Recently at our office in Downtown Chandler we brought on a new employee whom we’ve tasked with most of the mundane aspects of SEO. One of these endeavors is the act of soliciting online reviews from current customers or clients to be displayed publicly on Google My Business pages, Yelp profiles, and so on. Anyone who’s ever dealt with a client or customer directly knows that it’s almost as impossible as pulling teeth to get them to take a few moments to leave a review… but what happens when the shoe is on the other foot and your client needs their own online reviews?
The Importance of Online Reviews
Online reviews guide consumers and other potential customers in their spending habits, behaviors, and decisions. Without them, your online reputation may only be as valid as the word of mouth your local customer-base creates for you. By getting these customers to convert their word of mouth promotion into a coherent and legible review of your business takes the local conversation and broadcasts it on a much, much wider level. Regardless of how high or low your reviews are, the fact that real people can see reviews by other real people grounds your business and its reputation in the online arena.
Once you begin aggregating reviews on Google or Yelp from your customers and clients, the SEO benefits are almost instantaneous. Not only is Google indexing this new content that points directly to your website or online landing page, but this gives you material to promote on social media, in search engine marketing campaigns, and gives you a well-rounded sense of your online reputation. After all, a large portion of traditional SEO is intertwined with online reputation management, and your reputation is only as strong as your public opinion.
[Photo credit: Got Credit]