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When you focus on generating more traffic on your website, customer reviews and search engine optimization are the two most important factors. Studies have shown that 90% of the population read the reviews before making any purchase decision. Today, the ratings and customer reviews are like word-of-mouth publicity for a business or brand.
According to various digital marketing services, online reviews play a critical role in the SEO strategy of a business. They affect three primary areas of your business:
- Purchasing decision of the customer
- Generates more clicks
- Impacts on the search engine rankings
So, first, let us look at the reasons behind the importance of Google reviews and ratings as noticed by various SEO services.
Why are Google ratings and reviews important?
Google reviews and ratings are one of the most vital aspects that determine the conversion factor. If a business website has more than a 4-star rating, it means customers can trust it easily. Further, the more the ratings, the more ahead are you of your competitors. Moreover, if you can get higher Google ratings than your competitor’s, people can trust your products or services at ease. This further leads to generating more leads and then converting them into regular customers.
Here are two distinct reasons that explain why Google reviews and ratings are essential:
- Influences SEO ranking
You must know that positive reviews have a positive effect on your website. Three types of searches influence the Google SEO rankings. They are map searches, mobile searches and local carousel. The Google Map has a prominent feature known as the ‘highest rated’, showing the ones with the best rankings. Further, in mobile searches, the review counts and average ratings are displayed. Lastly, in the case of the local carousel, the position of the carousel is crucial.
- Google Maps highlight reviews
From time to time, Google gathers the reviews of the customers and their feedbacks which it uses to enhance the delivery service. Recently, Google updated and added a few new features into the Google Maps, which highlight the ratings and reviews of the customers much more than it used to. This clearly shows how critical the reviews and ratings are to Google.
Benefits of reviews and ratings in SEO
Since customers heavily rely on online reviews and ratings, search engines too love online customer reviews and ratings. Here are some of the benefits that you can get from online reviews and ratings:
- With reviews come relevant content
One of the common sayings is content is king in terms of search engine optimization. However, it is next to impossible to create a few pieces of content and regularly upload them on your website. There ought to come a day when you will be in shortage of content. At the same time, Google wants to see how active you are. To maintain the parity, try to gather consumer-generated media as it accumulates customers’ opinions and views on a product, service, or brand.
- Enhances SEO socially
Enhancing SEO socially means social media optimization. When people or your potential customers share the reviews and ratings over various social media platforms, your site automatically gets boosted. Further, using relevant hashtags and comments will in itself push up your website on different social media platforms.
- Allows the site to capture long-tail keywords
You should prefer long-tail keywords because they have less search competition and hence, can be easier to get ranks, provided they are carefully used. However, make sure to choose them carefully.
Conclusion
Therefore, you can be sure that Google ratings and reviews can drive more traffic to your website provided it is used correctly. Last but not least, your website design should have professional look, this attracts the customer. If you cannot make it yourself, its always better to hire web design company, they will not only enhance the aesthetic look but also make it SEO-friendly.
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