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There are many reasons why Google reviews are important. Here are few that benefit your business visibility and help you get new prospects…
Video Transcript
Hello, I’m Jeffrey Kirk.
This past week I was networking with some business owners, and someone asked, “Are Google reviews important?”
Well, let me start out with an interesting statistic that I read in a report by Forbes. It said, “90% of consumers read online reviews before visiting a business.”
As you know, people are going online and they’re searching for providers who can solve their problems, whether that means they are hungry for pizza, or they need a plumber to fix their leaking water heater, or they need exactly what you have to offer…
How does Google know which businesses it should feature? And by feature, I mean put in that part of the search results that is most prominent.
Think about when you have done a search recently.
There are often 3 parts of the search results. There are the ads, which most often appear at the top. There are the 10 traditional organic search results, and there’s the map section.
Only 3 businesses show up in the map section. Appearing in this part of the search results is so powerful that I call it the Money Zone.
To compete online, a business must appear in the Money Zone!
Trust me, this is the best part of the search results for your business to appear in! You definitely want your business in the Money Zone.
So when I talk about Google featuring businesses, it is this Money Zone section that I’m talking about.
By being in the Money Zone your search listing has a link to your website, it has your business phone number, it has your hours of operation, and it even has directions to your location. And someone can use their GPS and navigate there.
And it contains up to 5 stars for your rating and shows how many Google reviews you have already obtained.
Now, assuming your business is qualified to appear in the Money Zone, then you need a constant stream of high-quality Google reviews to get your business showing up in that spot consistently.
And this is important because another statistic says, “84% of people trust online reviews as much as a personal reference!”
Can you imagine that? We all know that personal word of mouth references are the strongest type of referral. When someone you trust recommends a business, you believe them, and you feel comfortable.
And this report says that 84% of people trust online reviews as much as a personal reference. Wow! That means Google is your friend when they display those high-quality reviews.
So I can explain the importance, and I can give you the statistics that prove that importance, but I think you can come to your own conclusion that I am telling the truth with a very quick example…
Let’s take a look at a real search so you can see the power of reviews yourself…
This is the question I want you to consider: which of the three businesses appearing in the Money Zone that I’m about to show you wins?
This is a screen shot of plumbers. Let me zoom in for you… What stands out about these?
If you know nothing else about these businesses, which one are you most likely to call? Plumber number one, two, or three?
The first one, Best Price Plumbing, says they have the best price, but they do not have the best reviews.
At the time of this screen shot, they had only 6 reviews and an average score of 3.3.
They may be showing in the top position of the Money Zone, but that doesn’t matter because anyone who sees this will look at all 3 spots.
The entire grid is the Money Zone.
In the second position, we see Schoenwalder Plumbing. They have a 4.7 rating with 112 reviews.
And Quick Fix Plumbing has a 4.6 rating with 43 reviews. Quick Fix Plumbing is doing pretty good, but Schoenwalder is strong! Schoenwalder has many more reviews and a slightly higher average.
So if you said #2, you made the same choice as most people.
Yes, someone might pick one of the other two because of their name or location. But if you only have time to make one call, it would most likely be to Schoenwalder simply based on the power of their reviews.
Are you following me? Does this make sense?
So back to the question… Why are Google reviews important?
It’s really pretty simple…
In order to get new clients who are searching for your business online, or what you do online, it’s just not good enough to show up in the regular search results anymore.
Your business must show up in the Money Zone and use reviews to differentiate your business from your competition!
According to BrightLocal, “Across every age group, those who read reviews are doing so far more regularly – with one-third of consumers searching for local businesses every single day. And, even more consumers told us that they ‘always’ read online reviews – including a huge 93% of consumers aged 35–54.”
Do you have prospects who fit into the 35–54 age demographic? What about the younger generation that is even more connected online?
If so, can you now see how important it is to get Google reviews?
I hope you found this helpful. If so, please like this video and subscribe to the channel.
If you need help getting your business qualified to show up in the map section or you would like to learn a simple way to get consistent 4 and 5 star reviews, then join me on my next free webinar by going to www.upatdawn.biz/webinar or click the link below.
When you join me on the webinar you’re also going to see the 3 easy steps to get prospects calling without having to spend any money on search engine optimization.
I hope to see you there!
