How Important Are Reviews for SEO?

1
Reviews for SEO?
2
How Important Are Reviews for SEO?

• Your company's reputation plays a large role in
  local organic search rankings. For example, if
  your company is listed in every major
  local business directory and you're mentioned on
  local news sources regularly, and if great user
  reviews of your business dot the web, you'll
  likely rank higher than if just the reverse
  occurs You're rarely mentioned and your reviews
  are poor.
• Related How to Identify the Best SEO Strategy
  for Your Company
• Every business gets a bad review now and then,
  and some businesses naturally have trouble
  attracting reviews from their customers. But,
  with local SEO becoming more important and more
  influential, just how important are consumer
  reviews for SEO?

3
The multiple benefits of reviews

• Online reviews do more for your business than
  just look good on external sites
• Lots of good reviews can increase your business's
  local rankings in search engines.
  Currently, Google displays the "top three" most
  relevant businesses for any given query.
• When someone searches for a business in your area
  that's like yours, Google uses customer ratings
  as a major determining factor for whom it places
  in those top three spots.
• Better reviews mean you'll get more clicks once
  you're ranked. Imagine that you're looking for a
  specific kind of restaurant, and you're met with
  three options One has an average of five stars,
  while the other two have an average of two stars.
  Which one will you click? Rankings are nice, but
  qualified traffic is even better.
• Better reviews mean more business. Customer
  reviews are a subjective yet reliable credibility
  score that let other potential customers know
  whether your business is a good choice.
• These three benefits, working together, clearly
  illustrate the value of attracting good reviews
  online. If between two otherwise equal
  competitors, one business pursues better reviews
  while the other ignores them, the business that
  pursues better reviews will undoubtedly win out
  in
• terms of traffic and eventual purchases.

4
The multiple benefits of reviews

• Online reviews do more for your business than
  just look good on external sites
• Lots of good reviews can increase your business's
  local rankings in search engines.
  Currently, Google displays the "top three" most
  relevant businesses for any given query.
• When someone searches for a business in your area
  that's like yours, Google uses customer ratings
  as a major determining factor for whom it places
  in those top three spots.
• Better reviews mean you'll get more clicks once
  you're ranked. Imagine that you're looking for a
  specific kind of restaurant, and you're met with
  three options One has an average of five stars,
  while the other two have an average of two stars.
  Which one will you click? Rankings are nice, but
  qualified traffic is even better.
• Better reviews mean more business. Customer
  reviews are a subjective yet reliable credibility
  score that let other potential customers know
  whether your business is a good choice.
• These three benefits, working together, clearly
  illustrate the value of attracting good reviews
  online. If between two otherwise equal
  competitors, one business pursues better reviews
  while the other ignores them, the business that
  pursues better reviews will undoubtedly win out
  in
• terms of traffic and eventual purchases.

5
Relative value

• When it comes to all the factors responsible for
  producing your ultimate ranking, reviews aren't
  the most important. The structure of your site,
  the user experience you offer, your content
  strategy, and your link-building program are all
  going to play a greater role in determining your
  ranking than online reviews. Still, once all the
  "basics" are taken care of, the quality and
  quantity
• of reviews you attract will add another
  significant influence to the list. Never
  sacrifice the quality of a content campaign to
  attract more reviews, but don't shelve reviews as
  being unimportant, either.

6
Industry considerations

• It's also important to remember that certain
  industries are subject to greater influence from
  consumer reviews than others. For example, if
  you're looking for a nice restaurant or a good
  hotel, user reviews can inform you whether your
  experience will meet your expectations. On the
  other hand, choosing a new bank requires less
  user-based input a consumer is more likely to
  base his or her decision on objective factors,
  like rates or product offers, than subjective
  customer reviews. Accordingly, consider your
  industry when weighing the value of local reviews
  for your overall success.
• Along similar lines, remember that not all review
  sites are relevant for all industries. For
  example, UrbanSpoon exists exclusively for rating
  restaurants. If your industry has a specific
  review site, be sure you're listed on it. If
  there's a review site completely irrelevant to
  your industry, you can ignore it safely.