A step-by-step guide to my Google reviews

There is no doubt that businesses with more positive reviews on Google reviews page are more likely to succeed and gain maximum traction from visitors.

No matter how clickbait your website ad is or how well you describe your products and services, visitors will spend valuable time reading your Google reviews before making the final call.

But how to go about Google Reviews?

This article encompasses all that you need to know about Google reviews and how you can make the most of this beautiful and reliable opportunity given by Google!

What factors must be present for a Google Review to be marked as Most Relevant?
How To Manage Google Reviews If You Have Business In Multiple Locations?
Google Reviews Not Showing Up On Business Profile? Learn What To Do
What's the wait time for a Google review?
Can You Disable or Edit Google Reviews? How Disabled Reviews Impact Business?

Let’s get started!

What factors must be present for a Google Review to be marked as Most Relevant?

#1. Length

Occupying at least 200 characters, a more comprehensive review is more pertinent because Google believes that more content equals more excellent utility. Longer descriptions of the best dishes, specifics about the service, and recommendations for parking and reservations may all be included for a restaurant. The position of a positive review on the "most relevant" list is correlated with its length.

#2. Keywords

This factor probably has to do with specificity, but keywords play a role in relevancy rankings. Including key phrases in your review, such as restaurant, best food, best service, most hygienic, delicious food, etc.) will get a higher ranking than a review that says, "we had a nice time." If you use these keywords in a Google search for a restaurant, Google will probably show reviews with as many keywords that match as possible.

#3. Specific.

A specific review is deemed more valuable than a general review, regardless of length. In this instance, specificity and length are related because a review that tells a specific story will probably be longer than one that talks about one's experience in general. An individual's review is likely more pertinent when they provide precise feedback regarding the highlights and specifics of their time at a facility.

#4. Local.

Some reviewers can become Google's "Local Guides" if they have more review experience than others. At least in their region, these local guides are regarded as experts in business judgement.

They have dined at numerous establishments, written multiple reviews, and held countless valuable opinions. A review written by local customers is considered reliable feedback by Google. 99% of customers used Internet information to gather knowledge about their local business last year.

#5. Time

Over time google reviews lose relevance. So keeping the GMB page updated with a new and continuous flow of customer reviews adds to the relevancy of the online reviews. People who pay attention to two-week older reviews have decreased from 50% to 22% lately.

How To Manage Google Reviews If You Have Business In Multiple Locations?

97% of users search for local businesses online before making any decision. 30% of searches by mobile are about the location only. So it now becomes the call of the hour to have your business online and rank higher on Google search results with an efficient system of management of the reviews.

Corporate Management Of Google Reviews

Building a corporate office to handle all of the reviews is the first step in implementing the concepts of Google review management for multiple locations. A customer service team oversees reviews at a franchise or multi-location company's corporate offices.

Specialized workforces like a marketing or customer service team can control the brand's image, communicate effectively with customers, and respond quickly. In addition, because all the Google business reviews are managed by a single department, analyzing them is simple.

However, some things could be improved by having a corporate team manage reviews for multiple locations. Errors in judgment may occasionally occur because the corporate group needs to know the ground scenarios for each location. The team must conduct in-depth research and develop a strategy to deal with the situation to discover the cause of the incident, which takes time. This issue can be resolved immediately without causing a communication rift by a location manager.

Individual Management Of Google Reviews

Having a location manager is the subsequent approach of the Google review management concepts. The location manager is the initial point of contact for monitoring and responding to reviews, even though the corporate office sends specific strategies to manage Google reviews.

Locational managers can immediately respond to feedback and quickly correct any errors or miscommunications that would otherwise have harmed the brand's reputation, which is one of this strategy's advantages.

Keeping an area supervisor is a proper methodology in such a situation, as you can get all documented information rapidly, work on your procedure and answer the negative surveys.

How Do I Set Up Google My Business For Multiple Locations?

Google permits clients to oversee surveys and make different areas accounts from one Google My Professional reference utilising an area bunch. As a result, 64% of customers use GMB to gather details about the business online.

What Do You Need To Do To Add Up To 9 Locations To Your Google My Business Page?

Similar to shared folders, location groups enable you to securely share your location management with coworkers in just a few minutes. In addition, Google ad campaigns and marketing campaigns based on location are also available.

Make sure you only use fewer than ten locations when creating a group. But first, let's examine the steps that go into creating a location group:

Navigate to Manage Now after logging in to Google My Business.
Select "Add a business" from the menu from the dashboard's top right corner.
Next, select the "Add single business" Option from the menu in the drop-down.
Click "Done" after adding the location information.
Verify each GMB listing by phone, email, or postal mail.

How To Add More Than 9 Locations In Your Google My Business Page?

Manually adding the business will take a long time if you are a franchise or a company with more than nine locations.

The following steps are followed by Google when assisting users with the bulk location uploading tool:

First, navigate to Manage Now after logging in to Google My Business.
From the dashboard, select "Add Business" from the drop-down menu.
From the drop-down menu, select "Import Businesses." Instructions for managing and importing multiple resources will be displayed in a pop-up window.
Select "Save the templates."
Complete the required fields for each of your locations.
Select the file and click "Select File" to add it to your account.
In the left menu of your GMB dashboard, select verification. Add information to the verification form by clicking "Chain."

It may take up to a week for the verification process as a whole. First, download the table, modify it, and upload it again if you want to change the information about the location.

What is the best way to manage Google reviews for multiple locations?

Using your GMB dashboard, you can manage Google reviews for multiple locations after your Business Profile has been verified:

Sign in to Google My Business.
From the menu on the left, select Manage reviews.
Select a group of locations.
Click Reply when you find a review you want to respond to.
To answer, write it down and click "Post."

From Step 3 on, you will need to follow the same procedure each time you want to respond to a review from a different location group.

Google Reviews Not Showing Up On Business Profile? Learn What To Do

Your business' IP address was used to post the review.

Reviewers cannot use your Wi-Fi. The spam filter might have been triggered if the review had been written from an IP address to manage your Google Business Profile.

Reviewers post from computers, phones, or electric devices.

There are known issues that prevent reviews from being published on older operating systems and mobile phones.

A new Google account posted the review.

To leave google reviews, one of your customers just created a new Gmail account. The Google algorithm may identify this as a fake review. Check that they also leave reviews for other businesses and post photos to their profile. Most of the time, fake profiles don't have a picture, a name, or anything else. If you receive multiple anonymous reviews from unused Gmail accounts, this indicates that the reviews were either paid or fake and were written by bots.

There is no place near your location where the reviewer is leaving a review.

In such cases, Google may flag the review as fake or inappropriate.

The reviewer sent you a link, email address, or business promotion.

Verify that no one has written a review that includes a link to your website or another.

There was a political or off-topic comment left by the reviewer.

Reviews are covered by Google's policy on Prohibited and Restricted Content. Google looks at all reviews to see if any can be removed due to spam, fake reviews, offensive language, or a conflict of interest. If one of your Google business reviews suddenly stops showing up, it might have broken this Google policy. Google flags and removes reviews they find inappropriate or off-topic because they violate their policies.

You are responsible for managing the reviewer's Google Analytics or Google Business Profile.

Web designers and digital marketers face a significant problem with this. It may be challenging for a customer to write reviews without you flagging it if you manage their Google Analytics, Search Console, Google Ads, or Google Business Profile accounts.

In Google's automated system, it may appear that your business email address and IP address are being used. Create a separate Gmail account to avoid this issue when logging into the client's Google product.

There was a spelling and grammar error in the review, so it was removed

Google has been known to remove customer reviews with incorrect grammar or spelling. This may seem absurd, but the justification is quite logical. Google reviews are moderated by artificial intelligence. Therefore, a review may appear fraudulent if it contains spelling and grammar mistakes.

Reviews that meet Google's requirements should be of high quality. However, poor grammar and spelling can be a red flag because some businesses pay for fake reviews, often from people who don't speak English as their first language.

The number of Google reviews you receive at one time is high.

Google is always looking for strange-looking things. The reviews may be removed or moderated if your business receives a flurry of new ones at once after only receiving a few positive ones previously. It's best to be consistent when asking customers to leave reviews, even though every business owner wants more Google reviews.

Sometimes Google Reviews still need to be removed but delayed.

Google is used to temporarily disable the review section of Google Business Profiles when traffic is too high.

What's The Wait Time For A Google Review?

In order to determine popular times, wait times, and visit durations, Google uses averages and anonymized data from users who have opted into Google Location History. Wait times are displayed if the business gets enough visits from these users. This information cannot be manually added to the location and will only appear if Google has sufficient visitor data for the business.

The time a customer would have to wait before receiving service at various times of the day is shown by this data called wait time. The peak wait time for each day of the week is displayed. The patterns of customer visits over the past few weeks are the basis for the indicated wait time.

The estimation of wait times varies depending on the type of business. For example, a semiformal café's stand-by time reflects how long clients stand by before they are seated in the café.

Why is there a delay in posting Google reviews?

#1. Listing issues with Google My Business

A little trouble with Google My Business listing can be the most significant factor driving your Google reviews late into the section. But Fortunately, this trouble is fixable with little to no effort.

#2. Inaccurate Information About Your Business

In addition to hurting your SEO, incorrect listing information can also reduce the number of customer reviews for your business. Fortunately, you can quickly fix the problem by editing your Google My Business profile's information.

You can update your Google My Business listing in the following manner.

Go to your GMB profile's "Info" section.
Next to your listing address, select the icon.
The icon for the pop-up should appear. Move the map icon around, but ensure it stays in the right spot.
Click "Apply" when you're finished.

Customers will be more likely to write a review on your listings if you have updated your business information because they can verify that this is your real profile.

#3. A Duplicate Listing Of A Business

Verify whether your company has duplicate Google My Business listings. A customer might have left a review on the same listing in this instance. Immediately remove the duplicate business listing if it turns out that this is the problem. It will not only result in the loss of reviews for you, but it will also further confuse your customers. Google suggests that you report and remove your duplicate listings in the following manner.

Go to Location Manager areas.
Mark the box next to each place you want to remove.
Remove the location by clicking "Actions."

Report duplicate locations ok Google Maps App search. To report a duplicate location:

Open Google Maps on your personal computer.
Choose the location to report as a duplicate.
Select an edit to suggest.
Remove or close the window.
Select Duplicate from another location.
Select the appropriate location from the list if it is accessible.
Select "Submit."

Changing your business address is critical: If the location of your business changes, do not create a new Business Profile. You can change the address in your Business Profile if your business moves. You might be asked to verify the address after you update it.

#4. Inactive listings

Are you no longer listed on your Google My Business profile? There is a possibility that Google has falsified your business listing. Google has stated that it will verify businesses offline for more than six months on Google My Business.

You need to get your verification back if you want to collect reviews, send review requests, edit your Google My Business listing, and respond to Google reviews. Contact Google backing to re-verify your business.

What Can You Do If You Don't Have Legitimate Google Reviews?

There is frequently little that can be done. You can talk to administrators about your issue in the Google community. For assistance, you can post in the Google Business Profile community.

Many business owners have said that they've even seen Google take down legitimate business reviews. Google acknowledges that this does occasionally occur. Sadly, Google is unable to reinstate missing reviews when this happens. Therefore, you will need to ask your customer for a review. Nevertheless, keep this in mind as well, as a customer who posts multiple reviews for the same company may also be flagged.

This issue affects every owner of a business, not just yours. If you've had problems with your reviews not showing up, the best thing you can do is consistently promote your business and ask your customers to leave honest reviews.

Can You Disable Google Reviews? How Disabled Reviews Impact Business?

Being an Open Source, Google strives to provide users with the best search experience. People want to find what they're looking for online with the most accurate information possible. Your company's reputation is also affected.

Also, you do not own the content that appears in Google Search, Google Maps, or your Google My Business listing. As a result, you cannot and shouldn't disable reviews. Reviews help your company appear at the top of a search engine and boost your local SEO, which results in heavy traffic.

What Should Businesses Do?

#1. Keep The Feedback Flowing

Keeping the feedback in flow builds a more substantial and robust relationship. Avoid the scope of negative impressions, as they might brutally hamper your business. For inappropriate negative reviews, take the necessary steps to ensure you do not hurt your customers' sentiments.

#2. Direct Customers To Industry-specific Review Websites

Keep alignment with the review sites that you think would be best suited for your business. There is no hard and fast rule where you must stick to only one platform to generate online reviews for your business.

#3. Stay Engaged With Your Customer feedback

Nothing beats the power of engagement. Whether bad or good reviews, try replying and responding to display your gratitude and interest in lending an ear to their say. 89% of happy customers say that a business that responds to reviews is more likely to be chosen by them. So, stay active with your existing buyers and potential customers.

The Bottom Line

Google reviews are highly important for business owners. However, one that looks for broader exposure and awareness must be willing to handle the review domain wisely. So, keep sending google review link to your customers, keep garnering multiple positive Google reviews, handle negative Google reviews diplomatically, and watch your business name grow.

FAQ

1. Where can I leave a Google review of a business?

You can either drop a review on a trusted review site or search for the business organisations in the Google Maps app and leave a review in the review section. The best thing is that it can be done from an Android or iPhone mobile device, so there’s no hassle of logging into the desktop to leave a review.

2. Can I write a Google review without having an account?

Yes, you can leave reviews without a Gmail account. But Google recommends having a Gmail account to avoid fake or bot-generated reviews.

3. What is the best way to leave an anonymous Google review?

No, you now cannot leave a completely anonymous Google review.

4. How do I see my Google reviews?

Open the Google Maps application or maps.google.com and hit the contribution button after tapping on the menu option on the top left. Your Google reviews will be displayed here.

5. How long do Google reviews stay posted?

The answer to this is "forever". A review stays on Google forever unless it violates any of the strict rules levied by the Google review policy.