What is a review management system?

A review management system is a tool that helps you to manage your online reputation. 

You can use a review management system to request reviews from consumers, monitor for new reviews, respond to reviews, and showcase the best reviews on your website and other owned media channels. 

How do you manage reviews?

Online review management covers four core areas:

1. Generating reviews
2. Monitoring reviews
3. Responding to reviews
4. Showcasing reviews  

For effective review management, you’ll need to have a plan in place to tackle a range of tasks. Within that plan, you should have processes in place to:

• deploy online review management tools and software to easily solicit reviews from customers and distribute them to popular online review sites;
• add review schema markup to your website;
• be proactive about asking customers to leave online reviews for your business (68% of consumers will leave a local business review when asked to do so);
• respond to both positive and negative reviews to either thank the customer for their great feedback or address the concern they’ve raised; and
• promote your positive reviews to draw attention to your customer feedback (such as sharing on social media, posting on websites, creating banners, including in e-newsletters, paid ads, etc.).

How to Generate Reviews

When it comes to online reviews, the recency of reviews matters as much as the quantity to consumers and search engine algorithms alike.

The best way to boost your review count — and ensure you have a steady stream of new reviews — is simply to ask.

One easy way to do this is to set up an automated email that goes to consumers soon after their purchase or visit. Your request should thank the customer for their business and request that they leave a review to share their experience. Be sure to include a link to your review platform (or platforms) of choice. 

If your favored review platform offers a widget, you can install this small piece of code on your site to display a button inviting visitors to review your business. 

How to Monitor Online Reviews

If you don’t have reputation management software, general review sites along with niche review platforms will need to be monitored manually. This could mean you need to set up a Google Alert, conduct brand searches on Google, physically visit your key review platforms regularly, or use a social listening tool — such as Hootsuite — to keep an eye on what people are saying about you online.

To monitor performance and find out about new reviews, it’s often much easier, quicker, and more effective to use an online reputation management tool like BrightLocal’s Reputation Manager. This is especially true if your business is present on lots of review sites or you’re managing multiple locations.

When it comes to reputation management, online review frequency matters, so you’ll also want to be as creative as possible to generate the maximum number of reviews. 

Adding a link to the bottom of your email signature, so it’s easy for all email recipients to review your business, can be an effective way of boosting your review profile. It also pays to regularly request reviews via social media posts. 

If you have a physical brick-and-mortar store, you could hand out cards requesting a review be left for you at the register, or have a tablet set up by the exit with your preferred review platform loaded up. This will encourage customers to leave a review right then and there. 

For restaurants, hotels, and bars, you can use printed flyers or cards to invite guests to leave a review. Tripadvisor has a library of items that you can order to help prompt consumers to review your business, including stickers, cards, and check inserts. 

How to Respond to Online Reviews

It’s no secret that today’s consumers use reviews to make a choice when selecting a local business. What may be surprising, is that consumers increasingly make a point of reading business responses to reviews. 89% of consumers are highly or fairly likely to use a business that responds to reviews, so this simple act can have a direct impact on your bottom line.

Left unanswered, negative reviews can be hugely detrimental to your online reputation. So, you’ll want to reply promptly to address concerns raised and attempt to restore confidence in your business (you can find our tips for responding to negative reviews here). 

Replying to reviews can be as simple as creating a few different templates to thank each customer for their feedback. Make sure each response is personalized to reference the reviewer’s name and refer to specific points they raised in their review. As a starting point try: 

• Thanks so much for your feedback [name of reviewer]. We’re delighted to hear we were able to help! 
• Hi [reviewer name] — we’re happy to hear that you enjoyed your visit and look forward to welcoming you back again soon! 
• Hello [reviewer name] it’s great to hear that you enjoyed the [service or product]. Thank you for sharing your feedback! 
• Hi [reviewer name] thank you for your kind review and detailed feedback. We’re glad to hear you appreciated [insert points from review]. Your comments help us to improve and we hope to see you again soon.

How to Showcase Online Reviews

Because reviews are so important in aiding consumer decision-making, you’ll want to showcase five-star reviews on your own site. This will serve as a conversion optimization tool and provide social proof. 

Many review platforms offer widgets that you can install on your site to showcase your most recent reviews. This is a piece of code you’ll copy from the review platform and paste onto any page on your site (such as your homepage or service pages). This will then show your reviews. 

A tool like Reputation Manager can be used to automate the process of sharing your best reviews with your site visitors.

A final option is to manually add your favorite reviews to your website. However, this process is the least efficient, as you’ll need to regularly set time aside to update the reviews you showcase. 

How do you manage online reviews?

Now that you can answer the question, “What is online review management?”, you can embark upon the process of managing online reviews. 

An effective strategy will allow you to consistently work through each of these four core elements of review management. This means you’ll have a process in place to generate reviews, consistently monitor the content of those reviews so you can pinpoint problems before they escalate, have a process for responding to reviews, and make great use of this social proof by showcasing your strongest, most recent reviews on your site.

Reputation management and online reviews are not the same thing. 

While review management and reputation management are often used interchangeably — and do overlap in some areas — reputation management is a distinct area of expertise in its own right. It’s often dealt with by public relations consultants or agencies rather than a local SEO specialist.  

While review management is vital for local businesses who want to grow their search visibility and win more local custom, reputation management is wider in its scope and encompasses the entirety of a business’ reputation. Reputation management involves everything from social media posts to brand coverage in media outlets, while also working to favorably position the business with positive reviews, high-profile endorsements, and useful content and resources. 

What is online reputation management?

Online reputation management (sometimes known as online presence management) is the broader overall strategy that sets out how each facet of building a positive online reputation will be conducted and directed. 

A reputation management strategy will consider how to conduct the brand messaging, how to amplify reviews, how to secure positive media mentions, and include plans for dealing with a PR crisis arising from negative publicity. Each activity within the strategy will be executed in line with how the organization wishes to be perceived.

Why is online reputation management important?

Your reputation is your most valuable asset. If you’re only taking care of it when a blow has been delivered, then your reputation is already at risk.

We live in the Information Age. Details about a business, its products, its personnel, its culture, its ethics, and how it treats its customers are available on-demand, online, and in any location. 

Your online reputation is created from a range of sources — comments, shares, recommendations, reviews, endorsements, news articles, and so on. New publishers, platforms, and apps are continually springing up, making online reputation a living, breathing entity that needs to be carefully monitored and managed. 

Your brand is shaped by these sources, as well as what is being said and shared online by others. A consumer’s perception of this information tells them what they can expect from you. 

With 81% of consumers seeking out their own information before making a decision, taking a proactive approach to managing your online reputation is essential. Doing so means that those consumers are more likely to find information that paints your business in a positive light, rather than details which send them in search of a competitor. Online reputation management recognizes this fact and brings clarity to the chaos in the form of a documented global strategy — one that unites and controls the wealth of channels.

Reputation is Important to Businesses Big and Small

Whether you’re the head of a large national business, or you run a ‘mom-and-pop’ convenience store, a bed and breakfast, or a local veterinary surgery, what people say and think about your brand and business matters. Their online opinions have a direct impact on whether other people want to spend their money with you, or if they feel they’d be better off with a competitor.

Online reputation management isn’t just for big businesses. It’s just as vital for local businesses to embrace this discipline and to have a strategy in place to amplify the good and deal with the bad.

As a local business owner, the task of online reputation management doesn’t have to weigh heavily on you. There are a multitude of affordable tools out there which can do some of the heavy lifting.

You can set up a free Google Alert, for example, to notify you of any online mentions of your brand. ResponseSource or HARO can deliver journalist requests directly to your inbox to scour PR opportunities, while BrightLocal’s own small business solutions can help you grow your customer reviews.

Ratings and Reviews are Embedded in the Path to Purchase

Online ratings and reviews are now a pivotal stop on the path to purchase. They’re used at each stage of the buyer journey, from initial research, through the consideration phase, and play a key role in the final decision to purchase or not. 

The power of reviews isn’t restricted to review platforms. A cohesive online reputation management strategy will allow you to repurpose and leverage your reviews to their fullest across a range of channels to amplify their impact. This could mean sharing reviews on social media, posting them on your website, creating case studies with them, or showcasing them in a TV ad.

Trust Matters

Consumer trust is the heartbeat of your organization. Without it, your local business simply isn’t sustainable.

Today, consumer trust is harder to win and more important to hold onto than ever before. The 2019 Edelman Trust Barometer Special Report: In Brands We Trust? discovered that being able to trust a brand is a major factor in deciding to purchase for 81% of consumers.

With three quarters of the report respondents saying they actively tried to avoid advertising by using tools like ad blockers, online reputation management can help you to demonstrate trustworthiness and create a positive brand perception. This can be done using a range of channels (reviews, social media, PR, and local search) in a joined-up, cohesive, and consistent manner.

Online Reputation Management Gives You a Rounded View of Your Business

At its most basic level, taking proactive measures to establish a positive online reputation simply makes good business sense.

Through the course of online reputation management, you’ll have opportunities to study how consumers perceive your brand, what they loved about your business, where the niggles and disappointments were, and how you stack up against your competitors.

This is not just a chance to see your business through the eyes of your customers or clients, but an opportunity to gather intel and data, which could help you make improvements and refine your offering.

Your Online Reputation is Important for Recruitment

Your business is only as good as its people. To recruit the best people, you need a stellar reputation.

Research by Indeed — the online jobs board — revealed that just 23% of job seekers would be able to overlook a negative reputation when researching a prospective employer. For local businesses, this is especially important. LinkedIn reports that a strong brand can help to lower the cost of recruitment, attract better candidates, and speed up the time taken to fill vacancies.

What does online reputation management include?

Online reputation management includes a range of tactics to emphasize favorable content and opinions about your brand. This includes carrying out public relations campaigns, social media marketing, content marketing, review management, SEO, customer engagement, and crisis management. 

How to Build an Online Reputation Management Strategy

Developing a reputation management strategy doesn’t need to be intimidating! Think of it as a fact-finding mission followed by the creation of a plan to focus your efforts on the things that matter most to you.

Step 1: Research Your Current Online Reputation

Your first task is to understand where you stand right now. What are people saying about you? How are they rating your products and services? What is their perception of your business?

Assembling all of this information can be daunting, but you don’t have to do it manually. There are numerous tools available to automate and speed up this process.

• You could use Hootsuite or a similar social media tool to track social media brand mentions. 
• BrightLocal can help you track reviews. 
• There are numerous free and paid tools to track brand mentions as a result of PR activity and media mentions. 
• You can use Awario to keep up to date with any mention of your brand across the web including in forums, blogs, and news reports.

For this data to be useful, you’ll need to assign context and sentiment, so try to quantify them. A simple system such as ‘positive, negative, neutral’ is an easy place to start.

For small amounts of data, take a sample of statements from across these channels to get a general idea of how people are feeling about your brand. Be sure not to let your unconscious bias lead to you pick only very good or very bad comments. Cast a broad net.

Step 2: Send an NPS Survey

NPS (Net Promoter Score) is a scale which runs from -100 to 100. You ask a series of questions and then apply the scale to measure how willing your customers are to recommend your local business.

NPS helps you to understand loyalty and sentiment. This is useful when developing your online reputation management strategy as it shows you what you’re working with, highlights any reputation problems to address, and indicates where your focus should be.

You can use a tool such as Reputation Manager to ask your customers to give you feedback or reviews, and then apply the NPS scale to determine how they feel.

If you don’t want to survey your customers, you could add an NPS pop-up to your site. Many popular CMS systems, including WordPress, have NPS plugins that you can simply download and activate.

Step 3: Find Out What Matters to Your Customers and What Helps Them Build Trust

Trust is subjective. What gives one person peace of mind may not matter at all to another.

Research suggests that one in three consumers consider ‘trust in brand’ as one of their top three reasons for choosing any given business. But that trust has many facets; brands need to be authentic, responsive to feedback, transparent, dependable, consistent, offer good customer service, maintain a high product or service quality, consider sustainability, have an ethical supply chain, and so on.

The purpose of this step is to find out what your customers expect from you.

Are they likely to forgive slow shipping if your customer service and product quality is top notch?

Do they expect a highly personalized service or do they appreciate more straightforward communications?

A crucial part of this stage of the process is determining which platforms, forums, apps, and websites your audience uses. Which social networks does your demographic favor? Which newspapers do they read? Which forums are they active on? Which review platforms do they gravitate towards when they want to read online reviews or leave them?

The purpose of asking these questions is to narrow down where it’s most important to build and manage your reputation. Referring back to the research conducted in step one should give you the answers to these questions.

Step 4: Set Online Reputation Management Goals

For the time you invest in your online reputation management strategy to really pay dividends, your actions must be both measurable and accountable. The goals you set will directly influence the tactics you adopt to manage your reputation. These goals will also help you gauge whether or not your approach is effective.

Ask yourself what you want to achieve. For example, if the results of your NPS survey were disappointing, do you want to see that improve by the end of this project? How are you going to go about that? Does your poor online reputation stem from a genuinely poor customer experience? If so, you’ll need to start by resolving that.

If you get great reviews, perhaps you want to put a process in place for regular review monitoring to ensure they stay that way.

If you’ve determined that your audience reads a certain website but you fail to feed their writers positive stories of your achievements, maybe you want to raise your profile there.

You could well find that you need to add to or adjust your goals as you begin to execute your chosen reputation management tactics — and that’s fine. Don’t be afraid to adjust them as you get to work so that they continue to help you measure the success (or otherwise) of your efforts.

Step 5: Decide on Your Tactics

Deciding on the tactics you’ll use is the final piece of the strategic puzzle. From review generation to social media monitoring, you’ll need to choose the activities that help you meet your reputation goals. 

Overview of Reputation Management Tactics

Review Generation and Monitoring

Requesting reviews from your clients is crucial for online reputation management. It’s known that today’s consumers crowdsource information via reviews to help with the decision-making process.

There are many benefits to online reviews, offering compelling reasons to take a proactive approach to generate as many new reviews as you can:

• the more new reviews you can obtain, the better your local SEO rankings are likely to be;
• they are trusted by consumers;
• they help to generate sales; and
• they give you helpful insights that you can use to improve your business.

Just 3% of consumers will use a business with two-star reviews or lower. This makes a poor reputation extremely costly.

Asking for reviews can be done in a number of ways, including with a review tool such as BrightLocal, via an email template, in person, via SMS, or as a website link.

In addition to gathering reviews, you’ll also need to factor in the time needed to respond to reviews. Your responses are read by consumers searching for your business online, but they also indicate that you value feedback.

To really make the most of your reviews and further move your reputation marketing forwards, you’ll need to showcase your best reviews on your website. You can also share positive reviews in your blog and article content, in your PR activity, and on social media.

Google My Business Monitoring

Consumers naturally turn to Google when they want to find a local business or share their experience of using a local business. To be in the loop, you’ll need to monitor your Google My Business (GMB) listing for new reviews. 

In addition to the reviews function, GMB has lots of other useful features for online reputation management, such as the option to share news and offers via Posts and respond to questions in the Q&A section.

If you haven’t claimed your GMB listing yet, it’s free to do so. Our guide here has step-by-step instructions.

Social Media Monitoring

Today’s consumers don’t just use social media to catch up with friends — it’s increasingly a place to discover new brands and products, aid in decision making, and connect with local businesses. Instagram data confirms that 70% of its user base looks to the social network for their next purchase. 

Adding a social media monitoring tool to your arsenal means you can keep abreast of what’s being said about your local business on social media. Popular options include HubSpot, Hootsuite, Buffer, and Sprout Social.

Broadly speaking, you can segment your social media listening into two parts:

• Part 1 is the monitoring itself, which flags up mentions of your brand (either manually or using a tool).
• Part 2 is taking stock of those mentions, understanding the sentiment, and then taking the appropriate action, such as taking part in the conversation, thanking the social media user for their feedback, or directing them to a relevant resource.

Monitoring Brand Mentions on the Web

Opinions and comments about your local business aren’t just restricted to review platforms and social media; they can appear anywhere — from local newspapers and trade press to industry forums and blogs.

This means you need to monitor the web to stay up to date with positive and negative comments about your business, and ensure you’re able to react to them accordingly as part of the process of managing your online reputation

Keeping tabs on brand mentions online can be largely automated. Simply go to Google and set up a Google Alert for your business name.

It’s advisable to also set up alerts for your own name if you’re closely associated with the business, as well as any brands or products specific to you. If you have the budget, there are a number of dedicated tools available. Brandwatch, Awario, Mention, Meltwater and Brand24 are good starting points.

When you’re actively seeking out what people are saying about you, it’s inevitable that you’ll come across negative mentions at some point. That could be in the form of a disgruntled customer, a disparaging rival, or a less-than-glowing review on a blog.

The whole point of online reputation management is to find this information early so you can react quickly and minimize the damage.

Crisis Management

We’ve all heard the old saying that ‘failing to prepare is preparing to fail’. Crisis management is one area where it really does pay to be prepared. The last thing you want is to find yourself faced with a crisis and have no plan in place for minimizing the damage.

The easiest way to do this is to create a list of the worst-case scenarios you can think of. Divide them into levels of crisis, such as bad, very bad, and the worst, and then outline what to do in each instance.

You’ll also want to assign roles to specific people. This is so everyone knows what’s expected of them and who’s responsible for putting out a press statement or updating social media.

Crisis management is a big deal, so it’s worth doing your research. Mention has a 20-minute on-demand video sharing tips on how to respond to negative press, while Meltwater has a free crisis communications guide. The Chartered Institute of Public Relations also has a free library of webinars, podcasts, and skills guides dedicated to handling an online crisis.

A crisis management plan isn’t something to be afraid of. It’s something that can be a lifeline when you’re being pulled in a dozen different directions trying to save your business.

Even the biggest brands find themselves very publicly in the midst of a crisis from time to time, but you can turn a negative into a positive with the right approach!

If you need a little inspiration, take a look at examples of the best-managed PR crises from brands, such as KFC (running out of chicken), Starbucks (reacting to the actions of a racist employee) and Crockpot (ever seen This Is Us?).

Public Relations

Reputation marketing isn’t just about reacting to what people are already saying; it’s also about actively creating positivity around your business. Traditionally, this falls under the umbrella of public relations and generating positive press about your company.

Gone are the days when this meant you had to be well-connected to every editor on Fleet Street or have a direct line to the New York Times. It’s a myth to think you need a little black book of contacts to have any hope of getting your name in print. It’s entirely achievable for local businesses, so don’t be put off including this in your reputation marketing toolkit. All you need is a good story, a willingness to pick up the phone, and perseverance.

PR isn’t a quick fix. You can’t send out a press release one day and wake up to front page news the next. While that may happen in rare instances, in most cases it takes time to build momentum and secure coverage, so the ‘slow and steady’ approach wins the race.

With that in mind, you’ll need to incorporate other PR tactics, such as sponsoring local events or organizations and entering local business awards. Both of these are also good ways to build links back to your site from reputable, relevant local sources to help with your local SEO.

HubSpot has a series of free PR templates, along with examples and tips for creating a newsworthy press release to boost the chances of your news getting picked up by journalists.

A Final Definition of Online Reputation Management 

Online reputation management is a broad area of activity which seeks to cultivate a positive image of your business. This is achieved by emphasizing great feedback and mentions, while limiting the impact of negative experiences and comments.

Knowing how reputation management works means you’ll understand the need to be mindful of the broader strategy, goals, and performance required to master it. Using the strategy above and selecting the tactics that are right for your local business and current situation puts lots of benefits within reach.

These methods and this approach enable you to see your business through your customers’ eyes. Most importantly, online reputation management will help you bring your business and your customers closer together.

In an era where the internet has taken over the world, online reviews are bound to drive customers either towards or away from your business. Making customer satisfaction an essential part of your business strategy can only help your sales and profitability.

What are the benefits of online reviews?

The benefits of online reviews for local businesses span a number of different areas, but key to their usefulness is that they offer social proof, are used as a reference point for local consumers seeking trustworthy local businesses, and are a known local SEO ranking factor. 

Broadly speaking, these advantages can be split into two camps: increased visibility and increased sales. 

Why are reviews important for small businesses when it comes to winning more business?

In the modern digital landscape, there’s simply no getting away from online reviews. They’re woven into the fabric of online consumer behavior so deeply that consumers who don’t seek out, refer to, or use online reviews in their decision-making process are now in the minority.

Reviews Are Frequently Referenced by Consumers Searching for a Local Business

Small businesses are especially well-placed to benefit from a positive review profile. This is largely because 77% of local consumers always or regularly turn to reviews as a source of information when they’re researching a local business. 

This means that a strong review profile can help you to highlight your excellence, especially as consumers will see your reviews when they’re looking at your products or services. 

Reviews Help to Cultivate Trust

While reviews are just one part of the marketing mix, they’re a vital tool in establishing trust, which in itself is a prerequisite for beating the competition to sales, subscriptions, and reservations. 

For small businesses, establishing trust is a major challenge when going head-to-head with larger well-known brands, such as Amazon or Walmart. However, a lack of financial resources isn’t necessarily a hindrance, with research from Tripadvisor confirming that a positive review profile can take the place of a large ad budget. 

This research found that modern consumers are increasingly unlikely to be swayed into a purchase by an advert. However, over two-thirds will consult reviews before making a final purchase decision. 

Reviews are a Trusted Source of Information

BrightLocal research confirms that half of consumers trust online reviews as much as personal recommendations from friends and family, while 28% of consumers trust them as much as articles penned by subject-matter experts. Reviews are pieces of information that consumers feel confident believing in, which makes them a very useful business asset.

Review elements are known to give shoppers confidence when it comes to making a purchase, with average star rating, volume of reviews, detail offered in reviews, length of reviews, and recency all useful for enhancing confidence levels. 

Positive Reviews Lead to New Business

We’ve already seen that there’s a strong correlation between online reviews and building consumer trust. Trust is a currency — it’s a means of securing a sale, a reservation, or a booking. 

Trusting a review isn’t a passive action and doesn’t happen in isolation. When consumers trust online reviews, they tend to do something. That action could cover anything from calling the store, visiting the location, buying online, or making a booking. These actions invariably lead to new business and help to grow your revenue. In fact, 40% of shoppers say that consumer reviews and photos make them more likely to buy a product from an advert.

Think of the relationship between positive reviews and new business as a revenue relationship, with the better your review profile, the more revenue you could potentially earn. 

To underline this potential, it’s worth noting that 97% of consumers will only use a local business that has more than two stars, while 40% say a business must have a minimum of four stars to win their custom. Therefore, having a range of good reviews gives you a head start in the race to secure that business over a competitor.

The correlation between online reviews and new business is really a culmination of the positive sentiment we have seen consumers exhibit when it comes to reviews.

When shopping or researching online, there’s no salesperson to turn to, so online reviews from peers provide valuable information about the company, product, or service. Consumers — especially digitally-native Millennials and Gen Z — are predisposed to trusting online reviews and take an almost crowdsourced approach to making decisions.

Feedback from peers, which comes in the form of online reviews, allows consumers to gather data, become aware of potential problems, find out what or who other people have had the best experiences with, and spend their money in line with the majority.

Responding to Reviews Gives Consumers an Insight Into Your Business

For many consumers, how you respond to reviews is very telling and can make or break the tentative impression they’re building of your brand through their research.

Almost 9 out of 10 (89%) consumers are highly or fairly likely to use a local business that responds to all reviews, both good and bad. This is one of the unexpected benefits of review management — it gives you a chance to interact with your customers, thank them for their business, learn from their experiences, and express your company culture to potential shoppers. How you handle negative reviews can also be a positive as you’re demonstrating that you take customer feedback seriously and are committed to offering the best possible levels of service.

Benefits of Reviews for Local SEO

We’ve established that consumers love reviews and, in many cases, use a good or bad review to validate their decision to do business with you. Search engines also take a similar stance.

It should come as no surprise that reviews and SEO are closely linked because they have much the same objective. A search engine wants to help its users find the right product, service, or information in the timeliest manner possible. Reviews serve to separate the good from the bad and help consumers find the best local business for their needs.

Think of reviews as crowdsourced recommendations — a four or five-star review tells a search engine that it can confidently show that business in a premium, high-visibility location.

Review Signals Play a Critical Role in Local Pack Visibility 

It’s hard to overstate the benefits of Google reviews when it comes to Local Pack visibility. Reviews play a vital role in the success or failure of local SEO strategies. Therefore, having a strong local SEO presence is non-negotiable if you want to ensure the long-term success of your business.

To be in with a chance of securing custom, you need to be highly visible to local search users, and for that, you need plenty of reviews. Review signals, including quantity, velocity, diversity, and star rating make up the second-most important Local Pack ranking factor. 

According to the Local Search Ranking Factors Survey, review signals make up 17% of the search engine decision-making process when it comes to Local Pack rankings. When factoring reviews into algorithms, experts say that metrics such as the number of reviews a business has, the velocity of reviews, and the diversity of reviews received are all taken into account. And, reviews are only growing in importance, having gone up from 12% in 2014 to 17% in 2021.

Having reviews on a number of review platforms, lots of positive sentiment within the reviews, and having product or service keywords within the text of reviews have also been identified as competitive difference-makers by a panel of local search experts.

Google also confirms that the star rating and frequency of the reviews your business receives makes a difference to your search position, saying, “High-quality, positive reviews from your customers can improve your business visibility.” 

Reviews Tick the Quality Box for Good SEO

Building better search rankings isn’t just a case of impressing the automated bots. Google also relies on its human quality control team. 

This makes strong reviews an even more valuable SEO tool. Search Quality Raters can consider review content when deciding whether a business meets the required standards of expertise, authority, and trust needed to rank well.

Why are ratings and reviews important?  

While you’ll inevitably gather online reviews for your brand if you take a hands-off approach, it likely won’t come anywhere near to the volume and freshness of reviews you need to enjoy the local SEO and business benefits outlined.

Regularly acquiring ratings and reviews has a direct impact on how successful your business can be.

Consumers Expect to Read a Lot of Reviews

First up, prioritizing the acquisition of online reviews means you’re much better placed to meet or exceed consumer expectations. The volume of reviews you have matters to today’s consumers, with 69% saying the number of reviews is an important factor. Also, 69% class the range of review sites used by your business as important.

We know that trust strongly impacts sales, so you need to have a large enough stock of reviews to get your prospective customers to feel they have enough information to put their trust in your business.

Consumers Value Quantity and Freshness

From a purely numbers-focused perspective, local consumers value quantity of reviews highly, but they also want to see fresh reviews, with recency of reviews important to 73% of consumers. 

Google Wants You to Have a Lot of Reviews, Too

It’s not just consumers who place importance on a large number of reviews — Google does, too. This is especially important if you’re a Google Ads advertiser because you’ll need at least 100 reviews to activate the seller ratings ad extension.

If you aren’t adding enough reviews on a regular basis, you run the risk of your potential customers moving onto the reviews of your nearest rival and seeing your local SEO rankings slip.

A Poor Reputation is Very Dangerous

We’ve seen all of the positives that come with prioritizing online review management — increased trust, a better reputation, more sales — but the flip side is that a poor reputation is just as impactful, but in a much more harmful way. Negative reviews can convince a consumer that your business can’t be trusted to deliver the standard of service or product quality that they expect. 

A poor review is also easily accessible via search engine results, and unless you successfully get it removed, it will show on the review platform itself, too. These are all potential routes to undermining every single consumers view of your business.

If you’re proactive about reputation management and regularly monitoring online reviews, you’ll be able to offset some of this damage by quickly (and appropriately) responding to negative reviews. You can find our step-by-step guide to replying to negative reviews here.

Customer Feedback Gives You Valuable Insights You Can Use to Improve Your Business

In essence, an online review is simply a description of an experience. It’s one consumer explaining to others how they found your business, the quality of the product or service they received, and how it was to deal with you.

Online reviews are inherently valuable because they put you in your customer’s shoes. This gives you real-world insights into how your business can better serve those it relies on for survival. While they’re the reviews that all business owners dread, negative reviews can actually be the most useful of all.

If you run a hotel and guest reviews routinely mention ‘slow check-in’, for example, you have a heads-up that your process likely needs fine-tuning to ensure a more positive first impression.

What are the advantages of online review sites?

Reviews will happen whether or not you make them a priority for your business. We live in an age where consumers treat online reviews as the norm, rely on them to make purchase decisions, and create an impression of new businesses.

Online reviews are the modern equivalent of a word-of-mouth recommendation and, as such, are incredibly valuable assets that you can leverage by being proactive. 

Online review sites provide a dedicated home for your customer ratings and feedback, along with a range of tools to manage your online review profile. Review platforms, such as Facebook, Google, Yelp, and Tripadvisor are well-known to consumers, and these platforms enable you to gather feedback that you may otherwise not have access to.

There’s no doubt that consumer expectations are high in this area, and that can be daunting for any local business owner or marketer. You need a constant influx of reviews, a high quantity of reviews, new reviews added daily to compensate for older reviews losing value, and even available resources for responding to reviews.

Review platforms make some of those tasks easier by providing a dedicated ecosystem to collect, publicly respond to, and manage your online reviews.