Google continues to make changes to Google Local and Google Places. The reviews section has also seen their fair share of changes. Google Places allows local business owners to connect with current and potential customers on this social channel in a more personal way. Google+ Local helps bring things more personal and more direct with your customers.
Reviews are so crucial as history as shown. 67% of consumers online have researched reviews about businesses and 70% of consumers trust Some of these may be new but important to take a look to make sure you are up to speed on the changes.
1. Need 10 reviews for your rating to display:
Having a few won’t cut it…with Google’s new 30 point rating system, a business will need ten reviews to show the overall ratings to give a better picture.
2. Star ratings are gone:
Google had shown star ratings in searches and listing pages but these days have gone away, at least for now.
3. Making sure your Google+ business page is linked up to your Google+ local listing:
It takes a little extra effort but is so important to merge these two pages together to let Google and online visitors know about your connection.
4. Ask for reviews:
Now that a minimum of ten is necessary, it’s important to at least reach that many. Unfortunately, with the transition of Google Places and Google Local, many reviews have disappeared off of the page. In one account, a business lost over 100 reviews that were posted on their old Google page.
5. Optimize your page:
So important when editing your page to use your business’ main keywords and even to link them out to your website. The more authority and juice that can be given back to your website the better. Obviously not to overdo this but a few links would be key.
There are many more but these handful are important to know in the new Google+ Local Reviews.
For more tips, we invite you to come to our social media pages to learn more about us on our Google+, Facebook and Twitter pages.
Swish Digital: Digital Marketing Agency, SEO, Social Media