How critical are reviews for SEO? Whether you’re an ecommerce, B2B, or brick-and-mortar business, your online presence matters. Customers are constantly discovering businesses online, researching the best options, and finding physical locations.
So ranking well in search engines results in more traffic –and ultimately more sales. But that can be challenging when search engine optimization (SEO) best practices constantly change.
Learn how to use reviews and SEO to drive more traffic to your website and increase brand awareness.
Benefits of using customer reviews for SEO
SEO has shifted from using keywords and links to a more complex algorithm.
Google’s algorithm now prioritizes authority over keywords. Google calls this algorithm E-E-A-T, which stands for experience, expertise, authoritativeness, and trustworthiness.
Websites and brands that can prove reliable, authoritative, and relevant to customers have a greater chance of ranking higher in search results and thus attracting more potential buyers.
How do reviews help SEO ranking?
- Builds online authority: Tells Google’s algorithm that people enjoy a business’s products and services
- Broadens search rankings: Increases the number of keywords a site can rank for by targeting terms customers use to describe a brand and products
- Helps online content stand out: 93% of buyers say online reviews determine whether they choose a business or product. Brands stand out by adding reviews next to paid product ads and on their website
How to increase customer reviews and feedback
How can businesses increase customer feedback to boost their SEO ranking and online authority?
Here are five of the most effective strategies to get started.
1. Remind buyers to leave feedback
Reminding buyers to leave feedback after talking with customer support or purchasing can increase customer reviews and build online authority. As a result, customers and Google will see sites with more reviews as more engaging, authoritative, and trustworthy.
Sitejabber uses three primary strategies to help businesses collect buyer reviews:
- Checkout Survey: After customers purchase a product, they receive a checkout survey asking for feedback
- Automated Emails: Automatically send personalized emails when customers purchase, encouraging them to share their experience with others
- Website Reviews: Add a widget directly to the website on product pages and other points of sale to leave feedback while the purchase is fresh in their mind
The key to collecting reviews is requesting feedback quickly. If a business waits too long after customers make a purchase, there’s a greater chance the customer will lose interest in leaving a review or won’t remember their first impression.
About 16% of buyers say they’re much more likely to leave a review if a business encourages or requests one.
2. Make leaving feedback easy
Short and user-friendly feedback collection methods are most effective for gathering reviews. Buyers are busy, so if they see dozens of open-ended questions, they’re less likely to fill out a feedback form than if a business requests a star review with short feedback.
Survey Monkey found that the more questions surveys had, the less time respondents took on each question. So, having under ten questions means customers are more likely to fill out the feedback and provide more thoughtful, higher-quality answers.
Businesses can even offer different review methods so customers can choose what makes them feel most comfortable, including:
- Star reviews businesses can display next to product ads and on their website to build site authority
- Open-ended comment reviews to collect more valuable feedback from customers and target more keywords in the reviews
- Video feedback to create feedback in another media format that businesses can use on social media and their website
3. Use multiple review channels
Not all customers come through the same channels. For example, some ecommerce customers may discover products through social media, while B2B buyers may go directly to websites or connect through a phone call.
So, a business should offer just as many channels for those buyers to leave feedback, focusing primarily on the channels their audience uses most.
Do Google reviews help SEO? Yes, but so do other channels.
Some of the top channels for review collection include:
- Social media: Collect feedback directly on the business page or in comments on social media posts
- Google: Collect Google Business Page reviews to display on product ads or share on the business website
- Yelp: Share Yelp reviews on a website to build authority from those reviews
- BBB: BBB is an authoritative link and reliable source of reviews businesses can share on their website
- Website widgets: Businesses can collect reviews directly on their website, which they can also share on their Google business page and product ads to increase their total reviews
4. Collect reviews from offline customers
Companies with physical locations may have customers who perform their entire buyer’s journey offline but are still valuable sources for SEO reviews. Offline reviews also provide new keywords specifically targeting in-store shopping experiences and products that other customers may be searching for.
Use these in-person review collection strategies to collect more feedback:
- QR Codes: Allow in-person customers to scan QR codes at checkout, on receipts, or on flyers. The QR code sends customers to an online survey to leave a review that businesses can post on their website.
- Text: Ask for customer phone numbers at checkout. Businesses then send a text message requesting feedback through an online survey.
- Email: Collect customer emails at checkout. Then send email surveys to collect feedback in digital format.
After collecting them, share these reviews on a website or online review channel so they can boost the brand’s online authority. That way, a business can increase its overall number of reviews by adding online and offline reviews together.
5. Respond to all online feedback
Does responding to reviews help SEO?
Most businesses have a love-hate relationship with negative feedback. Understanding why companies dislike negative reviews is easy. Unfavorable reviews show a business in a poor light and can hurt its SEO ranking.
However, deleting all negative feedback and avoiding it altogether can be just as harmful. People expect businesses to have negative feedback because it’s impossible to please everyone. That’s why businesses with all glowing reviews make customers question the company’s trustworthiness.
The solution? Businesses should encourage all feedback, then address negative feedback as part of their reputation management strategy. Responding to all feedback shows new customers that the company acknowledges any mistakes and takes the time to make them right.
While it may not erase that one negative review, it can create a more positive experience for others, who may then be more likely to leave positive reviews. Positive reviews can counteract the impact of negative reviews on SEO.
Boost your reviews and SEO ranking
Do you want to increase your online traffic through SEO? Start with improving your online reviews and feedback.
Collecting reviews from multiple channels, displaying them across the internet, and monitoring feedback is overwhelming when businesses don’t unify their strategies.
Sitejabber’s reputation management platform brings all review data into one place for companies to monitor and respond to reviews efficiently. This allows businesses to collect more reviews, find the best reviews to feature on their website and manage their online reputation.
See how easy it can be to boost SEO rankings through customer reviews by trying the platform for free.
Create a free account and start boosting your online authority and visibility today.
