The role of customer reviews in SEO

Customer reviews are a great way to show your company in a positive light, building trust with future customers and helping to boost the profile of your business. These also have a positive impact on your overall Search Engine Optimisation (SEO) strategy too. But what is the role of customer reviews in SEO? And how can different types of customer reviews improve SEO efforts?

So what is the role of customer reviews in SEO?

Customer reviews can play a significant role in SEO in a number of different ways. These help to boost credibility and build customer trust both online and offline, becoming an important part of how potential customers and clients view your business overall. At the same time, reviews have an impact on how search engines like Google perceive your brand, and this in turn influences the rankings of your website in search results.

The role that customer reviews play can be different depending on the specific situation and area, including:

• Product reviews
• Service reviews
• Local SEO

How can service reviews improve SEO?

If your business provides a service, rather than a product, then service reviews are what you will need. These are reviews that are left by clients after they have experienced your services, whether it’s a beauty treatment, a boiler installation, or a windscreen repair. These can benefit your SEO in a number of different ways, including:

• Boosting organic search rankings- just as product reviews can allow product pages to climb the ranks of the search engine results page, service reviews offer the same benefit. These can help to improve the visibility of your service pages by increasing the number of relevant search terms that your service pages rank for, helping your website climb higher in the rankings. In addition, this user generated content is fresh, original and unique, allowing your service pages to be updated by your satisfied clients or customers
• This indicates website relevance to search engines like Google and also helps to boost your rankings and visibility online.
• Improving local SEO- many service businesses operate on a local level, serving the community in a particular area. Whether you are a restaurant, a clinic or salon, or a mechanic, local SEO is going to be essential to drawing in new customers and clients online. Service reviews can help to boost local SEO, as these show that your business provides quality and reliability, which will help to boost your rankings for Google searches, improving your visibility in the local SEO sector.
• Improving website authenticity- when looking for particular services, future customers or clients will need to decide on a business that best suits their requirements. But first, they will need to choose a business that is authentic and genuine. Service reviews are highly authentic, and this can help build consumer trust, while also boosting your SEO. This type of content is favoured by search engines like Google, which places authenticity and authority at the top of the list of important content attributes.

How can customer reviews support local SEO efforts?

Local SEO, as touched on above, is crucial for allowing your website to rank highly in the search results for local searches. It’s about putting your business on the map, literally, driving online traffic and real world footfall to your business. Customer reviews can support this in a number of different ways, including:

• Improving your Google My Business (GMB) listing – GMB is a crucial component of local SEO as this shows potential customers where you are based on the local map, and any important information they would need to visit your real world premises such as the opening times and directions. On top of this, customers or clients can also leave reviews for products or services here, boosting your rankings, increasing visibility and driving traffic to your website.
• Keywords and local search terms- when customers leave reviews for your services, these may include location specific keywords which can be invaluable for local SEO. For example, a review for a boiler repair company in Preston might include terms like “fast response in Preston” or “affordable boiler installation in Preston.” All of this can improve the relevance of your website and business for local search queries, which will help to boost your local rankings.
• Consistency- local SEO is a fast paced area and you can be sure that your local competitors will not be complacent. This means that they will be constantly updating their SEO strategies to ensure success for local searches. Customer reviews that are consistently left for your business not only on your website but also on review sites like Yelp or Trustpilot can help your company to stay competitive in this fast-paced landscape. As a result, this consistent referencing of your company, and consistent updating of your website through customer reviews can help to boost your local SEO rankings.

For professional SEO support and top quality digital marketing, why nor get in touch with Preston’s leading experts today, here at Pumpkin Web Design?