How Do Google Reviews Work For Businesses- Complete Guide

People often revisit the business and avail of more services, provided they get a good experience.

These customers also build an emotional connection with the local businesses and settle down for an extended period. And that’s when they leave a Google review for your business.

Yes, be it restaurants, gyms, salons, or any other local business, Google reviews work wonders on local search ranking to target potential audiences locally and create an online presence. Google reviews page is the need of the hour for every business operating online or offline. It helps boost your company's reach and makes it transparent for customers to understand and trust.

Want to know how? Let’s discuss how Google reviews work for businesses of any industry and size and how to manage google reviews.

So let's dive in!

What Are Google Online Reviews?

Google reviews are consumer feedback they often leave on the business's website or Google Maps app. These reviews are constructed based on their experience, either positive or negative.

Businesses use these reviews as a marketing tool to establish trust in their business, products, or services to potential clients. Any business, regardless of industry and size, can use Google reviews.

What Are The Benefits Of Google Reviews For Your Business?

In this new era of digitalization, where consumers have moved online from the conventional mode, adapting to Google reviews has become necessary for every business to get sustained in the market. The major benefits are listed below.

1. Improved Visibility For Your Products And Services In Local Search

A popular benefit of Google Reviews is that regular positive commitment on your Google My Business profile will influence your Search engine optimization crusade. Your local SEO marketing campaign, in particular, will benefit from enhanced visibility on Google Maps.

2. Source Of Credibility

Consumers want to deal with trustworthy brands. They frequently research companies before purchasing, so your Google Reviews are an excellent starting point for establishing brand trust.

To establish such a credible business, Google reviews are the best option. In addition, 98% of consumers read online reviews before making any decision regarding a business. This marks the need for authentic companies in the surroundings.

3. More Visitors To The Website

You can be certain that your website will begin to see an increase in traffic due to increased brand trust and online visibility through local SEO. More appearances in the local search results help your business stand out from the crowd. In addition, with great Google Reviews, customers are more likely to click through to your website.

4. Lesser Cost Per Acquisition

Everything you do in marketing comes down to your cost per lead or acquisition, which is often overlooked. Your cost per lead will rise for each customer you lose by not managing your online reputation. Google Reviews can be the best way to boost your online reputation, acting as an active agent for customer retention.

5. A Boost In Conversion Rate

Reviews can boost your conversion rate, adding to the trust factor.

Here is the best example-setter - Airbnb.

Since booking a hotel room takes the same effort as others, good and positive reviews from past customers boost the confidence level to book the hotel. And this way, Airbnb boosts its conversion rate with the help of reviews.

Similarly, reviews on Google also are highly impactful in easing the decision-making of buyers.

Now that we have learned the benefits of Google reviews, let's try to understand how to set up the system for your business.

How To Go Ahead With Setting Up Google Reviews For Your Business?

The easiest way to locate the link to your Google account location, where customers can leave reviews, is to get one from the search results page.

First, check to see that you are logged in using your Google Business Profile.

Use Google to find your business information by entering its name. New options from your Google Business Profile will appear as you scroll further down.
To access the Google reviews link in the search results, select the "Ask for reviews" option.
Copy the URL provided in the pop-up and send it to your customers.
Your clients will be taken directly to your Google review form when they click to write a review.

Next, you can get the review link from your Google My Business Account. Again, Google has made it very simple to copy and share the link from your Google My Business account so your happy customers can easily submit reviews on your Google location.

Here are the Steps -

Log into your Google Business Profile account. Scroll down to the Get more reviews box on the homepage and select "Share review form."
Get a link to Google reviews in GMB. Share the link for the Google reviews form provided in the pop-up.
Customers who click the link will be taken to your location in the Google Maps app, where a pop-up window will allow them to leave a review immediately.

What Can You Do To Get More Google Reviews?

If you are looking for feasible methods to boost the count of your Google business reviews, you can go through the following steps.

1. Showcase a Pop-up Asking for Google Review on Your Website

Once you've created your Google review link and generated reviews on your Google My Business location, you can embed them on your website to showcase your customers' actual experiences, or automate a pop-up.

You can also display these reviews on a dedicated testimonials page to make it easy for potential customers to trust your business and decide quickly to buy from you.

2. Use SMS Review Requests

To collect Google reviews, you can use the conventional messaging system. Requesting a review via SMS can enhance the customer experience and the probability of getting reviewed.

The review request becomes even more personal as you have their phone number. You can include your review URL and a brief request sentence. 98% is the rate of an SMS being clicked by the customers.

3. Ask For Reviews Via Email Campaign

Email is the oldest form of marketing tool, still plays an important role in staying connected with customers. Companies must consider this conventional method to keep their audience engaged with the new offerings they are about to bring.

Also, Email can be used to get reviews. How? Follow as mentioned below

Steps To Receive Google Reviews Via Email

Link your business email with a template of your company's signature. Attach it with a simple call to action (CTA) and a link to your Google reviews section.
Resort to Post-purchase campaigns. You will ask each customer to share their Google feedback after purchasing a product.

4. Buy Google Reviews

You can buy online Google business reviews from authentic sites that are not bot-generated but are human-driven.

Owners of businesses are aware that negative reviews can harm their online presence. Therefore, reputation management plays an important role in sustaining healthy relationships with all of your satisfied customers.

Is It Good To Buy Google Reviews, And If So, How?

Yes, only if you are well-furnished with buying reviews' dynamics and consequences. Business organizations buy Google reviews for several reasons. First, they benefit from receiving more favorable reviews regularly. Additionally, it influences the scale, leading to a higher overall rating.

More reviews eventually affect your local SEO ranking factors. They affect your local search rankings, specifically the likelihood that you will appear in one of the top three spots for industry-related local search terms.

How Can You Buy Google Reviews?

To be on the safer side, buying Google reviews from BuyReviewz should be your second thought, as it might harm your online reputation.

Several companies in the market offer genuine reviews even though the reviews generally do not come from customers who have visited your business or used your products.

Google can't do much about this general practice because these are curated from custom-made Gmail accounts with complete bios and photos.

Because of this, businesses will find it difficult to reject them, especially when Google fails to suspect that the reviews are fake.

How Do I View Google Reviews For My Business?

To View Google reviews for your business, you can use a PC or a mobile device.

See Your Reviews On PC-

Go to your dashboard in Google My Business. You can go directly to the platform page or search Google.
Head over to the column of the sidebar. There, you'll find a button that lets you see reviews that people have written about your company. The most recent reviews are accessible by clicking "last reviews."
Respond to reviews. To respond to a review that has been posted, click "Reply" and "Post."
Change your location if you run more than one business, select the one you want, click "All Locations," then "Manage reviews."

See Your Reviews On Mobile

Download and register the application (Google My Business Page). Click on reviews within the app to view user ratings and respond to them.
Using the web browser, navigate to the Reviews section on the official Google My Business page by scrolling down. You can view them as well as respond.

Google Reviews: How Should You Respond To Positive And Negative Reviews?

You should respond to Google reviews to interact with your clients as a business owner. Through your Google My Business account, you can respond to Google reviews on a desktop or mobile device.

Many businesses get in confusion about how to leave a review or respond back on negative feedback from customers. Don’t worry, we have covered it in a further section.

Set up Google My Business notifications before you begin so that you are notified whenever new customer feedback is posted.

Using Desktop to Respond to Google Reviews? Here's what you should do -

Visit business.google.com to log in to Google My Business.
Click "Reviews" in the sidebar on the left. It will display a list of your most recent reviews.
Find the review that you wish to respond to.
"Reply" will open.
Your response will be entered into a message box that will open.
Select "Post response."

From a Mobile Device, How to Respond to Google Reviews:

Open the Google My Business app on your mobile device.
Click "Customers" on the navigation bar at the bottom.
Click on the review that you want to respond to.
Your response will be entered into a message box that will open.
In the upper right corner, click the "Send" icon.

Here are some ways how you can respond to Good/Positive Reviews.

Be humble while responding
In your responses, refer to customers by their names.
Show your appreciation.
Contribute more value to them in the response.
Encourage clients to stand up for themselves.
Use a cordial salutation.
Keep track of their comments.

Here are some ways how you can respond to Bad/ Negative Reviews.

Survey and assess the review internally first.
Use templates for the review response.
Respond to the review in public.
Try to have a one-on-one conversation.
Be upfront and accepting of your errors.
When there are unclear details, inquire.
Offer empathy and solutions.
If necessary, provide an incentive.
At the end of your response, please sign your name.
Request a review of an update.

Here Are A Few Review Response Examples -

Template 1: We greatly appreciate your 5-star rating! We will communicate this to the team members to encourage them to continue their outstanding work.
Template 2: We appreciate that you took the time to leave a 5-Star review for us. Your input assists us with further developing help for everybody."
Template 3: Thank you kindly for this review. We truly value you being a client.
Template 4: (Name of the reviewer), Thank you so much for your favorable review of your most recent visit to (Name of Your Organization/ Store)."
Template 5: Thank you for taking the time to leave a review. Your feedback is precious. Keep visiting us and allowing us to serve you with excellence.

Few Negative Review Response Examples

Template 1: Hi (Customer Name). Thank you for bringing this matter to our notice. We appreciate your valuable feedback and are duly noted. We’ll certainly work to improve our product quality/services based on the same. Hopefully, you will have a better experience with us in the future.
Template 2: This is definitely not the experience we wanted you to have (customer name). We have strict guidelines to monitor the process. Request you to share the details of this unwanted happening at (company’s email) for us to look into this.
Template 3: Hey (customer name), We’re sorry to hear this. We would like to chat with you with regard to your experience with us. Kindly mail us at (company’s email) so we can reach out to you.
Template 4: Hi (customer name) Apology, you are having trouble! Thank you for bringing this matter to our attention. We would love to hear more to get to the root of the problem. Kindly contact (company name) support at (company’s email). We’d like to investigate what’s not working for you and help to get the issues resolved.
Template 5: We are sorry to hear you are unhappy with our company's product/services. Could you please provide more details at (company’s email) about the same? We’d like to know how we can help!

What Can You Do About Fake Google Reviews?

False accusations or statements about your business name may be a part of fake reviews. Others might have been written by rivals trying to harm your brand; some might be from people who have never cooperated with your business.

The foremost step is to identify a review as fake and not mistake any authentic negative experience as fake.

The following are typical characteristics of fake reviews:

The reviewer's name doesn't appear anywhere in your client data set. There is a good chance that their review is not genuine if they have not purchased from you or utilized your service.
The reviewer has given similar reviews to several other businesses. A reviewer may abuse the platform if they give multiple companies one-star reviews with little movement.
The erroneous identity of your business is another signal. For example, if the reviewer mentions services or products you don't sell, there's a good chance they mistook you for another brand or service.
The review is likely false if the reviewer doesn't say anything about their experience or give any more details.

To get rid of fake Google reviews, you can report suspected fake Google reviews to Google. Google can be notified of suspicious reviews by selecting "Flag as inappropriate" from the options next to the review.

Report Fake Reviews To Google Small Business.

If your initial flagging did not work, you should report suspicious reviews to Google Small Business Support. You should get a response within a week when you flag a review. If the review persists after this point, you should contact Google My Business.

Follow these steps -

Step 1: Open your Google My Business Page and go to the Reviews section.
Step 2: From the home menu, select Support. You can choose between email or phone as your preferred method of contact. Next, you will be asked to fill out some information.
Step 3: Join a screen capture illustration of the suspect review and propose any additional data you feel might be helpful.
Step 4: Make your complaint known. You should get a response within two business days.

If you have been using review sites like Yelp to gather more authentic online reviews, you must know how Yelp and Google handle fake reviews through their review policy.

How Fake Reviews And Listings Are Detected By Google and Yelp

Both companies have implemented automated systems as their first defense against bad actors and fake reviews. Also, the two utilize human arbitrators for undertakings for which the innovation needs to be revised.

For example, 82% of users visit Yelp to confirm their decisions on buying a product or service.

However, the most significant distinctions you need to keep in mind as you set up your online presence are their distinct policies and approaches, which guide the deployment of their technology and human staff.

1. Automated Detection System

The automated detection system from Google uses hundreds of cues to detect abusive behavior, such as a shift in review patterns on a business and implausible behavior patterns by reviewers. One of Google's most important resources for identifying and combating unlawful review content is typical user pattern data, such as users' tendency to leave reviews, ratings, and photos of places they have already visited.

2. Machine Learning Strategy by Google.

The goal of Google's machine learning-first strategy, which is now a prominent feature of its paid and organic search systems, is to scale up the prevention of content-violating policies.

The verification process for Google My Business also uses machine learning models to identify fake profiles before they appear on Maps. Before the content is displayed to users, it is ideal for Google's systems to either remove the content that violates the policy or flag it for further review, along with the associated user account.

3. Human Content Moderators at Google.

Teams of human operators and analysts supplement Google's automated detection systems. For example, algorithms may need help to analyze specific content evaluations, such as comprehending local slang in a review, but these analysts can.

4. The Automated Detection System of Yelp.

The computerized recommendation software on Yelp looks for reviews that have been solicited and unfairly biased reviews (such as reviews written about a competitor or a person's own business) to recommend new reviews to users.

This software also considers the review's relevance as well as the reviewer's dependability (the user's level of activity).

5. Human content moderators at Yelp.

Yelp has been relatively open about combating content that violates policies by utilizing technology and human content moderators. In addition, the user operations team at Yelp looks into fraudulent activity, verifies new business accounts when they are created there and looks for activity that might call for a Consumer Alert.

6. Yelp uses Alerts for Customers.

It conducts an investigation that may result in applying one of its Consumer Alerts when it detects abnormal activity on a business profile, which may be an attempt to manipulate the business's reviews or ratings.

Google My Business Listing: Can My Competitors Edit It?

If you are a business owner and plan to touch the heights of success online, you must be well acquainted with what Google my business is all about. Google My Business is a cost-effective tool by Google.

You can use it to display information about your business on Google Search and Google Maps. Shortly, a Google My Business listing is essential so that customers looking for your products and services on Google can find you.

Now for the answer to "Can my competitors edit it?"

Yes, your Google My Business listing can be changed by a competitor. They can attempt to make changes by going to the "Suggest an Edit" feature just like everyone else can.

A public link on your Google My Business listing says "Suggest an edit" when people visit it. People can start by clicking the link and filling out the information about your company that they want to change.

Anyone (including competitors, angry individuals, and strangers) can send what they think the information on your listing should say to Google for review by clicking "suggest and edit."

Does Google Allow Customers To Edit Their Reviews?

Yes. Google gives customers this opportunity to edit and share their reviews. For example, customers can leave an endless number of reviews of their travels on Google Maps and leave information or upload photos about a place.

Customers can follow these steps to edit their reviews -

Step 1: Open the Google Maps app on your Android phone or tablet to edit or delete your review.
Step 2: After tapping Contribute, select View Profile.
Step 3: Tap to view all the reviews while scrolling.
Step 4: Tap More next to the review that is to be edited or deleted.
Step 5: Follow the steps displayed on the screen by selecting Edit review or Delete review.

The Parting Note: Google Reviews Matter!

Scrolling your eyes through this entire piece of writing has convinced you about the incredible benefits and importance of Google reviews for your business. Taking the right decision in the right direction to boost the track of business using Google reviews can change your destiny online!

FAQs

1. Can I use a third-party review system with Google Customer Reviews on my website?

Google Customer Reviews can collaborate with a third-party review system that already provides data to Google. Keep in mind that the only way to get seller and brand ratings from Google on your website is through Google Customer Reviews.

2. Can business owners delete a Google review?

A review can only be edited or deleted by the reviewer. The business owner can respond to the review and mark it as inaccurate, dishonest, fake, or malicious if they think it is.

3. Do Google reviews appear right away?

In most cases, reviews will be posted right away. However, there may be a delay of several days to a week. This usually happens when there are errors in the information about the listing, a new location is added, or the listing is new.

4. Is Google Reviews reliable?

Google Reviews heavily influence the online reputation of a small business. When making purchases, especially in a local setting, customers rely on it. Although there may occasionally be fake reviews, Google Reviews is generally regarded as reliable.