Google Reviews For Business – How To Add, Delete & Maximise Your Ratings

Your Google My Business Listing Needs Great Reviews

But How Can You Get Google My Business Reviews Consistently and with great ratings? Today’s article and video will tackle the 3 biggest questions you have been asking us:

• How to delete a Google review someone else posted
• Understanding the difference between a bad review and a fake review
• How to increase google my business reviews
• Where you find Google My business reviews and why they are important
• 7 ways you can get more good reviews
• How to add Google My Business reviews to your website
• How to increase your rating on Facebook
• The Simple way of sharing your GMB review into Facebook

“5 star review isn’t as good as 4.2 in Google My Business – True or False?”

Zanet Design

Lets dive straight in with my most detailed Google My Business review article ever

Google Reviews For Business – Removing Bad or Fake Reviews

No one wants a bad review. Especially when it’s not deserved or even reflective of the service or business. Sadly business can sometimes receive reviews either by mistake or even by an active competitor. So how does Google support an innocent business in this area? How do you delete a google review someone else posted?

Well its not a simple solution as Google wants to support the reviewer if they have a genuine reason to grumble. Did you know that a bad review can be a positive signal – more on that later!

Bad or Fake Business Review?

At this point you need to be able to tell the difference between a bad review and fake. Because how you handle the following stages will be very dependent on the above. So you need to identify if its a fake quickly as you can easily make things worse.

How to deal with a fake review

No one likes an unfair review, but before removing, try an initial investigation. Is it a fake review or a genuine bad review? Can you see who gave the review or why they gave it? Could it be they have the wrong company? If it’s not from an actual customer, then do not respond.

Sadly some agencies try to push down the ratings of a competitor by not only adding high fake reviews for there client, saying wonderful things but then by adding poor reviews to the competitors. While this is incredibly dishonest and only works for a limited time until Google gets involved, it can be damaging and have a large impact on a business. So removing a fake review can be a stressful process.

Define fake review

Let’s be clear a fake review is a review that is from someone who has never had your services and is reviewing you purely due to an attempt to dishonour your review score. This is not the same as a bad review.

For fake reviews you need to report it. Not only you but as many as possible. The more reporting to Google, the more likely it will be removed quickly after a manual review process. Its important to mention that responding validates the post as pertinent to your business. If it is not, flag the review and/or contact an account representative for the website the review is on to get it removed. It may take a few days, but it is worth the wait.

How to deal with bad review

If a customer has given you a bad review, then now is the time to try and understand why. Keep it professional and contact the owner of the bad review to understand from their perspective what went wrong. Was it bad communication, a misunderstanding, unrealistic expectations? What would you need to do to resolve it? Focus on these things initially rather than the obvious “please take that google review down”

The process

If it’s an upset customer, then call the customer. Try and fix any issues. Never answer the review without trying the previous areas first. Don’t retaliate that will just compound the issue in the eyes of your onlookers. If you genuinely don’t understand where the business review has come from, you could tell them “I have no record of you as a client, can you confirm it’s the right company?”

Then if still no resolve answer with a nice, professional, but not personal reply. Do your best to respond within days of the initial review and try to fix their issues as quickly as you can. You could ask to take it offline so you can resolve it without a public audience. Then if and when they are happy to do so, ask if they could take the bad review down.

Whats a good average review?

Remember 5.0 isnt as good as 4.2 – seriously. Will you only build trust and succeed if you have a perfect five-star rating? Not necessarily. In fact, a few blemishes amongst the glowing reviews may make your overall rating more trustworthy.

We came across a study by Northwestern University. They analysed google reviews for business ratings and discovered that a five-star rating was not the most trusted score. Participants in the study were more likely to trust brands that landed in the 4.2 to 4.5 stars range. So how can you go from a 1.0 average to 4.8? Let me show you.

So to start the process you need to know how to get loads more positive reviews. Don’t worry i have this taken care of below and a video to show you how to do it.

If you follow the maths, you now have added 20 more good reviews to your bad review which is going to have a diluting and postive effect on your bad review.

The result is you now have a 4.8 average which is well above the ideal average to gain trust from your clients and potential customers.

How To Increase Google My Business Reviews

To increase Your Google My Business reviews Ive put a video together for you above, but I also have some great tips to share.

If you want to jump to the relevant part in the video then click on the timestamp.

• 0:00 Introduction
• 1:02 important overview of reviews and Google
• 8:04 Where to find the review link
• 9:14 Tip 1. Reviews on your business card
• 10:30 Tip 2. Get and Show Google Business Marketing kit
• 11:41 Tip 3. Just ask for a favour from customers
• 13:06 Tip 4. Can ask for a review directly from previous customers
• 13:50 Tip 5. Add ability to review on email signatures
• 14:22 Tip 6. Get more reviews by sharing the link to other social networks like LinkedIn
• 15:00 Tip 7. Add to footer invoices themselves
• 15:24 Bonus on Top Tip Get reviews that have the clear genuine commendation and include local info and photos where possible

Is Google wanting you to use reviews? Too Right!

Google’s recent TV advert indicates they want you to give reviews. Why are Google My Business reviews important? When you’re looking for a new product, service or restaurant, do you trust online reviews? More than 90% of people do, according to a 2019 survey by the marketing firm BrightLocal.

So sometimes just ask directly for a review. Most customers will be happy to oblige if you have done a great job. See an example in this email template you could adapt.

Even more—92%—are more likely to buy a certain product after reading an online review, Having said that, sometimes Google My Business reviews stop showing, or never show at all. Why? You should be aware of avoiding too many reviews in a few days. This can trigger a filter. So aim for business reviews consistently over time or if they are all coming from the same IP address that could prove to be another issues. eg if you had a laptop on your reception desk in a hotel lobby, the reviews would be better coming from a customers phone.

In case I haven’t alluded to it, but never buy reviews or incentivise (pay for) them.

Try getting reviews with these ideas:

1. On business card add short URL / QR code converter https://www.qr-code-generator.com/
2. Show Marketing kit/shop windows – https://marketingkit.withgoogle.com/i…
3. Just ask for a favour…show my email…do great things, wait for the customer to say they are pleased. Do free things and often they will ask if they can give a review
4. Can ask directly previous customers
5. Email signatures
6. Get more reviews by sharing link / shortened version on social media / LinkedIn or those that gave a review on other platforms
7. invoices themselves

Bonus

As a bonus, Get reviews that have the clear genuine commendation and include local info and photos where possible Always reply to your Google My Business Reviews With Great Loyalty comes great referrals More than half of consumers who have a good experience with a brand will recommend it to people that they know.

So how can you show them off on your website or on Facebook or other social media platforms? Well lets see what you can do to maximise the benefits of those lovely business reviews.

How To Maximise Your Google Business Reviews

How to increase google business reviews has to be something all business owners need to know. Are there things you can do to get your reviews seen and why are they important and what should I avoid?

Facebook and GMB ratings

If you havent watched the video above I really want you to do so as it answers every question you are left with at this point:

• So how can you put your rating on Facebook?
• How can you get reviews on GMB from Facebook?
• Is it possible to get other reviews to have impact eg / LinkedIn/Yell etc?
• How do you get more reviews on google my business easily?
• Can you get google reviews for my business quickly?
• How do you give a review on google maps?
• Why are my Google My Business reviews not showing?

Its worth noting that reviews on other sources are considered important and have an effect on your ranking – why would that be the case? Its all about branding trust

Plugins to display your business reviews

So how can you put your rating on Facebook and have this effecting Goole My Business and showing everywhere? I would recommend using a plugin. There are a few to chose from but these make my shortlist

Rich Plugins – https://richplugins.com/demos

Embed Socail – https://embedsocial.com/blog/embed-google-reviews/

Elf Sight Review Widget – https://elfsight.com/google-reviews-widget/

So you now have your reviews are showing everywhere, The purpose is to do the following:

• Building your brand
• Increasing your business
• Building your trust

Always reply to your reviews. Many dont but rember with great loyalty comes great referals
More than half of consumers who have a good experience with a brand will recommend it to people that they know.

Zanet Design Ltd is based in the Bournemouth, Poole and Christchurch area. So feel free to contact me if you are a local. But I have many loyal clients in many other areas an don’t just limit myself to local web design work. So if doing the above is beyond you and you need help, then book a consultation with me and I will do my best to give you the best advice tailored for your business.