How Google Reviews Helped Local Businesses During the COVID-19 Pandemic
The COVID-19 pandemic has hit small businesses hard, and experts predict that 2.1 million might close as a result.
If you run a local small business, you might be interested to know that Google reviews can help you through this pandemic. That's because these reviews can help you attract clients, thereby allowing you to stay afloat during this difficult time.
Keep reading, and you'll learn how Google reviews have helped local businesses throughout this pandemic. If you want to give your business a fighting chance, you'll soon see how Google reviews can help you survive.
Let's begin!
How Do Google Reviews Help Local Businesses?
You might know a little bit about Google reviews, but you might not be aware of how they can help your business.
Well, reviews, in general, can help you look good to prospective customers. For instance, if someone wants to buy a certain service or goods, and they see you have more positive reviews than other firms, they'll likely buy from you.
Now, the special thing about Google reviews is that they appear in Google search listings.
This is especially helpful because customers can now see how 'good' your business is when they're performing a search. Thus, if you have a lot of positive reviews, people will more likely click on your search listing rather than someone else's.
As per WP Dev Shed, having lots of positive Google reviews can also improve your search engine rankings. Following this, your business will rank higher for relevant search terms, and this will lead to more people discovering your firm.
Getting More Google Reviews
Now that you're aware of the benefits of Google reviews, you might want to learn how you can take advantage.
First, you need to set up a 'Google My Business' profile, and you need to verify this profile.
Once you've done this, you need to get some reviews for your profile.
Note there are some strict guidelines regarding how you can attract reviews, and if you break these, you may get 'delisted.'
For example, you can't offer people an incentive in exchange for a review. Following this, you should just let people know you have a profile so they can leave a review whenever they're ready.
Over time you will need to respond to questions people post in these reviews. If you'd like some tips on how to do this, here's a blog post that teaches you how to manage Google reviews.
Will You Benefit From Google Reviews?
It's fair to say all local businesses can benefit from Google reviews during this tough time.
Gathering reviews is probably the hardest part of this process. However, if you contact past customers and notify them of your Google My Business profile, you should be able to get your first reviews.
Once you get these reviews, you should hopefully gain some visibility in the search listings. This will then lead to more people reaching out, of whom will also eventually leave a review.
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