For businesses of all sizes, word of mouth and reputation can impact whether customers choose your business or your competitors. One metric that many consumers utilize when determining which business to go with is online ratings like Google ratings. As a business owner, online rankings on popular websites like Google and Yelp can be frustrating, because they do not allow business owners to edit or remove public reviews. If your business has suffered a Google business ranking decline, it can be difficult to recover. Keep reading to learn more about how Google rankings work and tips for boosting your business’s Google ranking. At Boston Web Marketing, we specialize in reputation management and other marketing tactics to help your business succeed online. To learn how we can help your website perform better, contact us directly at (857) 598-8851.
How Are Google Business Rankings Calculated?
Google business rankings are nothing fancy. They are simply an average of all reviews left on a Google Business page. 5-star rankings are the highest, while 1-star rankings are the lowest. However, Google takes a few factors into account when evaluating the weight of a review including when the review was left and the content of the review. Because of this, it can take multiple 5-star reviews to ‘outweigh’ or bounce back from a 1-star review.
What to do if a Review is not Accurate or is Spam?
In order to keep Google Business accounts relevant to consumers, Google does not allow business owners to edit or delete reviews. This prevents businesses from deleting all of their bad reviews and falsely advertising their business. One complication to this is that sometimes someone will leave an inaccurate review or spam comment that can impact a business’s rating even if the person has never actually been a customer of that business. Google’s bots comb through Google reviews to remove spam, however, business owners can also flag spam or inappropriate comments for review themselves.
How to Improve Your Google Business Ranking
If your business’ ranking needs improvement, but you’re feeling stuck, it is important to focus on increasing the volume of Google reviews. Pushing your customers to leave reviews by including a QR code in a newsletter or offering an incentive like 10% off of their next purchase if they leave a review are both great ways to encourage customers to leave reviews. Improving your Google review will take time and is not an overnight fix. It is important to be patient and remind your customers to leave you reviews to build your reputation back up over time.
Contact Boston Web Marketing for Professional Marketing Services
If you’re in need of reputation management services or are looking to improve your website performance, Boston Web Marketing is here to help. Our team of marketing specialists specializes in improving the overall performance of your website to increase organic traffic and conversions! To learn more about the services that we offer and how we can help your business, contact us directly.