How To Get More Google Reviews And Why You Need Them

Earlier in 2022, Google changed their algorithm for filtering reviews and deleted dozens of legitimate reviews on our ‘Google My Business’ account for Shipwreck Studio. Several of our clients’ accounts also lost a large quantity of their positive reviews.

These reviews are very important for both credibility and SEO reasons.

There’s a lot of pitfalls causing the algorithm to remove reviews now. It’s designed to filter out fake reviews & non relevant reviews

Here’s some free hints to make sure reviews stick for your business

• You can’t get too many in one day or even one week, if it looks unnatural compared to past performance
  • Don’t ask all your clients to review you in one email campaign or similar, spread it out. If you don’t have a big previous score, certainly not more than a one or two a day, or even less
• None of them should come from the same IP address or the same device
  • Each mobile device is usually registered to one or more specific addresses, multiple reviews from that device will likely be removed later
  • Don’t let your clients fill out reviews on an ipad or device you supply in-store
  • Don’t let your clients fill out reviews on your Wifi connection
• They shouldn’t geographically all come from the same address, but definitely nearby
  • Don’t always encourage your clients to fill them out on their phones while they are standing in your place of business
  • On the other side of this coin, you want the reviews to come from your business’s coverage area. NOT interstate or from a different country. Hopefully they are in your city
  • HOT TIP: If you’re really keen and have a mobile device ‘out of area’, but you would like to review a business interstate or inter-country. Install a GPS Faker app on your phone like https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.lexa.fakegps&hl=en_AU&gl=US or https://www.makeuseof.com/best-android-location-spoofing-apps/ for example. This will fool your phone into thinking you are local to the business you are reviewing.
• Ensure you respond to all reviews
  • If it’s a positive review, thank them at a minimum
  • If it’s a negative review, do not try to explain it or deal with it in the reply. Instead take that conversation offline with something like “John, we apologise for your bad experience and appreciate your feedback. We’ll use that to see what we can improve in our process. Let’s see what we can do to address your problem, sending you an email about it now”
  • Sometimes calling negative review customers to resolve their issue can turn a negative into a positive for you afterwards
• I had a client leave me a review from a new gmail account and it didn’t stick? (This is a real problem for web designers like us, who likely just created the gmail accounts to go with a clients new site and domain name!)
  • Accounts need to ‘warmed up’ first. Actually used day to day for a while before that client should leave you a review. Fresh accounts making new reviews are viewed as likely fraudulent by Google
  • Take some photos around town without account, leave some other reviews for a week or 2, then try
• Star ratings only vs written reviews
  • A star rating only, will still increase your overall score
  • A written review adds a little positive weight to your search ranking as well, so it’s preferred

What is the net effect of having more Google My Business Reviews?

• More Positive reviews help Google to know your business is relevant to people, giving you some increase in ranking on the search engine. This helps more new customers find you on Google in the future!
• More Positive reviews give you increased credibility with potential clients that are seeing you on Google for the first time. Making it more likely they will contact you

How to go get those Google Reviews

•  Ensure your GMB listing and address are all completely and correctly filled out
  • This listing must also be “Verified”
• **To be inserted here** – how to get your shortcut from GMB to invite reviews
  • Shorten it with bit.ly or similar?
• Consider featuring this review link on your website with a button like this one:
  
  
• Have a form email with this link and short info ready to send to happy clients after you complete business with them
  • Remember not to run a mass email campaign where everyone gets it on the same day
• Consider creating “Leave us a review” cards
  • Include a QR Code & the google review link
    
    
• Ask for google reviews in person whenever you catch your clients on a high note
  • Just finished a great support call with a grateful customer?
  • Just completed a client’s job and received compliments on your product or service?
  • NOW is the time to ask that customer if they would mind writing you a google review!
• Remind clients how quick and easy it is to leave a review
  • Remind them if they are busy they can simply leave a star rating 
  • Let them know they only need to drop one or two sentences, it isn’t an essay writing exercise!
  • Use phrases like “drop a quick review” instead of “write a review”, which tends to sound like more work.
• Consider occasionally dropping a little reminder & link in your social posts