Editorial Staff
Have you ever seen any restaurant or shop that encourage the customer to review them on Google?
Do you think that there is any other hidden reason other than building credibility on their business?
There is actually another hidden benefit than that: improving their local SEO in SERP.
Google Review
When customers has purchased any service or product, they’re given a chance to write a feedback on their experience.
Whether they’re happy with the service/product or not.
Google is the number one site where people can read and write reviews of a business.
In order to find out whether a business like restaurant or store is trustworthy, Google review is the place.
What is The Relation Between Google Review and SEO?
Google review is special in the SEO world.
Unlike the other type of review that you see in the marketplace or site, Google review is the only one that can have a good impact to SEO.
As you have learnt in the previous chapter, Google review can improve your ranking for local SEO.
This means, if your site has a lot of positive google reviews online, your site will have a chance to win ranking in the local SERP.
Google review has been used as one of the Off Page SEO practice.
Google Review’s Policy
First, let’s understand about the do’s and don’ts for Google review based on Maps User Contributed Content Policy by Google.
In general, Google review policy are simple: they should be written honestly and politely.
- The vendor can always ask the customer to submit their reviews, but Google forbid for a user to send the review in bulk for one business. This is a form of manipulating the Google review.
- The review and feedback from the customers must be written honestly without any force from the vendor.
- Google forbid the vendor to encourage the customer write a good reviews in return of voucher, discount, or any money.
- Employees are prohibited to write review about their own company.
- Similarly, Google also forbid any fake review written by the vendor itself.
- The review must not be abusive or consist of any sensitive information.
- The vendor prohibited to delete any bad review for the sake on maintaining just a good review.
So, what will happen if a business are not following these policies?
Google can remove the reviews, ban users, and the business from their service.
Once your site got penalized, you will not able to get anymore review from customer.
Best Practice to Get Google Review
To ask for a Google review while still following the policy, here are some of the best practice:
- After your customer made a purchase from your site, you might want to follow up and ask for feedback about their experience.
- Ask for the feedback in the social media to all your business account followers.
- When you ship a product, use a sticker note as the reminder for your customer to write a Google review.
- Emphasize the review to find out what your business can further improve and what your customer like the most from your business.
How to Respond to Negative Google Review?
86% of customers are hesitate to purchase from a company that has negative review.
Receiving a negative review can impact your business performance. It can cost you traffic and revenue.
But, there is nothing you can do to control it, since deleting a bad review is means you’re against the Google policy.
When you receive a negative review, remain calm and reply the comment.
Reply the negative feedback with cold mind and emphasize to solve the issue and concern.
What you reply on the negative feedback can have the ability to change the potential customer’s decision when they see it.
