All Systems Go Marketing: How To Review Local SEO Efforts

All Systems Go Marketing, based in La Mesa, California, has published a new blog post on their website exploring how a business may appraise reviews generated from SEO efforts. The post offers guidance on how to proceed and what to know regarding reviews as well.

The post begins by asking several questions of the reader. To quote the article, “So, your local business has gotten reviews. What now? Are those reviews supposed to be good? Would you need to engage with them? Are they relevant to your local SEO efforts?” The answers to all these questions are tackled throughout the post. When it comes to the question of the importance of reviews, the answer is yes. Google Reviews are definitely shown to have a relation to the success of local SEO efforts. The post goes on to explain that this is due to Google including crowdsourced factors in their ranking, and reviews are great crowdsourced material as it is difficult to spam — and also because it is illegal for reviewers to abuse their right to review a local business.

Any business will benefit if the owners have a healthy number of reviews (with a good portion of them on the positive side) and if the keywords and the location of the business are also included in the reviews. It is also worth noting that anonymous users are not allowed to post online reviews for businesses in Google, so a business can typically be ensured of the veracity of the reviews. Finally, the company adds that one point proves that the volume of reviews is important: When Google implemented the ‘no anonymous user reviews’ policy, businesses that lost a significant number of reviews because anonymous reviews were removed started dropping significantly lower in rank. It is safe to say that positive Google Reviews can help improve search rankings and general Local SEO efforts. Although there are many factors involved in search rankings (the post points out that there are over 200), online customer reviews send a strong signal to search engines that communicates expertise, authority and trust.

The post also addresses the issue of negative reviews. According to the agency, the impact of such feedback can be boiled down to two alternatives: Yes and no. If the significant majority of a local business’ reviews are negative, then yes, Google will consider them when dropping the business’ rankings because of its negative reputation. Moreover, there is always a tendency for local business owners to remove negative reviews, so even if a majority of a company’s reviews are negative and the owner decides to have all those reviews taken down, then as mentioned earlier, the business’ ranking will suffer because of the decrease in the volume of reviews.

After acknowledging the situation that arises with negative reviews, the post also points out that Google Search Quality Evaluators have guidelines that remind them to be cautious about one or a couple of negative reviews. This is a fair policy, as even one negative experience of a customer with a rude cashier or a salesperson does not really prove that the company is a fraudulent or incompetent one. This is also why the number of reviews for a local business is important. If a company has 26 reviews for their business and three of them are negative, it is difficult for someone to really ignore the 23 good comments. Be that as it may, these negative comments, although clearly a minority, should be professionally addressed and remedied by the company.

It is also worth noting that a business with only positive reviews is likely to appear suspicious to prospective shoppers. To explain, most prospective shoppers are concerned about the practice of ‘review gating,’ which is the practice of discouraging or prohibiting negative reviews and selectively soliciting reviews from happy customers. The post also highlights the fact that review gating violates Google’s Contributed Content Policy. Furthermore, according to Google’s Search Quality Evaluator Guidelines, negative reviews are completely normal and expected. The post provides further information on how to handle reviews, no matter the nature of the content.

All Systems Go Marketing has, since 1999, focused on working for and partnering with small to mid-sized businesses. The agency utilizes techniques that are based upon 20 years of digital marketing experience, and they focus on a fundamentally sound, results-oriented and safe approach to Digital Marketing.

To learn more about All Systems Go Marketing and the services they offer, one may visit their website. The company can also be contacted via phone or email.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wolIXpTkJE8

from Press Releases at https://www.pressadvantage.com/story/42226-all-systems-go-marketing-how-to-review-local-seo-efforts

Ready to “Review” Your Local SEO Efforts?

So, your local business has gotten reviews. What now? Are those reviews supposed to be good? Would you need to engage with them? Are they relevant to your local SEO efforts?

Are reviews that important?
The answer to that question is yes. Reviews in Google definitely have a relation with the success of your local SEO efforts. After all, Google includes crowdsourced factors when ranking everything, and reviews are a good crowdsourced material because they are hard to spam and it is illegal for reviewers to abuse their “right” to review a business.

Your business will benefit if you have a healthy amount of reviews, a good portion of it on the positive and if the keywords and your location are included in the reviews. Also, anonymous users are not allowed to post online reviews for businesses in Google, so as a business you can be ensured of the veracity of the reviews. Finally, to prove the point that the volume of reviews is important when Google implemented its “no anonymous user reviews,” businesses that lost a significant amount of reviews because anonymous reviews were removed fell down search engine rankings.

Google Reviews can help improve search rankings and general SEO efforts. Although there are many factors involved in search rankings (over 200, in fact), online customer reviews send a strong signal to search engines that communicates expertise, authority, and trust.
(Via: https://1seo.com/blog/do-local-google-reviews-help-your-seo/)

How about negative reviews?
Yes and no. If a majority of a local business’ reviews are negative, then yes, Google will consider them in taking down the business’ rankings because of its negative reputation. Moreover, there is always this tendency for local business owners to remove negative reviews, so if a majority of a company’s reviews are negative and the owner decides to have all those reviews taken down, then as mentioned earlier, the business’ ranking will suffer because of the decrease in the volume of reviews.

Having said that, Google Search Quality Evaluators have guidelines that remind them to be cautious about one or a couple of negative reviews. After all, one experience of a customer with a rude cashier or a salesperson does not really prove that the company is a fraudulent one. This is also why the number of reviews for your local business is important. If you have 26 reviews for your business and 3 of them are negative, you can’t really ignore the 23 good comments. Be that as it may, these negative comments, although a very clear minority, should be professionally addressed by the company.

A business with only positive reviews is likely to appear suspicious to prospective shoppers. More specifically, prospective shoppers are concerned about the practice of “review gating” – the practice of discouraging or prohibiting negative reviews and selectively soliciting reviews from happy customers. Review gating violates Google’s Contributed Content Policy.

Furthermore, according to Google’s Search Quality Evaluator Guidelines, negative reviews are completely normal and expected.
(Via: https://www.widewail.com/local-seo)

So, how to deal with these negative reviews?
For local businesses, any comment or review is personal, consider the scale of their entity. As a local business owner, you may usually have to assume most, if not all the responsibilities for your company – the social media marketer, the manager, the public relations officer, the janitor, the salesperson, and the cashier. So, when a customer drops a comment that doesn’t put your efforts in the best light, you will most likely get offended. And that sucks. If the negative review is legitimate and all about your business and is not an attack on you or some sort of sabotage, the best thing to do would be to momentarily put your hurt feelings aside (just put them aside temporarily, don’t ignore and forget about them) and address the matter professionally.

If someone is upset enough to leave a negative review, they usually do it pretty soon after the negative experience takes place.
And they’re going to expect a fairly swift response back.
It’s the right thing to do and it also helps limit the damage done.
(Via: https://www.searchenginejournal.com/tips-handling-negative-customer-reviews-online/353470/)

 

For all other local SEO matters you should know about, read here.

The following article Ready to “Review” Your Local SEO Efforts? Read more on: https://www.allsystemsgomarketing.com

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SEO Service Discusses Local SEO Benefits In New Blog Post

All Systems Go Marketing, a digital marketing company in the San Diego area, has published a new page on their website that details the benefits of local SEO to service based businesses.

The company is offering a 90 day guarantee on its Local SEO services, an uncommon move for digital marketing companies at a time when many digital marketers are offering a "wait and see" approach to local positioning.

"Executing on Local SEO has always been a monster part of our business," said Craig Wright, Owner and Sales Manager at All Systems Go Marketing. "Certainly, offering an in your face guarantee is not something we do lightly. But the fact is, 95% of the time about 10 minutes of research will tell us with complete certainty what we are able to do for the client."

All Systems Go Marketing also offers national SEO for businesses that need it, but often the costs can far exceed the benefit now that much of search has a local component to it. Going forward, with the majority of searches taking place on smart phones, the local aspect of a search is expected to be all encompassing.

"While our client base has always been made up of smaller brands looking to go National, it became clear around 2015 that these opportunities were fading fast in a lot of industries," said Wright. "Certainly when we began in 2001 the search market was split up into a lot of parts, but with Google dominating the search market all over the world, when they speak, you have to listen!"

According to recent studies, 97% of consumers use Google to find local businesses. Outside of advertising, being listed in local search is the most consistent way to put a brand in front of paying customers. Still, many small business owners assume that there is no possible way that their business will be listed at the top of the local search listings, perhaps due to long standing myths.

"It's really kind of amazing that small business owners on one hand use Google every day to find local businesses, and yet never think about researching what it would take for them to rank," said Wright. "People assume that Google provides these listings to high spending advertisers or to companies that they somehow prefer, but in fact the whole setup is algorithm based. The idea that there are companies that somehow receive 'preferential treatment' is ridiculous."

While Google is working hard to ensure that there are as many advertisements on a search screen as possible, this does not limit the effectiveness of being listed locally in what many call the "Google Maps Pack". In fact, there are literally thousands of markets across Canada and the United States where there are no ads at all, and results in the Maps pack have by far the best visibility.

What's more, studies show that consumers tend to trust the Google Maps Pack far more than they do advertisements, which is the kind of authority that every local brand should be looking to exploit.

"Like it or not, 'Ad Blindness' is only getting worse for consumers as they feel as if they are constantly being advertised to," said Wright. "A local business that has the profile to be ranked in the maps pack doesn't feel like an ad, which creates implicit trust from the get-go."

While any business can rank in the Google Maps Pack, the results tend to be algorithmically generated. Fortunately, there are signals that a business can provide through their MyBusiness listing to ensure that they are well represented when local consumers are looking for their service.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wolIXpTkJE8

"Local businesses that are not ranked in Google for local searches are missing out on monstrous amounts of customers," said Wright. "Fortunately for our clients, we've been able to help!"

from Press Releases at https://www.pressadvantage.com/story/41972-seo-service-discusses-local-seo-benefits-in-new-blog-post