inconsistency of business information across online presences can significantly decrease trust in the business. Our Business Listings Trust Report found that “finding incorrect information on a business listing would stop 63% of consumers using that business.”

This means it’s critical that you do two things when updating your Google Business Profile for the holiday season:

1. Record every change you’re making in a spreadsheet. Use two columns to show what the profile said before and after the change.
2. Reflect these changes on your website and your location pages. You’ll also need to update all of your business listings and citations across the web. Yes, all of them.

With the above done, and this information in hand, make yourself a reminder to update all this again, to revert things back to their original state, once things change after the holiday season.

Benchmark Your GBP Performance Before You Start

Before you dive into your GBP and start making seasonal updates, it’s worth taking stock of your competitive position in your local landscape.

Understanding what your local rankings look like across your local area, what your GBP visibility and engagement levels are, and how you’re performing against competitors will all help you learn whether the changes you make to your GBP are having a positive or negative effect on the business overall.

Again, there are plenty of BrightLocal tools that can help you benchmark performance and track competitors. For example, enter your seasonal keywords into your Local Search Grid, and ask yourself whether you can beat your competitors this holiday season!

Right, that’s enough preparation… now we’re ready to update our GBP to make the most of those holiday shoppers and vacationers!

10 Google Business Profile Features to Help You Succeed During the Holidays

1. Business Opening Hours

In addition to a lot of businesses closing or maintaining a reduced service, the holiday season sees a whole lot of angry customers frustrated that these temporary opening times aren’t communicated where they should be.

In our aforementioned Business Listings Trust Report, we found that incorrect opening hours led to 48% of consumers losing trust in a business.

It’s such an easy thing to update, yet somehow it’s also an easy thing for businesses to miss.

For its part, Google recognizes that sometimes you want to set temporary, or ‘special’ hours to cover these periods. The good news is that we have a guide dedicated to updating your opening hours on Google Business Profile, so definitely check that out for a quick step-by-step if you’re not sure about the process.

As mentioned above, you’ll need to update this info on all other listings or citations, too (and remember to revert them back to non-seasonal hours afterward).

2. Business Categories

This change only really makes sense if your business offers significantly different things during the holiday season.

There are three holiday-related categories available to businesses like this:

• christmas market
• christmas shop
• christmas-tree farm

Only consider using these categories if you really do offer these services. Also, as I touched on earlier, making a lot of changes to core business info can trigger a suspension, so I wouldn’t recommend testing or changing categories too much at this time.

3. Google Posts (or ‘Updates’)

Now, this is where we can start to be creative and have some fun! For the uninitiated, Google Posts (or ‘updates’ as they are now called in the New Merchant Experience) are social-media style updates that the business controls and that appear on your Google Business Profile.

These are a perfect fit for any holiday promotions you’re planning to run or announcements you’ll be making. Read through our full guide to Google Posts to learn how they work, then get creative with these ideas for each post type:

• Offer Post: Use promotional posts to shout about any seasonal products or services you’re offering, or promote time-limited offers, sales, and discounts.
• Update Post: Show the personal side of your business by sharing photos of your newly-decorated premises or office party, using the ‘Update Post’ update type.
• Event Post: Share news about holiday-themed events you’re running, or communicate your reduced capacity or availability over the holiday season.

Beyond GBP photos, which we’ll come to next, Google Posts are easily the best way to make your GBP stand out during the holiday season, so get creative and try different things!

4. Google Business Profile Photos

Wherever you view your Google Business Profile, be that in Search on desktop, on mobile, or in the Google Maps app, the photos of your business appear very prominently.

It should go without saying, then, that these are likely to form the first impression of your business—their importance can’t be overstated.

For something so important, you’ll probably agree that it’s pretty wild that the average user or Local Guide can impact it so easily by uploading photos of your business that perhaps don’t provide the best sense of it.

That’s why you should take the opportunity ahead of the holiday period to refresh the photos of your business in your Google Business Profile, by uploading your own seasonal snaps. And remember—there is a verification process that photos need to go through, so don’t expect your uploads to go live instantly.

Google has a great guide to the various types of photos business owners can upload, but here are a few ideas for themed photos that will stand out to potential customers with ‘holiday’ on the brain:

• Decorate your premises (yes, even if it’s a stuffy office!), take some snaps, and upload these as interior photos.
• If you’ve worked on a seasonal fascia or window display for your business, upload photos of that as exterior photos.
• Showcase what your business is like to visit over the holiday period with photos of your business brimming with happy customers—you can upload these as photos at work.
• If you’re serving special food and drink items, or seasonal menus, upload plenty of quality photos of these—Google advises uploading at least three (more on this shortly).
• Get the team together for a few fun, seasonal group and individual photos, and upload these team photos.

The aim of all this is to make your premises and staff appear welcoming and to help you stand out in a competitive market. That said, if you’re someone who adores the holiday season and thinks about it all year round, remember that not everyone is as keen on it as you, so always think about your audience and consider what they’d appreciate seeing in the holiday season. Sometimes less really is more!

5. Menus

For hospitality venues, restaurants, cafes, pubs, and bars, this is an absolute no-brainer. And there are other businesses that might have seasonal menus (for example, beauty salons) that should take heed, too!

You’ll likely have holiday-focused menus printed for your business, so make sure you take good-quality photos of these, with good lighting (watch out for the glare on laminated menus—remove the laminate if you need to) and upload these to your Google Business Profile, taking care to label them with the name of the menu.

As you can see in the screenshot from Google Maps below, Google even contains ‘christmas menu’ as a menu highlight because the search included this term.

If you have the option to link to your menu from your Google Business Profile editing area, make sure you consider swapping this out to your holiday menu temporarily, especially if you know it’s a popular one!

6. Google Reviews

If your business is one that will naturally expect increased custom over the holiday season (think: restaurants, hotels, travel, tourism, gifts, retail) then you should take the opportunity to put a plan in place for asking as many customers as you can for reviews.

Often, review generation is a numbers game—the more people you ask for reviews, the better chance you have to get them—so the increased footfall and custom really is the best shot you’ll have all year to boost those all-important review figures.

7. Google Business Profile Messaging

Not every business is available to answer customer queries via Google’s business messaging functionality, but those that do use this on a regular basis should remember to switch it off during the periods that staff are unavailable to respond.

Google even has a policy that requires businesses to respond to messages within 24 hours, which it details here:

Businesses can find and track their average response time in the app. You can get insights if you have messages turned on in your Google Maps app.

These insights show average response times using the last 28 days of data. You can choose a longer time period and compare waiting times for similar businesses nearby.

If customers search for your business, they can get a status update for a message response time:

Usually responds in a few minutes

Usually responds in a few hours

Usually responds in a day 

Usually responds in a few days

As shown above, Google also shows users how long businesses generally take to respond when they start messaging, so if this is something you forget, and you come back to work in the new year to see dozens of unanswered messages, your reputation for good customer service on this channel will go down the drain very quickly!

8. Google Q&A

Google Q&A is a fantastic feature for searchers looking to ask others questions about the business that the business might not have answered themselves.

(It’s also a bit of a reputational risk, that, if not carefully monitored, can have pranksters run riot over your brand—but that’s not quite in the holiday spirit, so let’s leave that to one side!)

I’d always recommend that businesses not only attempt to answer questions posed by the public (and report inappropriate ones) but also ask and answer questions about their own businesses.

These answers might be available elsewhere on your profile or your website, but surfacing them in the Q&As is just another way to give searchers what they’re looking for. It’s also a great opportunity for you to showcase your brand voice and personality through the way you phrase your answers.

Here are a few questions you might want to ask and answer in Google Q&A ahead of the holiday season, depending on your business type:

• What are your holiday opening hours?
• Are you running a holiday sale?
• Do you offer indoor seating?
• Can I buy your product/service as a gift?
• Do you decorate your business for the holiday season?

9. Bookings & Appointments

Thanks to Reserve with Google, there are plenty of reservation platforms you can hook your GBP up to, allowing users to click ‘Reserve a Table’…

…and make a booking right there in the profile.

(This looks and works slightly different on mobile, by the way—twas ever thus!)

Provided you set it up correctly, Google’s Bookings and Appointments feature can drastically minimize the effort your potential customers have to go through to make a booking with you, as they can do it directly from Google Search or Google Maps app, without needing to click through to your site.

All you really have to do here is set them up (which you should be doing anyway—this isn’t just a job for the holiday season!) and make sure that, like your opening hours, your reservation platform is updated with the dates and times your business can and can’t take bookings for over this period.

As I’ve mentioned a few times now, a poor customer experience caused by incorrect or unavailable business info can really hurt trust in your business, so I’d recommend getting this done as soon as possible to prevent disappointment and frustration.

10. Products and Services

While a lot of the recommendations so far have been around changing things up for the holidays, your Products & Services in Google Business Profile should have a longer shelf life, and shouldn’t be updated unless the offering substantially changes.

For example, if you’re an artisan woodworker who offers custom figurines all year round, don’t go and add ‘christmas’ to the product name just to indicate that you’re willing to do a themed figurine. 

However, if you’re offering a holiday-specific ornament set available only for the season, it’s worth adding a new listing for this. 

Only if there’s been a complete overhaul of one of your offerings should you consider updating the product name and description to be holiday-specific.

And don’t forget—all the holiday updates you make need to be removed or reverted after the season ends… all the more reason to be scrupulous when deciding when to keep your products as-is or when to give them a festive face-lift. 

Ultimately, though, these sections of GBP should be low on your list of elements to ‘holiday up’—hence its position in this list.

Happy Holidays!

So there you have it: ten ways your GBP can help deliver you more customers over the holiday season. And if you’re reading this early enough in the year, you can still use our tips for making the most of Black Friday, too!

As Google Business Profile gets ever more sophisticated, complex, and critical to the local search experience, it’s important to keep up with the features and tips your competitors aren’t using. So, consider running a Google Business Profile audit, subscribing to our regular newsletter and monitoring the Local Search Forum to get the lowdown, and the latest, on Google Business Profile.