Insights About Bad Reviews and Your Google Ranking

In the past, if someone wanted to hire a service provider, they would ask family and friends for a recommendation. If that didn’t work, they would look in the Telephone Yellow Pages so they could make phone calls to find the services or they needed. Those days are GONE. Today’s consumers tend to even skip asking family and friends for recommendations. Instead, they go to Google or social media platforms. From a business owner’s perspective, this can be a good thing especially for any small to medium-sized business that has a strong working knowledge of search engine optimization (SEO), and how to leverage hashtags and positive reviews. This makes it possible for small companies to successfully compete with larger competitors for greater market share. However, it also elevates the importance of reviews.

You may be aware that SEO is vital for positioning in organic search engine results and hashtags are the way social media indexes posts. How important are reviews? Google and other search engines do not usually broadcast what their ever-evolving algorithms consider to be important when indexing pages on sites. However, reviews are part of the equation according to the support page of Google My Business. Ultimately, search engines calculate whether or not your site delivers a good user experience. Bad reviews count as ‘not a good experience’ and they may drop your listing rank in organic search results. 

The Internet gives users leverage to get their experience with a business or organization out to the masses via social media and sites such as Yelp or Google My Business. Bad reviews will work against you in the eyes of the search engines. Even good reviews can work against you. We’ll discuss that later. Concerning reviews in general, a recent survey showed that 88% of consumers value online reviews as much as the opinions of trusted family or friends. Studies reveal that 97% of consumers stated that reviews had a direct influence on their ultimate purchase decision. As you can see, the opinions of strangers about your business have never counted more than now. 

According to Google My Business, a business that responds to reviews whether positive or negative demonstrates that they value customer feedback. That’s a huge indicator of what Google is looking for as a quality measurement for your business; this is especially significant for local search results. When people leave feedback, companies must respond to them and let them know their opinions and patronage are valued. Positive or negative reviews should never be considered a one-way communication. 

When your business or organization receives a negative review avoid responding in a way that it turns into an argument or implies the customer is wrong for having an unfavorable opinion. That is the worst response a business can make in this situation. Many unhappy customers post complaints and merely want to be heard by the company. Acknowledge their unhappiness in response and invite them to communicate via phone or email. You do not have to solve the problem in public, but remember, the public is watching. Potential customers and Google may make decisions based on how a negative review is handled.

There are many ways to get positive reviews for your business or organization. First and foremost, ask customers for reviews! When someone does business with your firm, you can send them an email with a link to your Yelp, Google My Business or other portal and ask them to rate their experience. Some businesses use loyalty programs that offer a discount for various customer activities including posting reviews. You might consider rewarding your service persons that receive positive reviews from their customers.

So, how can positive reviews be a bad thing? It can happen when a company buys reviews. This practice will almost always count against you. There are service companies that promise to generate positive reviews, often by the hundreds. These reviews are usually poorly written and have IP addresses that are not local to your business. Ultimately these are fake reviews. Potential customers will not have trustworthy information to make a purchasing decision and will most likely exit from your page. 

Are you aware that having a negative review increases your overall number of posted reviews and that is a positive for your business? It can be because it’s a measurement of your social standing. A negative review is also an opportunity to show your chops as a customer service powerhouse in turning an unhappy situation around and building customer loyalty in the process. Last but certainly not least, you can learn from negative reviews. There are times when an unhappy customer experience reveals a hole in your product or service. That becomes an opportunity to improve your operation. The key is always being willing to listen and learn from your customers. 

Word-of-mouth travels especially fast on social media. A statistic from The White House Office of Consumer Affairs, reports that a dissatisfied customer will tell between 9-15 people about a negative experience. Customers with resolved problems shared the outcome with an average of four to six people. The message of fixed issues is not as strongly broadcast as the original issue, but when you resolve a problem, it is never a bad idea to ask someone to add an update to their original complaint. That way, future readers can see you worked hard to resolve issues. Remember, Google can see engagement with reviewers. 

Finally, getting a negative review about your business is not the end of the world. Consumers tend to be suspicious when a business has only positive reviews. Everyone knows you cannot please everyone all the time. 

Reviews are an important component of the SEO for your brand. Make sure your team handles your SEO and reputation management. Always follow the best practices for responding to negative reviews. This will keep both your search engine ranking and your customer trust factor high. 

I'm Harvey Turner. Let's connect.