Owners of businesses large and small often understand one important detail around their online presence—bad reviews can mean the difference between a bustling shop and slow sales. As an online marketing company on Long Island, BeeSeen Solutions has worked with dozens of local businesses that strive to bring in happy customers and positive reviews. The benefit of a good review is straightforward—a potential customer will hear about that experience and feel more confident in paying a visit. But how much do search engines value these reviews, and do they impact SEO rankings?
Popular review websites like Yelp or TripAdvisor are famous for providing detailed information about local businesses. These details help users make an informed choice about their options. However, Google and Bing don’t look at ratings or reviews on separate websites to change a business’ search rankings. However, Google does index information in its own review directory system called Google My Business. When users look up local dentists, for example, Google will choose three Google My Business listings to display in organic search results.
It’s not clear how much a bad review can impact rankings for a Google My Business listing. But, SEO companies have noticed higher-ranked listings at the top of search results, though there are exceptions to this trend.
Bad reviews are difficult to manage, and BeeSeen Solutions does not specialize in reputation management. However, taking responsible steps as a business owner to politely address a bad review is usually recommended.
To learn more about online reviews and their SEO impact, contact the digital marketing experts at BeeSeen Solutions and get a free consultation.