Reviews Impact Local SEO Rankings
Running your own business often leads you down obsessive little rabbit holes. Hours spent analyzing website code or tracking backlinks can be relatively commonplace. But when was the last time you analyzed your customer reviews? Those digital snippets of praise (or complaints) aren’t just social proof. They’re the pillar for a growing portion of local SEO ranking signals.
What Do Reviews Have to Do With Local SEO?
Let’s say you need a plumber. You Google “plumbers near me” and what do you see? Your mission statement and a bunch of fancy keywords? No.
You see a star rating and a collection of helpful reviews left by actual people who live in your city. Search engines use positive reviews and high ratings as ranking signals to determine authoritative businesses worthy of showing to users.
Here’s How Reviews Impact Local SEO Rankings
If you’re going to invest time into asking for reviews and analyzing how reviews affect local SEO, you should understand how and why Google uses feedback to sort through rankings.
Provide Value & Trust
When enough local SEO reviews mention you’re a great plumber, search engines take notice. Having active, positive reviews means two things to search engine algorithms:
Higher Click-Through
People generally like to do business with other people they trust. Let’s face it, if you’re searching for a product or service locally, you already have a strong intent to click on businesses who have reviews.
Fresh Content & Keywords
New reviews mean fresh, valuable content on your Google Business Profile. Reviewers tend to leave specific keywords about what your business offers. Keywords you may not even think to list on your own website.
How Reviews Impact Local SEO | Important Ranking Factors
Search engines care about your reputation online. Here’s a breakdown of the factors Google analyzes to rank review-rich businesses higher.
Quantity of Reviews
How many reviews does your business have? Quantity matters. While quality is important, more reviews mean more credibility. A larger quantity also indicates that your business has a higher volume of customers than your competitors may have.
Rating of Reviews
Average star rating. Simple enough. While you don’t need a perfect score of 5.0 to dominate your local SERPs, the closer to perfect your rating is, the better.
Freshness of Reviews
New content is always king. If your last review was 6 months ago, you may as well not have any reviews at all.
Both search engines and potential customers assume you went out of business or aren’t taking any new clients. Local SEO thrive on recent reviews.
Keyword Signals in Reviews
You provide gardening services in Dallas but wish you could rank for “landscaping services Fort Worth.” After searching “near me,” how does a potential customer find you?
By searching for those long-tail keywords on Google then finding multiple reviews that mention those values? Exactly.
Get More Customer Reviews to Boost SEO
You know reviews impact rankings. Now what? Go drop positive reviews all over your competitors! Just kidding. Here’s how to legitimately improve your review game:
- Automated outreach: Send review requests immediately following a purchase.
- Follow-up outreach: If someone doesn’t leave a review after your first request, send a second email. Concise, polite reminders increase conversion rate by up to 30%.
- Point of sale: If you’re a brick and mortar business, post a sign with a quick QR code. Customers can scan “Tell us how we did!” and get a link straight to your review page.
Review Impact on Local SEO | Management & Follow Up
Having a boatload of reviews won’t help you if you don’t respond to them. Part of your review management strategy should include publishing responses to keep search engines coming back for more.
Respond to All Reviews
There’s no situation where you shouldn’t respond to a review. Responding to reviews feels great, and encouraging other customers to leave feedback can lead to even more reviews.
But that kind of regular activity shows Google you care about your reputation. It also builds trust with new customers.
Leave Professional Replies on Negative Reviews
Uh oh. You just got your first negative review. What do you do?
Keep your reply professional and focused on making the situation right. Don’t get defensive, argue, or accuse the reviewer of anything.
Instead, offer to contact them directly to see how you can make things right. Responding politely to a negative review can actually have more of a positive impact than if someone were to leave a generic 5-star review.
Wrapping Up Review Impact On SEO
Online reviews used to just be vanity metrics. Sure, they were great for social proof, but as long as you showed up on Google Maps, who cared?
Not anymore. Now you have to manage reviews just like you manage your on-page SEO. Keep earning great reviews and your rankings will follow.
Need Help Improving Your Local SEO? Dallas SEO Dogs Can Help
Helping local businesses dominate their industry hasn’t changed since 2005. What has changed is how detailed our work has become.
There are no shortcuts. No inexpensive magic wands. At Dallas SEO Dogs, we give you access to the person working on your local SEO, reviews, and rankings at every single step of the process.
Whether you’re expanding into new markets or just looking to fix that lingering “transparency gap” in your current marketing strategy, we’ve got the experience and tools to help guide you.
Ready to learn how reviews impact local SEO for YOUR business? Give us a call or send us an email — we’ll be in touch to chat about our review management services and how we can help you get more phone calls from online customers.
FAQ
How many reviews do I need to dominate my local SEO competition?
Ideally, you want more positive and more recent reviews than your competition. There isn’t necessarily a magic number. You want to be gathering reviews consistently so that your total keeps increasing over time. Focus on gathering more reviews than your competitors, and watching your rankings soar.
Do negative reviews hurt my local SEO?
A few negative reviews out of a hundred will not hurt your rankings or SEO, but if the majority of reviews for your business are negative, your rankings will drop. The key is to respond to negative reviews in a professional and SEO-aware manner. Show potential customers that you care about their business by offering to make the situation right.
Should I use keywords when responding to reviews?
Absolutely and always. Let’s say you run an animal hospital in Dallas. Someone leaves you a positive review that says, “Best vet in all of Texas!” While this review may seem nice, it doesn’t hold much value to your local SEO. Thanking that customer for their business at your “Dallas animal hospital” reinforces what keywords you want to rank for.
