We all know that getting good online reviews is good for your reputation, but does a positive review help with SEO and page rankings?
For businesses who are are trying to capture their local market niche, the answer is a resounding “yes”. Search engines display reviews in several places but they also use them as a ranking factor.
Here’s how it works:
- Reviews are displayed when visitors search for your business by name. What a perfect way to help with the branding! So long as the good outweighs the bad you should be all set. Don’t forget to tap into the other online review sites that may affect your business such as Yelp or Urbanspoon. Getting online reviews should be a priority for every business.
- Reviews help you rank higher for locally searched keywords. Reviews on your Google+ business page help you rank higher when people search for relevant keywords near your business location.
- Did you know that visitors on Yelp can use reviews as a filter? They filter from highest to lowest in terms of review rankings. What a great way to sort and filter out the bad.
- It is a proven fact that reviews help people make purchasing decisions. People want to read reviews from other consumers before they buy something. Yelp, Manta, SuperPages, even websites like Foursquare are all good for local SEO.
- Deciphering Google Analytics – Google Analytics offers quite a bit of information. The numbers can be used to find out what review sites send you the most traffic and which keywords are the most searched locally, which cities your visitors are from, and more.
