Attention Business Owners: How to Get More 5-Star Reviews, on Google, for Your Company

Strategies to Obtain Google Reviews and Improve Search Rankings for Small Businesses

Acquiring customer reviews poses unique challenges for small business owners and sole proprietors. However, Google's search algorithms provide opportunities to make this process easier. Recognizing the difficulty many small service providers face in soliciting reviews in a highly competitive market, Google has implemented "Local Business Review Policies" into its search ranking formulas. These policies give preference to reviews of local brick-and-mortar establishments in order to limit review spam from non-local businesses. Leveraging these policies can boost a company's search engine optimization and visibility to potential local customers.

Create a Google My Business Profile (Today known as Google Business Profile)

A Google My Business profile offers several advantages:

- Display business hours, location details, and contact information prominently in search results

- Enable a map function so customers can easily find the business location

- Streamline the review submission process for customers

Google My Business profiles are free and simple to set up.

Any local business not yet claimed on Google can create one here.

Utilize Google Tools to Optimize Your Web Presence

When establishing a Google My Business profile, carefully select the accurate country, city, business category, and location to ensure the listing appears for local searches.

Google also provides free webmaster tools to analyze website traffic, identify broken links, research effective keywords, and create content. The keyword research tool reveals popular local search terms to focus on. The content creation tool helps develop optimized website content. Google Analytics tracks website visitors and engagement metrics.

Add Your Business to Google Maps

A Google My Business profile makes it easy to add a business to Google Maps. In the profile, visit the settings and select "Business Integration." Google also allows submissions directly through maps.google.com/businessview. Ensure all location details, photos, and descriptive information are accurate.

This will enable Google to prominently showcase the business on local maps results.

Configure Listing Settings to Show in Search Results

To display prominently in search results, check the listing location preferences under settings in Google My Business. Enable the location feature so Google populates the address field in search listings with the business address. Routinely update contact information to match all other listings, so customers reach the right location.

Beyond listings, small businesses can boost SEO through community engagement such as:

- Posting helpful content to local forums and industry groups

- Contributing expertise to open source community projects

- Hosting free webinars relevant to local customers

In summary, Google's recent policies reward reviews more highly from actual local brick-and-mortar businesses. Focus efforts on optimizing Google My Business profiles and listings to be discoverable to nearby customers searching online.

Implementing these best practices can yield more customer reviews and higher search rankings over time.

The best thing to do is to ask for Reviews from EVERYONE. But be careful! If someone is not happy, a bad review can hurt. If that happens, we can help you.