{"id":3623,"date":"2014-10-30T04:00:47","date_gmt":"2014-10-30T09:00:47","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.rocksdigital.com\/?p=3623"},"modified":"2026-02-04T10:09:18","modified_gmt":"2026-02-04T16:09:18","slug":"google-local-search-reviews","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rocksdigital.com\/google-local-search-reviews\/","title":{"rendered":"Dominate Google Local Search: Reviews and Ratings"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"DominateEvery business out there wants to dominate Google local search and, to accomplish this, you need to use reviews and ratings in conjunction with other search tools, such as optimizing your location pages on directory and social networking sites.<\/a> These are ways that your business can gain an important edge over your competition.<\/p>\n

In the previous post in this series, I discussed your geographical location<\/a>\u2014 which is one of the important factors Google considers when ranking businesses for local search. Today, I’m going to discuss another important factor: reviews and ratings; and how you can improve them.<\/p>\n

Google and local reviews<\/h2>\n

When you perform a search on Google, you\u2019re going to get the most relevant businesses in your desired location. One of the results that you will see on that page are the good (and bad) reviews of those relevant businesses.<\/p>\n

Reviews help businesses improve their rankings because the more reviews you have the better your business will look to search engines as well as to those searching thereby helping you rank higher in local search results<\/a>. Reviews can be seen as a type of\u00a0conversion rate optimization.<\/p>\n

However, it\u2019s one thing to show up on the top of the search results, but what matters more is when those searching actually pick up the phone and call or click on your website. Reviews of your business play a big part in making that happen.<\/p>\n

How do I improve my reviews?<\/h2>\n

Business owners always want to improve their reviews and I\u2019ve lost count of how many have asked me, \u201cHow can I improve my reviews without asking my customers to write one for me? I don\u2019t want to bother them.\u201d<\/p>\n

The truth is that the only way to get more positive reviews is to ask for them! There is not a secret way to cheat the system and you shouldn’t even need to try. If you provide a quality product or service and follow up with your customers, providing them with a link which allows them to write a review about their experience, then you only have to let them do their part by providing it. You are taking away the opportunity for your customers to say thank you if you fail to provide an easy way for them to give you a review.<\/p>\n

Search engines, like Google, and directories, like Yelp, are strict on their review policies, so make sure you don\u2019t break their rules when you ask for reviews. Your business could get penalized or your reviews deleted, so be sure to read their policies and procedures for properly obtaining customer reviews.<\/p>\n

How do I ask for the review?<\/strong><\/h2>\n