16 Powerful Benefits of Google Reviews Every Business Should Know

Google reviews are often overlooked as a part of an online presence. Many businesses don’t give them much thought, allowing the reviews to accumulate without tracking them or being proactive in getting more.

But when you consider that:

• 81% of consumers use Google reviews to evaluate a business and make buying decisions.
• Only 9% of people would even consider engaging with a business with a 1- or 2-star average rating.
• 53% of consumers expect a business to respond to a negative review within a week.

It becomes clear that if you want your business to attract customers and gain an edge over the competition, taking your Google reviews seriously is an absolute must. In fact, the importance of Google reviews extends far beyond that, as having great reviews offers a range of benefits for your business.

But why are Google reviews important? How do Google reviews help your business? And what are the benefits of Google reviews you can expect?

Let’s dig deep into the main benefits that highlight why Google reviews matter below.

What Are Google Reviews?

Google reviews are one of the most trusted sources of information about businesses today. Most people go to Google to see how a business is rated almost automatically, as it’s perceived as an authentic and genuine source of information about whether they can expect quality services.

One reason for that is Google’s prominence and popularity. 4.9 billion people use the search engine and its products, so it’s become the go-to option for getting answers on just about anything. But perhaps just as importantly, Google offers a convenient and simple two-tier process for getting a quick idea about a business and its services:

1. A star rating where users can rate a business from one to five.
2. An optional written review section where users can provide context for their rating and list things they liked or didn’t like.

At a glance, Google reviews show an average star rating, and most consumers use it to form opinions about the company. Studies have shown that a 3.3 rating is the lowest most will consider, with the majority of consumers preferring a rating between 4.2 and 4.5. Surprisingly, 5-star ratings don’t always elicit trust, as some consumers assume them to be fake.

Google Review Benefits You Should Know

Keeping track of your Google reviews takes time. So, how important are Google reviews? And are they worth the effort?

Here are 16 benefits of Google reviews that make a compelling case for making them a priority.

Make a Great First Impression

Today, the first interaction between a business and a customer usually happens online. Whether it’s someone searching for a service or product, or looking up a company’s reviews on Google, that’s the moment when they will decide whether to trust the company or not.

If you have a ton of great reviews on Google, that first impression is much more likely to be positive. Reading others praise your company for its exceptional service will alleviate many of the concerns they might have had.

Gain More Visibility

Google gives a lot of weight to the reviews people leave on its platform. Because of that, a business that gets a lot of positive Google reviews is much more likely to be displayed for users searching for the types of services it offers.

That can mean better SEO rankings, being featured in snippets, and having your business displayed as part of the Google Maps search. By becoming a trusted business on Google, you can get traffic from a diverse range of sources, directed to your Google Business profile and website.

Give Your Business Credibility

Google has 73% of all online reviews. It has become the go-to place where people leave and read reviews, which has given Google reviews a level of credibility that goes beyond most other sites. That’s why one of the biggest benefits of Google reviews is the fact that if you can get a good number of positive reviews, people will assume your company is legitimate.

If you don’t have a widely recognized brand yet, this instant credibility is an essential part of making sales. Once prospects see that you have many great reviews, they won’t be as hesitant about buying from you, which will make your job much easier.

Discover Ways to Improve

57% of consumers are unlikely to buy from a business that doesn’t respond to reviews. Unfortunately, only 24% of businesses take the time to respond to negative reviews, which shows a lack of willingness to address the situation and improve.

But if you take the time to analyze and respond to Google reviews, you can not only show your brand cares but also discover ways you can instantly improve performance and customer satisfaction.

Boost Your SEO Efforts

Google reviews have a big impact on SEO performance. The search engine’s algorithm uses customer reviews as an important measure of whether a business website should be displayed among the top results, so companies that have a large number of positive reviews will have a much easier time getting ranked for even the most competitive keywords.

That’s especially true for local businesses, which are ranked on Google for local queries based on relevance, location, and the number of positive reviews.

Gain Social Proof Elements

Google reviews aren’t just useful as a way to enhance your presence on the search engine. The reviews contain authentic customer insights about your business, so they can be useful as social proof elements you can display in your marketing.

While you need the consent of each reviewer to copy and paste reviews in your marketing, you can use widgets and plugins to embed Google reviews on your website, showcasing people’s experience with your products and taking advantage of the trust consumers have in Google reviews.

Train Your Customer Service

Customers are more likely to share negative experiences than positive ones in a review. But while that can be an issue if you don’t have an effective process for requesting reviews from customers, it can at least serve as a learning opportunity for your business.

By regularly analyzing negative reviews and looking for patterns, you can train your support team to spot and get ahead of these types of issues in the future. You can even create a knowledge base or other support materials that the customer service team can direct users to or use as a guide themselves.

Get Voice-of-Customer Data

Voice-of-customer data is essential for understanding your audience and matching their language in your messaging. But while there’s no replacement for interviews and surveys, you can use Google reviews to supplement your efforts and gain valuable insights about what your customers are saying.

The easiest method is to collect your reviews in a single sheet or document and start identifying common themes, including topics, problems, and the specific words used. You can then start injecting these themes into your marketing to better match your audience and form a stronger connection.

Discover Content Opportunities

Reviews are a reflection of what your customers care about. Whether it’s something they enjoy about your service or problems they feel you didn’t resolve, if they were worth writing about, it’s likely your customers are passionate about the topic. And that makes it an excellent opportunity to cover the topic in an article or video.

For example, if a customer talks about how they’re not sure which product is best for their needs, that’s a great topic to cover in an article discussing the top options and how to make the right choice. Or, if a customer is venting about how a feature is hard to use, that’s a good time to create a step-by-step guide outlining the process.

Compare Yourself Against the Competition

No matter your industry, you’re not operating in a vacuum. There are probably dozens of competitors that your audience is comparing you to, evaluating the features, service quality, ease of use, and a variety of other factors based on your reviews.

If you want to remain competitive, you should not just review what customers are saying about you, but also look at what they like and don’t like about the competition.

You can use the negative reviews to position yourself against the competition, and the positive ones to emulate what they’re doing well, implementing the good practices to your processes or feature selection.

Learn What to Prioritize

One of the key parts of success as a modern business is the ability to adapt to the changing market and customer preferences. And Google reviews can be very useful in helping you identify if your messaging and offerings match what your customers care most about.

You may discover that you need to reposition your entire solution, as your customers may be prioritizing features that you were treating as secondary. By using reviews to rethink your positioning and marketing, you may end up redefining not just your product but even your market, opening up new growth opportunities you wouldn’t have even considered.

Show Customers You Care

Your customers want a business they can trust. In some cases, that may be even more important than the perceived value of your services. And Google reviews are the perfect opportunity to show that even if something goes wrong, you’ll be there to resolve the problem.

To make that happen, you should look at negative reviews as an opportunity to engage the disgruntled customers, offering assistance and giving instructions on how to reach out to discuss the issue in private. When people checking out your reviews see this, they’ll be reassured that even if there are issues, they won’t be left to deal with them alone.

Get More Website Traffic

Your website is the central hub of your business. But getting traffic can be expensive and time-consuming, unless you can leverage Google reviews to get a regular stream of visitors to your site from your Google Business page.

By collecting more Google reviews, you’ll get featured more prominently on Google Maps, Google search results, and in business directories. That will help more people discover your business, with a significant percentage clicking through to your site to learn more.

Become More Appealing as an Employer

The primary purpose of having reviews on Google is to attract customers. But since it’s such a popular platform for learning about a business, it can actually contribute to your brand’s image as an employer as well.

Many employees want to learn more about a business before applying for a job, and Google reviews are one of the first things that come up. If you have great reviews that rave about your service quality and great team, that can make people more eager to work for a company that is successful and takes pride in providing excellent service.

Develop New Products or Features

If you consistently get reviews that talk about a lack of key features or capabilities in your service, that’s an opportunity to create a new product or add a key feature that could give you an advantage over the competition.

To understand what your customers want, regularly analyze your Google reviews, looking for repeating requests that talk about unmet needs your audience has. Then, either develop a new product that addresses those needs or add new features to your current solution.

Showcase Your Rating

While you can use specific reviews to highlight how your business has helped others, the fact that Google reviews are widely trusted also makes the rating itself a valuable addition to your marketing.

For example, you could feature the rating in your landing pages, advertising campaigns, emails, and even as a snippet on Google search. It’s an easy thing to set up that may give an extra nudge to people on the fence about buying.

How to Get Google Reviews

Here are a few things you can do get more Google reviews:

• Make It Easy. If you want your customers to do something for you, the least you can do is make it easy. Google already has an intuitive process for leaving reviews, so your job is to gently direct them using links on your website, QR codes, and timely reminders in communications.
• Ask at the Right Time. As a business, you want the reviews to be positive and detailed, so a great time to make the request is soon after a purchase or a helpful customer service experience.
• Personalize the Request. Even though you can automate the review request process using email or SMS, you want to be careful to not sound impersonal. The best way to ask is during communication through email, in person, or over the phone.
• Follow Up. Just because a customer didn’t respond to your request at first, doesn’t mean they won’t at all. You shouldn’t be afraid to follow up on your review requests, gently reminding customers that reviews help you improve.

Bottom Line

Google reviews are an integral part of your online presence. No matter how well you present yourself on your website or social media, many customers will want to look at what others have to say about your business on a reputable third-party platform before deciding whether they want to work with you.

The good news is that by being proactive in asking for reviews, responding to each one, and analyzing what your customers are saying, you can enjoy the various benefits of Google reviews that will drive your business forward.