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The Importance of Reviews for Your Small Business

Reviews from Google and any industry related websites in the 2020’s is a key to any company’s success. If you think it doesn’t help, ask anyone under 35 “Do you look at reviews when making a decision to buy, go to eat, or see a show?”. When they say yes drop what you’re doing immediately and start the discussion within your company!

 

“What can we do to help get, increase, or improve our current reviews?”

 

We are assuming you have a company or people helping you with your SEO or your digital marketing. Either one should be able to help guide you on your journey to increase your online reputation. Having the right SEO packages will get you found, then your reputation will help turn one-way communication into two-way communication.

 

The only true cost of reviews is your time and it’s important to make that time part of your company culture.

 

Many people ask us can you solicit reviews for Google?

  • It isn’t frowned upon or illegal to ask for reviews from customers for any industry related review sites.
  • You may be asking for a review; you might be requesting a customer to leave a positive review in exchange for something like a discount or freebie that is given by your company. We at Agency Jet give them an assessment before they even know we are going to ask for a review.
  • At Agency Jet, we ask for a review after every Free Website/Marketing Consultation that lasts 2 or more hours. We never ask for a sale or present a price for services, rather we educate the clients on what people see when they come to their website, and what they may want to do to improve their digital reputation.

 

Industry Reviews Importance

 

Below is an example of the most common review and reputation websites in the digital marketing business.

 

Public Reviews

 

Industry Reviews

 

Digital marketing knowledge

 

How is Google ranking calculated?

 

Your company business rating for Google reviews is calculated by taking the total average of all scores and showing that star rating. Example, should you have received 35-star ratings ranging from 1 to 5 stars, you would add up all of the stars earned for all 35 studies. Then divide the total number of stars by 35 (the number of star reviews), which would give you your companies Google ranking. The most important goal is to be a 4.5 ranking or better as of 6/2021 as Google now has a ranking average that people can adjust for the best reviewed companies.

 

Is it possible to have too many Google reviews?

 

No. The key is organic reviews and not reviews you're paying for. Do not push customers to leave reviews on one of your devices as well. We strongly recommend not pushing customers to leave reviews while still connected to your Wi-Fi. It is best to make sure that you're getting reviews consistently over time, not in bunches.

 

Remember for each 1-star review your business gets, you need 5 new 5-star reviews just to average out to 4.5 stars on Google. Should your goal be to average out to 5.0 stars, you need 15 new 5-star reviews to nearly remove the 1 star review.

 

Now that you understand, it's absolutely crucial to avoid any customer reviews that are lower than your current average star rating. Obviously, all companies start at zero, you are in a great position to have laser focus on your long-term success.

To discuss Google Business Profile specifically, they recently changed their policy that required a minimum of 5 reviews for Google to even give you a star rating. However, you should still aim for getting at least five reviews.

 

The study showed that 74 percent of local businesses have at least one Google review, while the average local business has 39 Google reviews. 61 percent of local businesses have an average star rating of four to five stars. On average local businesses have a 4.4-star rating on Google local. That means a 4.5 rating is crucial not only for a higher rating, but the ranking factors on Google.

 

What is Google Reviews’ character limit?

 

After thorough research we have learned that the Google character limit for reviews is 4,000 characters. It’s obvious most are just a star rating 1 through 5, but the mass majority of Google reviews are much lower character counts than 4000.

 

If you feel a review is wrong can a business delete Google reviews?

 

Currently we know you can delete reviews. In order to remove it, your business can "flag the review as inappropriate." Flagging the review alerts Google that the review is fake or that it doesn't comply with Google's review policies.

 

What can you do about false or bad Google reviews?

 

You have the ability to remove bad reviews about your company from Google Local. You will need to do the following steps below.

  • Sign into your Google account.
  • Open Google Maps.
  • Search for your business.
  • Choose to view your business reviews.
  • Select All Reviews.
  • When you see the review, you want to remove, click the three dots in the top right corner.
  • Select “Flag as inappropriate.”

 

How long do negative reviews stay on Google?

 

Like anything, time is the enemy. However, it does take Google time to remove any false reviews. It can take five days to as many as 20 days if Google accepts your claim.

 

During the time window you could have dozens of people looking at your profile who don't know that the reviews are not factual. Whether authentic or just plain fake, check the review's content.

 

Can I sue for a false Google review?

 

If a customer posts a review that is factually inaccurate or contains accusations about your business that are untrue, you may have grounds to sue the online reviewer for defamation.

 

Author Darrin Gerr

CEO of Agency Jet, LLC

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