When you’re working with Google Business Profile (GBP), you’re operating in a continually moving environment. Like Netflix, you never really finish optimizing GBP. Google is constantly adding to, tweaking, monetizing, and retiring features, and there are many factors that are going to affect GBP performance—be that from a ranking or a conversion perspective. As local marketers, we need to be monitoring our Google Business Profiles so that we can check the progress or quality over a period of time. We also need to make sure we have a process for systematic review and optimization so that we can see what’s working and what isn’t. Monitoring the search landscape is also essential so that we’re aware of any new opportunities and challenges. Based on my recent talk at LocalU Advanced, this guide will walk you through ten pieces of the GBP puzzle (there are of course many more!) that can and should be monitored for potential optimization. I’ll also share my Google Business Profile monitoring template--read on for access to this! Why ‘Setting and Forgetting’ Isn’t an OptionThere are a number of reasons why Google Business Profiles require ongoing attention and optimization:
Changes to the Appearance of Local Search ResultsMary Bowling created this image to show changes to the appearance of local search results over the years: It shows how the Local Pack looked from 2007 through to 2015. As you can see, the 7-Pack settled into a 3-Pack in 2015. We’re now used to seeing three results in the Map Pack, but more recently we’re seeing Google using huge maps, as well as a 5-Pack for some queries: There’s been a lot of talk over the last few years around ‘Google as your new home page’. This concept has grown as Google continues to tweak and add new functionality designed to keep users on the search engine results pages (SERPs). This is largely achieved by presenting the user with more and more opportunities to interact with a business without actually needing to click through to its website. Changes to the Way Buyers Search and Make ChoicesLike any good marketer, we should all be concerned about how customers and potential customers make purchase decisions. We need to stay on top of how world events, technology, and other factors affect the way consumers search and are influenced in their decision-making processes. We know that mobile phone use has massively shifted search behavior, user expectation, and the way that results are presented. As marketers, we’ve had to take this into account as we plan and implement our strategies. Voice and Visual SearchVoice search was the hot topic for a while, but optimizing for voice search ended up not really changing much about the way local search marketers operate. What will come next and what will this mean for us? Maybe visual search will shake things up a bit! We’re all familiar with how Google makes sense of our written content and schema to serve what it hopes will be relevant results for the searcher’s intent. But we’re not so familiar with the level of processing that Google uses to make sense of our images. Consumers can increasingly use visual search to find the products that they want to research and buy. The below image demonstrates how using Google Lens to search for a product triggers a 3-Pack: World events have a huge effect on the way we search and the types of phrases that we use. We need to keep abreast of these changes and make sure that they’re reflected in the words and images that we use to describe our businesses. This starts with our websites and our GBPs. Changes to Google Business Profile FeaturesCovid-19 prompted a huge shake-up for GBP in terms of new features. Historically, Google wasn’t quick to respond to the requests for new business features. But the pandemic showed just how efficiently Google can launch useful new features. Many of the new additions provided during the early days of the pandemic are still available for businesses to use today, and may become permanent. These features include Covid-19 Posts, health and safety attributes, being able to mark a business as temporarily closed, and ‘More hours’. Google continues to surprise us with new GBP features, often without any explanation or fanfare. You’ll likely only notice these updates because of a change in the dashboard or because someone tweets to ask if something is new. You might simply notice that something that used to work no longer does. Google frequently retires features and sends them to the graveyard, for example, short names. Interactivity and User-generated ContentA high level of interactivity and UGC is presented in local search results. We don’t control all of the content that appears here, so we need to monitor and optimize everything that’s making an appearance We’re all very familiar with reviews and understand the importance of reviews for Google Business Profiles. Another user-generated feature that’s less well known is Q&A. Businesses still seem to largely be ignoring it, while users continue to ask and answer questions. Google messaging is available for many businesses, and it’s increasingly easy for businesses to manage messages via the dashboard or through a third-party provider. A recent change to the Google Maps app now means that users can add their own photos and comments to the ‘updates’ tab. This has traditionally been an area that only businesses themselves could manage through the use of Google Posts. Confused about any of the above? Don’t panic—I’ve got your back! Let’s crack on with those ten points for monitoring Google Business Profile. 1. Monitor the SERPsWe need to keep a close eye on the SERPs and ask ourselves the following questions:
In the same way that you’d check the responsiveness of a website across different devices and platforms, you need to check how your GBP presents across devices and platforms. You can do this by looking at the following:
You’re likely now asking yourself, “how can I do this?” You could do this manually. This would involve making a checklist of the phrases you’re ranking for and where, but you’ll likely run into location and device issues. This method is also going to be hard to scale if you have multiple businesses and locations. I suggest automating the process using different tools. BrightLocal’s Local Search Rank Checker will check your rankings and keep a SERP screenshot of the results for desktop and mobile, and for Google Maps on desktop: BrightLocal’s Local Search Grid report will give you a screenshot of the Local Finder results for your search query: This data can be pulled for the same search query across as many locations as you specify. For example, you can see data from 225 locations if you have a 15 by 15 grid. I also like to automate this process using Mobile Moxie’s SERP Datalyser. This tool is fantastic for monitoring data across a range of locations and is useful for recognizing disambiguation when you search on a branded term. For example, when your client says ‘I’m seeing my business profile in the top results’ and you need to explain it’s because they’re sitting in their actual location searching for their own business. 2. Monitor the ‘Search Landscape’Next, we need to monitor the ‘search landscape’. By landscape, I mean the things that affect what we search for, how we search, how the search results look, and how this relates back to us in our jobs as local search marketers Think with Google is a great place to read about Google’s coverage of research on consumer trends, consumer journeys, retail, and new Google features. There are some brilliant resources out there to learn about local SEO, such as the Bright Ideas hub. And Sterling Sky has an excellent timeline for staying on top of Google Business Profile changes and SERP features testing. Brodie Clark (if you don’t already know him) is an avid watcher of and commentator on SERP features—so his new timeline for search feature changes is a must-read. In terms of quickly dipping into search news to check if there’s anything you’ve missed, the tl;dr marketing timeline newsletter is pretty awesome. If you have the time to go ‘all in’ on learning all things local, I’ve put together a list of people to follow on Twitter, plus podcasts, newsletters, and other resources for local search marketers. 3. Let Google Know You Want All NotificationsWe need to let Google know that we want to be told when something happens on our GBPs. When it comes to Google notifying you that you have things to attend to on your business profile, the notifications landscape feels pretty fragmented. Email Notification Settings in Google Business Profile ManagerFirst, on a desktop in Google Business Profile Manager, you can let Google know that you’d like to receive email notifications for certain events. For example, a new Q&A, someone making a booking, or someone messaging your business: Message Notifications in Chrome on DesktopYou can also get notifications on Chrome if you tweak your Chrome settings to enable push notifications: Use a Third-party Tool or Automate the Process Using the APIIf you’re managing notifications at scale, you’ll likely want to use a third-party solution or get someone to build something for you using the GBP API. 4. Measure Using UTM TrackingI’m always getting questions from my clients about how Google Business Profile is performing. They want to know:
Google Business Profile Insights give us some useful data about how people interact with our business profiles: But these insights don’t tell us the full story of how many people a Google Business Profile refers to the business website, and what those people do when they get there. And that’s where UTM tagging comes in. If you haven’t already set up UTM tagging on your profile, then I wrote a post about it that includes a handy UTM template that’ll tag your links up for you. Without UTM tagging, traffic from GBP will show in Google Analytics as either organic or direct. Even when it does get attributed to the organic channel, we have no idea which part of the Google Business Profile that visitor came from. UTM tagging allows us to see revenue attributable to GBP, broken down into which parts of GBP are delivering that revenue, as well as the types of conversions that GBP is driving. If you’re yet to set up UTM tagging, this video will outline the process and explain more of the benefits. 5. Monitor and Plan for Local Search JustificationsJustifications aren’t a new thing—we’re used to seeing the relevant bolded words in meta descriptions in the SERPs and elsewhere. If you’re not au fait with Local SEO justifications then this justifications guide by Joy Hawkins will teach you all you need to know. We all know that search engines operate on a basis of relevance, and their prime aim—besides making money for themselves—is to serve relevant results to the user. For local search, justifications are just another way of highlighting the relevance of that result to the user. Local justifications make a result stand out, ensuring the relevance of the result is immediately apparent and no doubt influencing click through rate. I don’t think anyone has done any research on review justifications, but plenty of tests have been done on other rich features, such as how product schema positively affects click-through rate. I’d imagine that local search justifications would produce similar results. How to Monitor and Optimize for Justification OpportunitiesUse Google Search Console to see search queries that your Google Business Profile is appearing for. If you’re UTM tagging your URLs, then you’ll be able to see search data for the non-branded queries that are triggering Map Pack results that you feature in. Look at data for the last 16 months for queries that don’t include the branded term. In the example below, I’ve applied a page filter so that only data from UTM tagged URLs is shown. You can see the URLs below—it’s the primary website link, the appointment link, and a GBP offer post: Clicking on the ‘queries’ tab will show you the queries: Google Business Profile Insights data is a goldmine for finding the types of keywords that could be triggering justifications. A lot of people overlook GBP insights query data—make sure you’re not one of them! You need to go beyond the core terms and keywords that you’ve targeted once you’ve performed your keyword research. Ask yourself, what are the keyword modifiers that people are likely to use when searching for a product or service that you offer? We’re all familiar with location modifiers but don’t forget all of the others, such as:
Attributes can also give us a clue about what people search for and the things that are important to them when they’re making a purchase decision. Check your GBP attributes to see which ones are available for your listing: This resource by Krystal Taing runs through the entire list of attributes available in GBP for a range of business types. This can give you a clue as to what Google determines to be important for searchers. For additional clues about modifiers, take a look at what Google is asking about the business via ‘Know This Place‘: Finally, take a look at the review attributes for your business and competitor businesses. This will provide further clues about what’s important to searchers within your niche. Once you’ve got your group of local keywords, you can map them out across the sources of justifications. I suggest starting with the ones that are easiest to influence:
6. PhotosThey say that “a picture is worth a thousand words”, and we’re all aware that we exist in a very visual internet culture. We curate our images based on what we want people to think about us—both professionally and personally. So, why do we allow things like this to happen to our business listings? We all know that we should be updating our websites with current and correct information, and we should be doing the same with Google Business Profile. After all, GBP is often what people will see before—and in many cases instead—of clicking through to the website. Monitor Customer-uploaded ImagesYou need to monitor your customer-uploaded images. You can sort by date to see the newest ones first: If any of those images contravene Google’s photo and video guidelines you can flag them for removal. Users are also prompted to add photos and comments in the Google Maps app, which then appears in the ‘updates’ tab: This is what that looks like in the Google Maps app: Businesses need to monitor this from within the app itself. This involves checking images and comments, and writing responses. Business-uploaded ImagesAll businesses need to carefully curate and optimize their own images. Ask yourself:
The image that accompanies your listing in the Local Finder won’t always be your cover photo. Google will often serve what it considers to be the most relevant image alongside the written results in the local SERPs. Look at the A5 oak and pine listing that shows a photo of a table, for the search term “oak table near me”: Google judged this photo to be more relevant to the search query than this business cover photo, and used it in the search results accordingly. Avoid this by making sure you have good quality images of your important products and services. Monitoring Google Business Profile Cover PhotosI use Mobile Moxie to monitor Google Business Profile images from a number of different locations. This lets me know when a change has been made: This image isn’t being populated via GBP, it’s being populated by image search. So the moral of the story is that you need to monitor the main image from your business profile and test it across the devices and locations that are important to you. 7. Google Business Profile ProductsGoogle Business Profile Products allows businesses that don’t have the ability to integrate product feeds via Google Merchant Center to add their product inventory manually. Access depends on the listings primary category, with the following business types being ineligible:
If you’re yet to set up Google Business Profile Products, then this is a useful guide. I really like GBP Products because visually they can make your profile stand out. They take up a load of real estate and they can include a link to your website: Because GBP products are manually curated, they’re rarely one and done. It’s likely that price, availability, URL, features, and images are subject to change. It’s best to choose evergreen products that are important to the business but that don’t change or go out of stock often I’ve created this Google sheet—just make a copy and populate it with the details of your products, including the URL. The sheet will then automatically tag up your GBP URLs with UTM tagging. You then just need to go ahead and copy and paste the details of your products into your Google Business Profile. Now you have a master copy in case you have any issues further down the line, or if multiple people have responsibility for managing GBP products in your organization. 8. Google Business Profile ServicesWe need to monitor the often overlooked ‘services’ in our business profiles. The services section is often forgotten because it’s only viewable on mobile. It’s difficult to know how customers and potential customers consume this content, and unlike GBP products, services aren’t linked to your website. I’m paying more attention to services than I used to, mainly because I’m seeing them pulled in as justifications for my clients. The ‘provides’ justification is populated from GBP services for that business, and I’m seeing a lot of services justifications in the SERPs I monitor. Services can be a bit of a pain because Google is continually scraping content and throwing it into the GBP services section. You need to monitor and optimize this regularly and delete the changes that Google has made if they’re not accurate. Also, be mindful of the wording used in the services section. If these services are being pulled through into a 3-Pack as a justification, you’ll want the words to be descriptive and compelling, and to make sense! I’ve added a ‘services’ tab to the products spreadsheet I mentioned above, so do check it out! It’s important to keep a master record of your services and the copy you’ve written for this section, especially if you’re having to constantly make revisions when Google keeps updating and changing it! 9. Q&AYou’ll hopefully be using Q&A to its full potential because you’re a savvy local marketer, but the number of high-profile businesses I see who don’t monitor Q&A is pretty alarming. If you’re not au fait with Q&A, then this guide will fill you in on the deets. Get Notified About New Questions and AnswersYou’ll want to know when someone asks a new question, so let Google know that you’re interested in new questions and answers in your settings:
Monitor via Third-party ToolsYou can monitor Q&A manually using notifications, or you can use a range of free or paid tools to monitor and to respond. I’ve used both GatherUp and Postamatic for this. Like most user-generated content, there are Google guidelines that must be adhered to. If you think a question violates these terms, then you can flag it and state why you’re reporting it. I’ve reported a few and they’ve been removed quickly. Common Q&ATo save yourself time, I suggest putting together a common Q&A sheet. This means that when you need to respond, you have a pro forma answer that you can tweak as required. 10. Monitoring ScheduleAnd finally—number 10! You need to put together a Google Business Profile monitoring schedule for your business or the businesses that you work with. Monitoring ChecklistYou’ll need to attend to all of the things we’ve talked about today, as well as all of the other important moving parts of Google Business Profile. Consider:
To help you with your monitoring schedule, I’ve put together another resource to make your lives easier. This one includes a range of monitoring tasks along with a suggested frequency: Work with your team to allocate resources, agree on the frequency, and add any other Google Business Profile monitoring tasks to determine future optimization tasks—good luck! via BrightLocal https://bit.ly/3rZzGcq Check out more SEO posts onhttps://seouk41.blogspot.com/
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Every year, the Local Consumer Review Survey explores the ways in which consumers use online reviews to choose, trust, and understand businesses offering services in their local area. Since its inception in 2010, the report has aimed to help local businesses, consumers, and marketers understand the impact customer reviews can have on consumers, and see which trends change each year. While 2020’s survey saw a big focus on how Covid impacted consumer behavior towards reading and writing reviews, this time we’ve asked more questions around fake reviews. This is to see if the reputation of the main review sites is as clean as they’d like to think it is. Throughout the survey, we’ll be hearing from local SEO professional and Google Business Profile Diamond Product Expert, Steady Demand‘s Ben Fisher, to get his learned take on the results of the survey. Just look out for Ben’s Takes to get his expert opinion! Customer Review Trends 2022Business reviews can be an incredibly useful tool for attracting new customers, not only through the psychological effect they have on the reader, but by boosting local rankings so that businesses are more likely to show up for searching consumers. Throughout the twenty questions explored in this survey, we’ll cover everything you’ll need to make a strong case for online review management, be it for the purpose of building a loyal customer base, improving your online visibility, or both! You’ll also come away understanding which direction the wind is blowing in terms of consumers’ preferences for star rating, review responses, and how recent reviews need to be in order to impact decision-making. Without further ado, let’s get stuck into the results of BrightLocal’s Local Consumer Review Survey 2022. How Consumers Read and Write Online Reviews for Local BusinessesConsumer reviews of products have been a staple of the online experience for years, but the sophistication with which people can leave business reviews has developed over time. Platforms like Yelp are bringing more and more features and functionality to businesses and consumers alike, helping to boost engagement within the platform. To understand how these behaviors have changed over time, we asked several questions about how consumers look for reviews, read reviews, and leave reviews for local businesses. How often do consumers search for local businesses online?To help us understand why and how consumers read and write reviews, it’s important to first take a look at how often they’re using the internet to find local businesses. We can then consider these trends when looking at levels of engagement with review platforms.
In 2021, far fewer people were searching for online businesses every single day than in 2020, which initially suggests a lessening need for their use. However, looking across the board, the frequency of use has risen greatly. We’ve observed a 9% year-on-year increase of people using the internet more than once a week to find information about local businesses. We’ve seen a large drop of those less engaged with finding businesses online, too. 1% of consumers say they don’t use the internet to find local businesses at all; that’s an incredible 99% of consumers using the internet to find local businesses. I think it’s safe to say the era of those still relying on the printed business directory is over and that the visibility and impact of online reviews is higher than ever.
Which sites do consumers evaluate businesses on?While there are a great many business review and discovery sites out there—some focused on particular territories, others on industries and products—it’s safe to say that a handful truly have a monopoly on consumer opinion and local businesses. Let’s take a look at which were 2021’s winners and losers in the race to capture the attention, and opinions, of consumers.
Google’s star continues to rise, with an 18% year-on-year jump in consumers using it to evaluate local businesses. This is to be expected, as it’s by far the search engine with the largest market share (87% of the market when this survey was carried out, according to Statista). However, it’s still a notable leap, and reiterates the importance of developing and monitoring your Google Business Profile, which consumers will see information about your business on. The bigger story here is perhaps one of two parts: that Yelp saw an impressive 31-point increase while Facebook’s use for local business evaluation has slumped 6%. As we’ll see later, this chimes with an overall souring of public trust in Facebook, which has weathered, and is always weathering, controversies on multiple fronts. The strategic takeaway here is that your efforts shouldn’t revolve around Google alone. A large and growing proportion of consumers are looking to Yelp to help them with their business decisions; your business or clients would be foolish to ignore it. How often do consumers read online reviews for local businesses?Now, onto the reviews themselves. We’ve established that 99% of consumers looked online to find a business last year, but how often did these people look to the opinions of other customers before making their decisions?
Over the last two years, we’ve seen a massive drop in the holdouts saying they ‘never’ read reviews. This has fallen 16%, from 18% in 2019 to just 2% last year. Looking at the rest of the data, we can be fairly confident that many of these have moved on to ‘occasionally’ or ‘regularly’ reading them. For 43% of consumers, reading online reviews is now a regular occurrence. When looking at this data—in light of earlier results showing an increase in consumers using the web to find businesses—we can safely say that the importance of having a good review profile is growing. More people are regularly using the internet to find businesses, and more people are regularly reading reviews when they do so.
Which business types do consumers pay the most attention to reviews of?Not all business experiences are created equal: the risk in poor service from a plumber and a bartender just don’t match up. So it’s expected that people care more about, and will likely read more reviews of, certain business types than others. To explore this, we looked at eight key sectors that we know reviews play an important part in, and asked how important a part reviews played in consumers’ decisions to use them.
As expected, businesses that are infrequently required, and come with a high level of risk, face public scrutiny far more than things like restaurants and bars, where a friend’s recommendation is sometimes all that’s needed. It’s heartening to see that care services come out on top in this, given what important, and likely difficult, decisions are involved in using services in this sector. Healthcare and service, or service-area, businesses (SABs) stack up fairly evenly, which is definitely worthwhile tradespeople knowing about: your potential customers care about reviews for your business as much as they do for their doctors! It’s also interesting to see that 6% of consumers consider reviews for financial and legal services to be ‘not important’. Could it be that years of Google Business Profile spam and fake reviews in the legal sector has taken its toll on the public perception of this industry? How many consumers write reviews, and for what types of experiences?We’ve explored where people read reviews, and for what types of businesses, but those reviews have to come from somewhere. That’s why we asked questions around the writing of reviews, trying to uncover the holy grail of reputation management: what makes someone more or less likely to leave a review?
Ultimately, review sites are fairly dumb tools, and show all reviews on an equal footing (though admittedly not necessarily in the order they were left). They don’t take into consideration the different types of reviewers there are, the customer’s history of reviews, or what sort of people leave reviews in certain conditions. Therefore, these points aren’t taken into account when presenting the all-important average star rating. That’s why it’s particularly interesting to look at the percentages of consumers that only leave negative reviews (7%) and those that only write positive reviews (34%). The cynic in me is happy that the former isn’t higher, but it’s definitely worth bearing this in mind when working on the quality of your customer service. In total, 67% of consumers will consider leaving a review for a positive experience, while a comparatively low 40% will do so for a negative experience. This shows that the benefits far outweigh the risks associated with growing your review profile. And as we’ll see later, negative reviews can actually help your reputation!
What factors influence a consumers decision to leave a review?Providing a positive customer service experience is obviously the first step to getting a great review, but not everything that influences it is in the business’ hands. We wanted to explore what other factors could play a part in turning a positive experience into a positive review:
With the obvious out of the way (going ‘above and beyond’ is most likely to result in a positive review), there’s a few interesting things to note here. Firstly, compare the proportion that would be ‘likely’ or ‘highly likely’ to leave a review if they knew the business was family-owned (74%) with the proportion that would feel the same about a large chain (43%). This shows the massive amount of potential of highlighting that your business is family-owned when it comes to marketing, and developing the customer experience with this in mind. Conversely, large chains really face an uphill struggle to generate reviews, even after positive experiences. It’s cold comfort, but comfort nonetheless, that 22% of consumers say that the business being part of a chain wouldn’t impact their decision. Another surprise is that feeling like a low average star rating is undeserved is what might push customers to leave you a review, with 73% saying that they’d leave a review after a positive experience in this situation. So, providing you deliver a genuinely excellent experience, there’s no need to feel down about a low average star rating. Your future customers will be willing to help you out if you deliver your best!
What Really Matters to Consumers about ReviewsDespite being deceptively simple on the surface, there are lots of elements of reviews and business review profiles that can have an impact on how consumers perceive them, such as recency, length, responses, and so on. With this in mind, we looked at the various elements of reviews to find out what really matters to the consumers reading them. Which factors of reviews matter most to consumers?Depending on your personal preference, perhaps based on experience with businesses, review sites, and even just other people, you might have a strong aversion to one type of review but implicitly trust another. Does the review have a named author? Was it left recently? Has the business owner responded? Are there lots of capital letters in the review? Are photos attached? We wanted to find out how much, if at all, things like these matter to consumers.
It goes without saying that to get a good review, you need to deliver a positive experience, so it’s natural that it’s these types of experiences people want to hear about most. However, while you might think the star rating is the best barometer of this experience, in fact, people want to read written descriptions of experiences, and value these above star rating. Anyone trying to decide whether to start responding to reviews should pay attention to the fact that 55% of consumers said that a response from the business owner makes them feel positive about that business. If that doesn’t sound like much, consider that only 3% more said that a high star rating would do the same, leaving us with the conclusion that consumers care about star rating and responses roughly the same. So if you’re looking at a low star average and are worried about starting to respond to reviews, these results suggest that it could be a winning strategy.
What are the minimum star ratings consumers will accept?Depending on the review site, the average sentiment across all your business reviews might be displayed in a different way, but the most user-friendly and most widely-recognised is the familiar star rating. We wanted to find out how consumer attitudes to this ‘shortcut to sentiment’ have changed over the years.
Perhaps in line with consumer trust in reviews somewhat dwindling (as we’ll see later), it makes sense that there’s been a drop in those only expecting to see five stars, from 12% in 2020 to just 4% in 2021. A clean sweep like this can seem untrustworthy and unreliable, especially when it comes to businesses with a large number of reviews. However, at the other end of the scale, consumers in general expect more than they used to, with 97% only considering businesses with over two stars. Considering that 2.5 out of 5 is effectively a score of 50%, that’s a big leap in consumer expectations in just a year. With more and more businesses learning the importance of review generation, and more consumers searching for and evaluating businesses, it makes sense that consumers expect more. But they also understand that nobody’s perfect. The much-publicized difficulties local businesses have faced during the coronavirus pandemic could explain this understanding, too.
How important is recency of reviews to consumers?A review tells the story of a single customer interaction at a single point in time, but what if that point in time is long ago? Services can change frequently, so for the best representation of the current experience, it would make sense that the most recent are the most trusted, right?
Interestingly, there’s been a big drop in the expectation for very recent reviews left in the last two weeks prior to evaluating the business. Accordingly, the amount of consumers willing to trust reviews left as long as a year ago are on the rise. As Ben suggests below, this could be because consumers are being more lenient about what businesses can achieve due to the pandemic, and therefore more realistic about how recently reviews should have been left. It’s worth noting that 7% of our survey respondents said that review recency didn’t mean anything to them. Depending on your situation, this could be a good or bad thing. For example, if you had a slew of bad reviews a year or so ago, but have turned the ship around and now boast a 4-star profile, there are those who will look into your history and consider those old low-scoring reviews as relevant and representative of your business now.
Which elements of a business’s review profile matter the most to consumers?Just as with a single review, there are plenty of elements of a business’s overall review profile that can have an impact on consumer decisions, such as the number of reviews or, as mentioned above, how recently they were left.
We’ve been asking this question since 2017, but we included a number of new responses in this year’s survey in order to understand how certain elements compared. As we did last year, we found that the star rating, recency, and number of total reviews on a review site were considered important. However, it’s worth pointing out that while 76% of respondents said that the business having a higher star rating than competitors was important, far fewer (39%) feel the same about the number of reviews. This means that it’s not just about getting as many reviews as possible, but ensuring that your service is genuinely deserving of a high star rating. One final thing to note here is that how important consumers perceive the number of review sites you have reviews on has more than halved, from 72% in 2020 to just 34% in 2021. It’s clear that the number of sites people pay attention to is dwindling, so it’s best to focus your efforts on the handful of sites that are most relevant to your audience. What Consumers Think About Businesses Asking for, and Responding to, ReviewsWhen it comes to your online reputation, it’s not just a case of ‘deliver a great service and hope for the best’. As we’ve seen above, consumers care about the quality and recency of reviews. This is why reputation management software exists to enable business owners to grow and monitor their reviews. However, that’s only one part of the equation. We’ve already seen that 55% of consumers said that the business owner responding to the review would make them feel positively about a business, so this could be the key differentiator between you and your competitors. Responding to reviews is also a great way of showing your brand personality, providing an example of your customer service, and highlighting fake reviews, so it’s a recommended strategy, as we’ll see below. How does responding to reviews impact consumer decisions?Some businesses like to respond to positive reviews every time and shy away from the potential conflict arising from replying to negative reviews. Plenty others leave their fans alone and just seek to counteract the negative impact of bad reviews by exclusively replying to those.
We found that an astonishing 89% of consumers would be ‘likely’ or ‘highly likely’ to use businesses that respond to all reviews. And at the other end of the scale, 22% say they’re ‘not likely at all’ to use businesses that don’t respond to any reviews at all. This goes to show the power of responding to negative reviews as well as positive ones. Meanwhile, it’s interesting to see that, broadly, consumers feel more favorably about review profiles including responses to negative reviews, rather than those with replies to positive reviews only. This suggests that consumers respect a business owner trying to turn around a bad situation more than one basking in praise and ignoring the naysayers.
How often are consumers prompted to leave reviews?We now know that consumers want to see responses to their reviews and the reviews of others, so it’s clear they’re happy for business owners to get involved in the consumer feedback process. But how many are influenced when businesses ask them to leave reviews, either directly or indirectly? And how many business owners are even asking for reviews in the first place?
It’s clear that businesses are getting the message about the importance of asking for reviews, because just 17% of consumers said they hadn’t been prompted for a review in the previous 12 months. What should really buoy anyone investing time into this, though, is that a not-insignificant 12% of consumers say they’ll always leave a review when prompted to do so by the business. That means you could potentially get 12% of all of your future customers to leave you a review, just by asking them. Take into consideration that 23% leave a review more than half of the time and that figure grows even further. Now, the number of reviews you get will depend on the frequency with which people use your business, or the level of foot traffic, but it’s a strong indicator that asking for reviews is worth every business’ time. How are businesses prompting consumers for online reviews?There are countless imaginative ways to ask for reviews or raise awareness of the importance of them to your business, from including a link in an email footer to displaying a request at the point of sale. To find out which of these types of request is growing in popularity (with businesses, at least), we asked consumers to tell us the ways in which they recall being prompted for a review.
While there’s been no significant changes to the methods most used for requesting reviews (via email, on a receipt or invoice, and in person), it’s worth noting the 7% increase in the use of SMS messaging to request reviews. This is impressive considering the extra lengths businesses have to go to get consent to use SMS. Elsewhere, previously lesser-used methods are on the decline. Social media, over the phone, and via business card have all seen large drops, year-on-year. However, this doesn’t necessarily speak to their efficacy. It’s worth remembering that just because a lot of businesses don’t use a particular tactic, it doesn’t mean it doesn’t work. It could just be that one of these lesser-used methods is the thing that makes your review requests stand out from your competitors, so be creative! What incentives are businesses using to encourage reviews?Each platform has its own set of review guidelines, from Yelp specifically stating that businesses can’t request reviews to Google being against the practice of review-gating. However, there are some practices that are considered ‘less than legit’ across the board, with ‘offering cash’ being illegal in some parts of the world. We wanted to find out how many businesses are offering direct incentives in their efforts to generate reviews, and so asked consumers how often they remembered instances of this.
Thankfully, it looks like the practice of offering cash as a review incentive is on the decline, having fallen from a surprising 10% in 2019 to just 6% this year. Elsewhere, though, the tides are turning in the other direction, with both discounts and free gifts/services bouncing back in 2021 from a drop in 2020. It could be that, following a particularly hard year at the start of the pandemic, those businesses either opening back up or needing to stay above water in 2021, have resorted to these measures to get ahead of the competition. How Much Consumers Trust and Distrust ReviewsWhile your business might not undergo significant change year after year, large tech companies certainly do. Public opinion of giants like Amazon and Google is always in flux or, in some cases, constantly in decline, depending on the latest privacy issues or anti-competition lawsuit. This has a trickle-down effect to reviews on these platforms, too. But how much of consumer trust in reviews is down to the corporations themselves, and how much is down to the people who use (and abuse) them? How much do consumers trust online reviews, compared to other sources of opinion?For the first time, this year we sought to compare consumer trust in reviews to a wider variety of sources of opinion than just ‘personal recommendations’. This widening of the question and context has led to a large decrease in these figures, as respondents have more sources to consider and compare to.
It’s still interesting to compare the trust put into online reviews and their relationships with other sources. We have to do a fair bit of reading between the lines, but this data would suggest that 21% (those answering ‘None of the above’) don’t trust online reviews as much as expert reviews, social media personality recommendations, or the recommendations of their family and friends. Considering that in 2020, 79% said they trusted online reviews as much as the recommendations of family and friends, this feels like a significant drop in trust. Throughout the following questions, we explore why that might be. What elements of reviews make consumers most suspicious?As you probably already know, review sites have a big problem with fake reviews. These might take the form of a negative review bomb (in which a group of like-minded individuals who haven’t actually used a business take to review sites to batter it with fake, negative reviews), they might be a competitor simply trying to artificially reduce your average star rating, or they might just be an excitable new member of staff hoping to make an impression by leaving a glowing review of the place they work. None of this speaks to what consumers view as fake, though. The level of education on the part of the average consumer isn’t at a point at which they’d be able to reel off the list above. That’s why, without going into too much detail about what we meant by ‘fake’, we asked survey respondents to let us know which things might hint to them that a review they’re reading is suspect.
There’s a lot to unpack there, but it’s particularly interesting to see that 45% say that a review that’s ‘over-the-top in its praise’ would make them suspicious, while a lower 36% would say the same about a review that’s ‘over-the-top in its negativity’. What does this tell us? Perhaps that consumers are naturally a bit more wary of positive fake reviews than negative ones. This could tie into the ongoing media coverage of platforms like Tripadvisor and Amazon having issues with bought positive reviews from ‘review farms’, with comparatively less coverage going to businesses bombarding competitors with fake reviews. Sadly, only 26% of respondents said that the business owner responding to a review to say it’s fake would encourage the reader to believe them. This is worth bearing in mind when responding to reviews: responding is important but it’s not enough. You need to go through all proper available channels to get fake reviews reported and removed. How many consumers have seen fake reviews?We now know what makes consumers suspicious, but how big is the problem of fake reviews in the first place? How many people can confidently say they’ve seen one or more fake reviews?
As you can see, fake reviews are still a big problem for review sites and for businesses, with 62% confident in their belief that they’ve seen a fake review. And as we’ll see later on, these have a really damning effect on trust in review sites and reviews in general. Strikingly, fewer than 10% can confidently say they’ve seen no fake reviews at all. This leaves 90% of consumers at least wary of fake reviews.
Where have consumers seen fake reviews?While fake reviews can, theoretically, be left anywhere you don’t need a verifiable login to access (and even plenty you do), some sites are bigger culprits for this kind of thing than others. This makes sense, as why would you pay for fake reviews on the sites people aren’t looking at? Here we start to dig into which sites are the most likely to host fake reviews, and find out how much consumers trust these sites. We’ve included Amazon as, although it’s not a business review site, it’s highly relevant to the topic of fake reviews in general. Also, we can learn a lot by comparing trust in Amazon with trust of other sites more directly related to local businesses.
Due to the sheer volume of reviews on Amazon and Google, and the rise in consumers using these services to find reviews, it comes as no surprise that these are the leaders, but the sheer percentages involved here might surprise some, with over half of consumers saying they’ve seen fake reviews on these two sites. Meanwhile, despite it being reported last year that Tripadvisor had to delete nearly one million fake reviews over the course of the previous 12 months, only 11% of respondents to our survey felt that they’d seen a fake review there over a similar period. Perhaps those gaming the system on Tripadvisor are just better at it?
How suspicious are consumers of reviews on the top review sites?Now that we’ve touched on consumer experiences around fake reviews on the top sites, let’s look at how generally suspicious people are of their reviews.
Surprisingly, the picture painted here is very different. Here we see that it’s Facebook, Amazon, and Yelp that take gold, silver, and bronze, respectively, for suspicion around reviews. Even though 50% said they’d seen a fake review on Google, a smaller proportion (45%) say that they’re ‘fairly’ or ‘very’ suspicious of Google reviews. The results for Facebook, on the other hand, flip the script. While the data from the previous question suggests that fewer consumers have seen fake reviews here than on Amazon or Google, an incredible 70% of consumers are already ‘fairly’ or ‘very’ suspicious of fake reviews on Facebook. What this tells us is that perception doesn’t have to match experience: plenty of consumers might have seen fake reviews on Facebook in the last year, but many more are generally suspicious of the platform and its content, and of what they might see in the future. Conversely, while 50% of users admit they’ve seen fake reviews on Google, fewer feel that they need to be suspicious of Google reviews. Do fake reviews make consumers generally suspicious of reviews?Finally, we wanted to ask a big question that could speak to the potential impact of fake reviews, to learn whether the rot is corroding the machine and dismantling trust in online reviews as it goes.
This is a result that should send a shiver down the spine of anyone working in online reviews. Nearly 70% of consumers are distrustful of online reviews because of fake reviews. This, if nothing else, shows that the industry needs to do more to stamp it out, and even more to win back the trust of consumers. In SummaryWhile online reviews in 2020 were largely dominated by the impact of Covid-19, in 2022 there are new issues to face—the prevalence of fake reviews, in particular, threatens to continue to diminish trust in some of the biggest review sites. However, we’ve seen plenty of reasons to be cheerful, too. Consumers are being more lenient with businesses, accepting lower star ratings, and not expecting reviews to be left yesterday. More people are ‘regularly’ reading reviews than ever before, and we now know for certain what a pivotal part the business responding to reviews plays in the decision-making process. The fight to get visibility of your business online is more competitive than ever, but we hope that by sharing these insights you can adopt, or tweak, a review management strategy to make your business more visible, more noteworthy, and more appealing to potential customers. We’d love to hear your predictions for what could change in the world of online reviews over the next year—let us know your thoughts in the comments section below. MethodologyThe 2022 Local Consumer Review Survey explores trends in online reviews for local businesses over the past year. It’s based on the key SEO and local business reviews seen throughout the year to provide local marketers the information needed to maximize the impact of their online reputation management. The statistics and findings are focused on local business reviews on sites such as Google, Facebook, Tripadvisor, Yelp, etc. Based on the views of a representative sample of 1,124 US-based consumers, the Local Consumer Review Survey was conducted in November 2021 with an independent consumer panel. Age group breakdowns are representative of those in the US population. In order to provide a better understanding of those that use reviews during a purchasing decision, consumers that said they don’t read online reviews weren’t asked questions around their review behavior. Publishers are welcome to use the charts and data, crediting BrightLocal and linking to this URL. If you have any questions about the report, please get in touch with the content team, or leave a comment below. Thanks for reading this year’s Local Consumer Review Survey! via BrightLocal https://ift.tt/2yRLh1O Check out more SEO posts onhttps://seouk41.blogspot.com/ We’re really pleased to announce that we’ve released new and improved Citation Builder reports! This update will help you:
Before I dive into the details of what’s changed, let’s take a look at what Citation Builder reports looked like before: Pretty tired looking, right? Rather than simply give these reports a fresh lick of paint, we wanted to truly make them more useful to our customers. We considered the role that these reports play and explored how we could make the information easier to understand, all while reducing the chances of campaigns hitting blockers. Here’s what the report looks like now: Clearly it’s a big visual upgrade, but let me walk you through each of the improvements. Actions requiredWe actually released this improvement at the end of last year because we knew it would help customers overcome a common pain point—campaign delays. While our team takes every step possible to build and update listings on your behalf, some sites require verification from you or your client before we can progress. To help speed up this process, we’ve added alerts at the top of the report to flag any actions you need to take. Campaign statusThis section gives a top level overview of how many campaigns you’ve run for a location and the status of any Data Aggregators you’ve purchased. Importantly, you’ll now be able to see if any Data Aggregators are due to expire or have already expired. From here, you can quickly start the process to renew them. Campaign progressThis progress bar lets you quickly see how your campaign is progressing and gives you greater insights into the timeline to completion. It’ll also let you know when a campaign is on hold and what steps you need to take to progress the campaign. For example, if we’re waiting on extra information from you or if you need to verify a listing. You also now have easy access to all the campaigns you’ve run for a location and can navigate between them using the dropdown. Submission statusThese cards allow you to get more detail on the progress of a campaign and they’ll update as each citation is worked on. You’ll be able to see how many submissions are in progress, how many are live or updated, and whether we’ve offered replacement sites when we’re unable to create a listing. Citations tableThe table has had a big visual upgrade. It’s now much easier to see the status of each submission, information about a site, and links to your completed listings. White-label reportsAll of these updates are available within your white-label reports, which makes it easier for you to communicate progress to clients or stakeholders. And, of course, reports are now much more visually impressive—we hope you’ll be proud to share them! A clearer, easier to navigate Citation Builder overviewThe improvements aren’t just limited to reports. We’ve also given the Citation Builder overview dashboard an overhaul, giving you more clarity on the progress of every campaign in your account. You’ll now get alerts on action to take across all campaigns that are in progress. There’s also improved search functionality and filtering so you can quickly get to the right reports. Emails that get to the pointFinally, we’ve updated our campaign progress emails. They now contain clearer information on the overall progression of a campaign and any outstanding actions. Better communication = better serviceOur citation building service is now operating at an incredible scale. Thousands of agencies and businesses rely on our service each month. In 2021, our team managed over 1.25 million citations for our customers! As we scale, it’s vital that we continue to look at our service and see how things can be made better. Our reports were definitely an area that needed to be working harder for our customers, so that information can be communicated in a clear and concise manner. We hope that these improvements will go a long way to improving your overall experience of using Citation Builder. Head over to your account to see all the updates. via BrightLocal https://ift.tt/3fKWeYA Check out more SEO posts onhttps://seouk41.blogspot.com/ In December 2021, Google confirmed a significant update to the local search algorithm had recently been rolled out. According to Google, the update—which had already been spotted by SEO experts and nicknamed Vicinity—involved “a rebalancing” of local search ranking factors. As the search results began to settle, it soon became clear that this update primarily targeted two things:
In the wake of this important update, we decided to take the temperature of the local SEO community to determine the impact so far. By polling 500 BrightLocal customers, we’ve been able to gather some interesting insights into Vicinity. The customers polled include consultants and freelancers, multi-location businesses, small local businesses, and agencies. We also reached out to our community through social media for additional opinions on how rankings have been affected by the update. Read on to discover what we uncovered! Insights from BrightLocal CustomersThrough the poll data, we’ve observed that consultants and freelancers are evidently the least affected by Vicinity. 67% of people in this group stated they’ve seen no noticeable difference to their client’s local search rankings. Additionally, only 8% of those in this group have seen rankings greatly impaired following the update.
On the other side of the scale, however, multi-location businesses (MLBs) appear to have been hit the hardest. 14% of people in this group have noticed greatly impaired rankings, and 24% have observed slightly impaired rankings. That amounts to 38% of MLBs reporting a negative outcome.
When it comes to small local businesses, the results are balanced on both sides. 33% of people in this group experienced a positive impact, and 33% experienced a negative impact. 55% of small local businesses reported no noticeable change.
The outcome was more varied for agencies working with local business clients. Only 3% of agencies have experienced greatly improved rankings, and only 9% have seen greatly impaired rankings. 14% of agencies feel that their rankings have slightly improved, whereas 19% believe their rankings have been slightly impaired. 55% of agencies haven’t seen any difference in their rankings since Vicinity was released.
The Impact for Multi-location Business OwnersWith 38% of MLBs reporting negative outcomes, it’s easy to see who’s felt the weight of this significant update. We already know that when it comes to local rankings, the Google algorithm helps to level the playing field between small businesses and the bigger players. This is primarily because the Local Pack, Local Finder and Google Maps all take data from Google Business Profiles (GBP), and not from a business’ website. Therefore, a well-optimized GBP is more beneficial to local rankings than the authority of a business website. Through the Vicinity update, it would seem that Google is strengthening the potential for small businesses to dominate over the bigger chains. Insights from Social MediaBy posting a poll on Twitter and within two Facebook groups for local SEO professionals, we received additional insights into the update. The social media response had slightly more of a negative sentiment than our customer poll did. Over on Twitter, 40.8% of respondents shared that they’ve experienced a drop in rankings since Vicinity, with 22.4% ranking higher, and 18.4% having seen no difference:
Over on Facebook, sentiment towards Vicinity is mixed. Joy Hawkins said,
Tim Kahlert explained,
Michael Sampson commented,
Vikram Saran said,
Lee Michelle shared,
How does the local SEO community feel about Vicinity?46% of the 500 BrightLocal customers polled stated that they’re unsure how they feel about the update, with 34% saying they feel positively, and only 20% feeling negatively: Given the recency of the update, it’s not surprising that nearly half of these people haven’t quite made up their minds yet. Additionally, since more than half of those polled haven’t seen any noticeable change to their rankings, it makes sense that such a large number of people don’t yet have strong feelings about it either way: Local Search Success for Small Business OwnersIt’s evident that many multi-location businesses have experienced a notable drop in local search visibility since the November update. We’ll be watching the search results over the coming months to determine if this is going to give an ongoing edge to small business owners. One thing we do know for sure is that it’s a sensible time for those working with small local businesses to up their game. These businesses should be making sure they’re doing all they can to utilize local SEO for the best chance at outranking their competition. via BrightLocal https://ift.tt/3qFOflT Check out more SEO posts onhttps://seouk41.blogspot.com/ When you work in local SEO, creating regular reports for your clients can be tough. It’s easy to spend a lot of time putting reports together that don’t truly highlight the value in what you’re doing or adequately explain the actions you’ve taken. When you’re good at what you do, and you know how to achieve fantastic results, it can still be hard to share those results with your clients or manager. So, what can you do? Enter our brand new BrightLocal Academy course--How to Create Relevant and Engaging Local SEO Reports. In this short but sweet training, local SEO consultant, Dani Owens, shows you how to put insightful and meaningful reports together in no time at all. During the course, Dani will teach you:
Through six video lessons across four modules, you’ll learn how to effortlessly create reports that demonstrate what you’ve achieved and why this is of value to the client. You’ll also learn how to use tools, such as Google Analytics, to gain insights to use in your reports. Watch this video to find out more… Who is this course for?This course is for anyone working as a local marketer who wants to improve the value and efficiency of their reporting process. It’ll be helpful for those who are new to local SEO as well as for advanced marketers who want to brush up on their skills. How can I join?Whether you’re a BrightLocal customer or not, you can get access to this course. You can also be among the first to find out when new courses drop by enrolling for free. Here’s how… If you’re a BrightLocal customer, you can access the academy via your BrightLocal account. Simply log in, click ‘Learning Resources’ at the top of the screen and select ‘BrightLocal Academy’ from the dropdown menu. You’ll be taken straight to your BrightLocal Academy account page, where you can enroll in the ‘How to Create Relevant and Engaging Local SEO Reports’ course. If you’re not a BrightLocal customer, you can join BrightLocal Academy for free here and follow the steps above to enroll in the course. Want to know more about BrightLocal Academy?Check out the official BrightLocal Academy FAQs here: What is BrightLocal Academy, how does it work, and how can I enroll? What courses does BrightLocal Academy offer and how long do they take? We hope you find this fresh new course useful, and we can’t wait to hear how it’s helped you improve your local SEO reporting skills. If you have any questions of your own, feel free to get in touch with us or leave a comment below. via BrightLocal https://ift.tt/3Ku9gI4 Check out more SEO posts onhttps://seouk41.blogspot.com/ BrightLocal webinars are back! Register now for The State of Local Search 2022 where we’ll be joined by local search experts Ben Fisher, Joy Hawkins and Amanda Jordan. The session will cover the current state of local SEO, the latest algorithm update, and what’s needed to make your 2022 a success. Our panel will share expert insight on current trends, and the strategies and tactics needed to get ahead of the game. Make 2022 your year in local SEO by joining this session and learning from the pros! via BrightLocal https://ift.tt/3rAyHPQ Check out more SEO posts onhttps://seouk41.blogspot.com/ How often have you visited a restaurant without checking the reviews first? Given that the food industry is so saturated, you can’t expect enough people to show up to your restaurant if you’re not adequately visible online. There are many ways to enhance your restaurant’s discoverability, from having a responsive and appealing website to reviews and social proof. However, the best way to get started is with search engine optimization (SEO). Restaurant SEORestaurant SEO helps to optimize your website and social media profiles for the search engine. This is achieved through the creation of targeted content based on your audience’s search intent. This type of SEO includes elements such as on-page, off-page, and technical SEO—all of which collectively help your restaurant rank higher in the search results. So, if you’re interested in learning more about making your restaurant SEO-friendly, this article is for you. But first, let’s understand why exactly restaurant SEO is so important and how it makes your restaurant more visible to the search engines. Why is SEO important for restaurants?Fact: 68% of online experiences begin with a search engine. Now, imagine if somebody searches for a good restaurant in your local area and your business doesn’t show up. Consistently losing out on such opportunities can hurt your business drastically in the long run. Enter SEO marketing for restaurants. SEO can boost your website up the search engine results pages (SERPS) and subsequently bring in a flux of new customers. Search engines use certain parameters to assess web pages and rank them for the relevant keywords. So, when you optimize your restaurant’s online presence with unique recipes, blogs, and photos, your restaurant will show up more often whenever somebody searches for the right keywords. Still wondering how you can benefit from this? By incorporating SEO into your marketing strategy, you can:
While SEO has the potential to seriously enhance your online presence, it’s better to learn the basics before you start scaling your strategy. How to Strategize Restaurant SEOInstead of shooting arrows in the dark, start by undertaking ample research. Luckily for you, we’ve done the legwork to guide you through the process of building your restaurant local SEO strategy from scratch. Define Your Target AudienceDo you know who your ideal customer is? If not, then now’s the perfect time to consider this. Think of the customer base you’ve served so far and then use a survey to get more accurate results. Look at the Olive Garden, for instance. The restaurant’s target audience includes:
So, study your customers and create a buyer persona. Ask questions like:
As you answer these questions, you’ll get familiar with your target audience and understand their needs and pain points. Find Suitable KeywordsOnce you know who your audience is, the next step is to prepare a list of keywords relevant to your business—both locally and globally. A keyword like ‘eateries near me’ is pretty common and beneficial for a restaurant to rank for. Adding more details to this keyword can be a game-changer. So, try targeting your cuisine as well to increase your chances of ranking higher, for example, ‘Mexican eateries near me’. Spy on Your CompetitionYou can see that a restaurant near you has gained a lot of traction lately. It shows up top in the SERPs for a range of different keywords—and naturally, the place is buzzing with customers. That’s the power of SEO. Checking out what these competitors are doing can be advantageous to your own strategy. For example, look at the Local Pack results below for the search term ‘best pizza place in New York’. All three restaurants have a few things in common—they’ve optimized their Google Business Profile listings to include opening hours, address, cost per person, reviews, and ratings. How can you get your restaurant to the top of the search results?Ranking on Google’s first page is nothing short of a dream come true. But getting to the top is a long-drawn-out process. You’ll need to create a targeted roadmap to ace the restaurant SEO game, and your website should be at the core of this. Here are four key actions to consider as you work to build a successful website. 1. Do Your HomeworkScratching the surface and only taking basic SEO actions won’t get you great results. If you want your website to rank on top, assess your marketing and SEO goals first. These goals can be to:
Once you’ve determined your goals, evaluate your website and find the scope of improvement to make your website SEO-friendly. Let’s look at the restaurant SEO success of Venue Restaurant and Lounge for inspiration. The restaurant wanted to increase brand awareness by riding on the premium quality of its food. To rank for high-conversion keywords related to its food, the brand worked on content and technical elements to enhance SEO performance, leading to phenomenal results. Note: This example predates the Google My Business rebrand to Google Business Profile. An all-inclusive SEO marketing for restaurants approach combines building backlinks, mobile optimization, use of targeted keywords, use of Latent Semantic Indexing (LSI) keywords, and the creation of quality content. This approach will eventually help you rank higher, drive more quality leads to your website, and increase footfall to your restaurant. 2. Deliver a Great User ExperienceThe user experience of a website is a vital aspect of SEO marketing for restaurants. Creating a tremendous navigational experience should therefore be a priority. This includes considering:
Bresca presents the perfect design for a user-friendly website. This DC-based restaurant flaunts its beautiful ambiance and offers key details about reservations on the homepage. Users can easily learn more about the restaurant through the navigation bar at the top. Besides improving your website’s user experience (UX), focus on the following three aspects of Google’s Core Web Vitals to enhance your website’s impact. Largest Contentful Paint (LCP)This is the time that the largest element on your website or URL takes to load. Web content usually loads as soon as a visitor enters a page—so people have come to expect this. If your website pages take too long to load, it can avert a reader from your pages. Cumulative Layout Shift (CLS)This measures the sudden changes in text structure or visuals on a page without prior warning. This shift can often be annoying and ruin user experience by moving them to another part of the page without notice. Hence, CLS helps provide an excellent experience to your visitors. First Input Delay (FID)This measures the time taken for an action to complete. For example, if the user clicks on a button on your page or link. Here’s how you can determine the score for these three metrics: Source: Google So, focus on creating a seamless customer journey while optimizing elements like loading time and responsiveness. Use visuals to show visitors what they can expect when they visit your restaurant and give them a peek into your ambiance, kitchen, and happy customers. However, make sure these visual elements adhere to the Core Web Vitals best practices. Your website should also include key details like:
Adding these details while optimizing for Core Web Vitals will improve your website UX by a huge margin. A word of advice: You can keep track of your Core Web Vitals for free with this Chrome extension. 3. Encourage Users to Take ActionA call-to-action (CTA) button is the most direct way to encourage users to take action. This action can be anything, such as booking a table, browsing the menu, leaving a query, or calling the restaurant. Ensure your CTAs are crisp, clearly visible, and optimized for the right keywords. Noir’s homepage demonstrates how it’s done. This New York-based restaurant ranks very well for the search term ‘Best restaurant in New York’. Noir’s website flaunts minimalistic aesthetics with neatly placed details related to Covid guidelines, along with the description of its upscale dress code, hours, and ambiance. However, what catches the eye is the ‘Dining Reservations’ CTA button, which leads to a booking calendar where users can effortlessly make a booking. By strategically placing this button, Noir encourages customers to take the desired action. 4. Make a Mobile-friendly WebsiteYou might be surprised to know that mobile searches account for 54.8% of organic website traffic globally. Mobile optimization is significant because it allows your customers to access your website anytime and anywhere. Besides improving the user experience, a responsive website can:
Optimizing your website for mobile is also important as it can encourage a visitor to stay longer on a page, which can prompt them to convert into customers, and may also reduce the bounce rate of your site. A web hosting service goes a long way to building a mobile-responsive website—so choose wisely. Additionally, using a website builder can help you to tweak different parts of your website with ease. Once your website is live, you can create several intent-based pages to target different long-tail keywords and increase your restaurant’s SEO score. Eight Top Tips to Optimize Your Restaurant WebsiteSEO is a long-term strategy. You can’t just rely on trial-and-error. So, here’s a rundown of eight proven tips to level up your SEO game: 1. Perform Restaurant-Focused Keyword ResearchYour ideal customer can find your restaurant through keywords. Strategically placing your primary, secondary, and other long-tail keywords on your website is crucial to expanding your discoverability. Optimize your site with keywords related to the customers’ search intent and answer relevant questions like:
The best place to start your keyword research is Google Trends. Here, you can search for specific keywords and find out the search volume across multiple locations globally. This free tool can help you find keywords you already rank for and discover which websites are ranking on top for these keywords. Here’s a Google Trends report of keywords based on the search term ‘Italian restaurant’: Source: Google You can further divide this search based on:
2. Do On-page Restaurant SEOOn-page SEO helps search engine crawlers understand if your content is related to your website and assess its relevance for the visitors. On-page optimization involves a complete audit of the elements on your website. To ace on-page SEO, try taking actions directly on the website to further push your content towards top-ranking positions. The following are crucial on-page elements to optimize: Meta TitlesThese tell the user about the main content of any page in the SERPs. Meta titles can be seen as the heading of the webpage. Meta DescriptionThe meta description appears just below the headline in the SERPs and provides an overview of the content. The ideal length for a meta description is 155 to 160 characters. It should be a summary of your page that includes the focus keyword. Heading TagsHeading tags inform both the crawlers and the users about the content of a website. They create a comprehensive layout for a page. Note: The use of meta titles, meta descriptions, and heading tags doesn’t directly affect SERP rankings. However, this does provide helpful information to the user, and can encourage them to visit the website. This in turn can increase the clickthrough rate of a site, which can indirectly boost search rankings. 3. Use Schema MarkupJust like human beings, machines have their own language. Schema markup is structured data that educates the search engines about your content and helps them evaluate whether the information displayed on your website is relevant for the users or not. Ideally, your schema markup should answer your target audience’s queries with specific information about your restaurant. Schema markup can include:
4. Build CitationsCitations are business listings on online directories. Building citations for your restaurant on popular review websites—which is where people usually find a restaurant—can significantly improve your domain authority. Citations typically include your restaurant’s basic details, such as name, address, and phone number (NAP). These citations are a key element of SEO marketing for restaurants as more than 70% of people are likely to view your website as reputable if it appears on business directories. While creating citations is a time-consuming task, you can always hire a virtual assistant to save you time and achieve your goals faster. Some places where you can begin creating citations are:
93% of consumers look at reviews for local restaurants to find the most suitable place based on their likes and dislikes. This figure is enough to underscore the importance of reviews in building your reputation and authority in the online world. 5. Get ReviewsReviews help in highlighting your USPs and securing new prospects. More importantly, reviews can majorly influence buying decisions as they reflect real user experiences. They’re a great way to engage with your customers and you can utilize this feedback to improve your services and restaurant local SEO. Being featured on review websites ties in well with the previous point, as these also provide valuable citations. Some trusted websites for restaurant reviews are: FoursquareThis site has 45 million users with a good mobile-optimized website where your customers can leave easy-to-read, single-line reviews: Yellow PagesYellow Pages connects local businesses with customers, so a review on this site is good for your local ranking: YelpThis site has more than 224 million unique app reviews. Yelp helps locals discover your business and helps you to retain customers through the positive reviews you gain on the website: 6. Genuinely Engage on Social MediaMore than 3.78 billion people use social media globally—and this number’s expected to increase to 4.41 billion by 2025. With so many users worldwide, you have the chance to reach a large audience and grow your business through social media. While social media doesn’t directly affect your restaurant’s SEO ranking, it can amplify your brand name and increase traffic to your website. Collaborating with influencers is a great way to spread the word about your restaurant and blow up your social media account. Another important step to boost your social media presence is to curate an aesthetic feed. As an example, Nobu is one of the most followed restaurants on Instagram and it’s a celebrity hot-spot. Nobu’s Insta feed is the perfect blend of colors and real-time stories that invite people to visit the restaurant: Source: Instagram You can post consistently on social media by easily scheduling your posts with a dedicated tool. Post pictures of memorable moments, celebrity visits, or special events and festivals to get greater engagement. YouTube Marketing is also a great way to get your restaurant in front of new customers with inspiring videos of your cuisine, chef, or special events. 7. Encourage Customer Reviews, Interactions, and Social MentionsGenuine reviews from your customers and mentions on other websites and social media accounts can enhance your search engine ranking score. Encouraging reviews shows your customers that you care about their opinions and their feedback on the services you provide. When you respond to reviews or comments on websites or social media, it helps Google to auto-suggest answers for the FAQs related to your restaurant. Your local restaurant SEO efforts will also bring results when your customers actively leave feedback and give reviews. Chop Shop engages with customers on Yelp by responding to every positive and negative review, which is a great way to show its engaged with its audience: 8. Create and Promote Groundbreaking ContentQuality content plays a key role in informing, persuading, and reminding customers about your restaurant. Creating a blog is crucial to driving organic results for your website. Divide the blog topics into relevant categories—like cuisines and beverages—and target a variety of keywords in the food industry. Look at how Taco Bell shares all its latest updates in the news section: Here are some interesting ideas for your restaurant blog:
The next part is to distribute your content. Create a distribution pipeline to share your blog posts on social media and within your email newsletter. Be Consistent for Local SEO Restaurant SuccessRestaurant SEO can help to place your brand in front of your target audience. To reach the top of the search results, you need to have a detailed SEO strategy with consistent efforts. Once you start ranking for your target keywords, follow the advice in this article to maintain your place. Build a seamless user experience and regularly update your website as per the latest Google updates. You might also want to seek help from a digital marketing agency or consult an SEO expert to supplement your efforts. With a strong online presence and ongoing optimization, you can take your restaurant to greater heights—both locally and globally! via BrightLocal https://ift.tt/3tlpWeR Check out more SEO posts onhttps://seouk41.blogspot.com/ If you’re a local business owner offering any kind of home improvement service, you’ll definitely want to secure a presence on Houzz. Currently boasting 65 million users, this hub allows consumers to access a wide range of home services—from hiring help for simple decorating projects, to contracting professionals to build a dream home from scratch. The Houzz website launched in the US in 2009 and now operates in more than 14 countries. It’s rapidly become an important place for businesses to advertise their services. Read on to discover how to add your business to Houzz and learn some simple optimization techniques to enhance your listing. Add a Houzz ListingStep 1. Go to houzz.com and click ‘Join as a Pro’ to set up your Houzz login: Step 2. Enter your email address and choose a password, then click ‘Create Free Account’. Alternatively, select ‘Continue with Google’ and select which Google account you’d like to use: Step 3. Enter your business name, professional category, phone number, and country. For the professional category, you’ll need to select the most suitable option from the drop-down menu. You also have the option to enable text message communication from Houzz. Once you’ve entered all of the information, click ‘Next’: Step 4. You’ll be invited to choose a plan and presented with a table explaining the different Houzz product options. A 30-day free trial is available for the ‘Starter’ and ‘Essential’ plans. If you don’t want to have a paid plan, simply click on the ‘Get Started’ button in the ‘Basic’ plan column: Step 5. Once you’ve selected your plan, you’ll be redirected to the main dashboard. From here, select ‘Build your profile’ and click ‘Complete My Public Profile’: Step 6. You’ll be asked to go through six steps (see A – F below) to add detailed information about your business. A. Add your business address and website: B. Add a profile photo. You have the option to skip this step if you don’t want to add one now: C. Add the services that you provide. This step can also be skipped: D. Add the areas your business operates within: E. Explain how much your projects typically cost: F. Add a description of your business—this is a chance to show off what’s unique about your services:
You’ve now completed the business information process. Step 7. Here you have the option to add project photos to share examples of your work. If you don’t want to, you can skip this step: Note: If you do skip this step, then it’s definitely a good idea to come back and do this later. People searching for home services will naturally want to see amazing examples of what you can do! Step 8. Click on your profile icon in the top right, and select ‘Go to Houzz’ to go to the homepage:
Step 9. Hover above your profile icon to prompt a drop-down menu to appear. Click on ‘Your Houzz’ to go to your account page: From here, you can continue to manage your listing and add any additional information whenever you want. Step 10. Check how your Houzz online listing looks by clicking ‘Preview Public Profile’: That’s it! You now have a listing on one of the most popular home improvement directories. Optimize Your Online Houzz ListingIn order to increase your chances of getting found on the Houzz website, it’s important that you keep your profile active and current. You can do this by:
When you work to create the best listing you can, you can expect to benefit from increased traffic to your business website, better brand visibility, and more customers. If you’ve got any tips or tricks for succeeding on Houzz, then be sure to let us know in the comments below! via BrightLocal https://ift.tt/3fimg5e Check out more SEO posts onhttps://seouk41.blogspot.com/ In November 2021, Google rebranded Google My Business (GMB) to Google Business Profile (GBP). Some of the tools referenced in this guide use the GMB name but are still relevant to GBP. Google Business Profile (GBP) is one of the most effective tools for marketers to use when working with local businesses. Without GBP, businesses are unable to feature in the Local Pack or Local Finder, which should be a key goal for businesses of this nature. Research has shown that 88% of consumers who search via a mobile device for local products or services will call or visit a store within 24 hours. What’s more, 97% of consumers say they learn more about local businesses online than through any other source. Both of these impressive figures highlight the importance of local businesses developing a strong online presence. Creating a Google Business Profile for your business, or the local businesses that you’re working with, is an essential first step towards SEO success. Setting this up properly is critical, so this comprehensive guide will show you the best way to set up a Google Business Profile. 1. Create a Business Google AccountBefore you can create a Google local listing, you’ll need to create a Google Account. Google Accounts are available to everybody and are simple to use. You can either use an existing email to set up your Google Account or you can make a new one. Visit accounts.google.com and select ‘Create an account’ to get started. 2. Visit the Google Business Profile GatewayOnce you have your new email address, head to google.com/business and click ‘Manage now’ to get started: 3. Look for the BusinessBegin by typing in the business name to see if a profile with this name already exists. If it does, then you’ll see it appear as you’re typing. If the business name doesn’t appear, then go ahead and click ‘Add your business to Google’. Requesting Access to an Existing Business ProfileIf someone has already created a Google Business Profile for the business, then don’t worry. You can request that management of the profile be handed over to you. Simply click ‘Request Access’ and you’ll be guided through the process. 4. Add the Business Name and CategoryIf you’re creating a new profile, then the next step is to add the business name and category. The name that you use here should exactly match the official business name. Don’t be tempted to add any keywords into the name as this violates Google’s guidelines. Next, choose the category that most closely matches the business. You’ll have the option to edit this within the profile later, as well as to add additional categories, so don’t worry if you’re not completely sure what to select right now. For guidance, check out our advice for local businesses on how to choose the best GBP categories. 5. Does the business have a physical location?If the business has a physical location that customers can visit for face-to-face interactions, then you’ll now need to share this information. If this is the case, then select ‘Yes’ and click ‘Next’. If the business only operates online, or has a physical location but doesn’t receive customers in person, then select ‘No’ instead. Warning: Don’t be tempted to inappropriately say the business has a physical location in an attempt to manipulate local rankings. The listing may get suspended or removed entirely in the future for violating the guidelines in this way. 6. Enter the Business LocationIf the business has a physical location, then you can now provide the address. You might be asked to position a pin on a map to confirm the location. It’s important that the address you give is accurate and complete to prevent any confusion to customers or issues with the verification process. 7. Does the business provide home deliveries or services?If this is a service-area business, or if the business delivers items to customers at home, then select ‘Yes’ on the next step. If you select ‘Yes’ then you’ll need to enter the areas that the business serves or delivers to. You’ll be able to come back and edit this information later, and you’ll be able to add new locations any time the business expands. 8. Add Contact DetailsThe next step is to add the contact details for the business. You’ll need to enter the phone number, and you also have the option to add the business website. If the business doesn’t have a website, then tick the box on this page. If a website is later created, you’ll be able to add this information then. As an agency setting up GBP for a client, you’ll need to enter the client’s contact details, not your own. It’s a good idea to communicate clearly to your client that they’ll be contacted by Google for the verification process, which we’ll explore shortly. 9. Stay in the KnowBefore you move on to verifying the business, you’ll be asked if you’d like to receive helpful tips and recommendations from Google. Although there’s no obligation, you might find it beneficial to receive this information. To learn more about GBP—and to become a local marketing pro—you’ll also want to sign up for our newsletter! 10. Verify the BusinessIn this step, you’ll be required to choose a verification method to prove the business is operating at the specified address. Receiving a postcard by mail to the business address is the most common route for verification, but you might also have the option to do so via phone or email. Note: You can continue to make edits and updates to GBP while verification is pending, but the profile won’t be visible on Google during this time. Postcard VerificationThis type of verification is available to all businesses. A postcard will be sent to the business address and will usually arrive within five days. The postcard will contain a code that must be entered into the appropriate place within the GBP account. If you don’t receive the postcard, then you can request a replacement. Phone VerificationSome businesses will be able to verify their accounts over the phone, but this option isn’t available to everyone. If you’re eligible, then you’ll see this option on the verification page. If you decide to use this method, then you’ll receive a code via an automated phone call. Email VerificationAs with phone verification, the email alternative isn’t available to everyone. If you do have the option to verify by email, then you can request a code to your inbox. This will only be possible to the email address connected to the GBP account. 11. Add Your Business HoursAdding your business hours is essential so that potential customers know when they can visit or contact you. It’s imperative that the hours you specify are accurate, and you should always edit this information if your opening hours change—whether permanently or temporarily. There are several reasons why your hours of operation may temporarily change, such as public holidays or staff illness. In these cases, it’s a good idea to let your customers know. For more information on why this is important and how to do it with ease, check out our guide to managing opening hours in Google Business Profile. 12. Add MessagingAccepting messages from potential customers within GBP is a great way to connect with your audience and drive sales. However, you should only enable this function if you can commit to managing it consistently. Being unresponsive to messages will create a poor user experience and could harm your business reputation. If you do wish to accept messages, then simply click the button. You can come back and pause or disable this feature at any point. 13. Add the Business DescriptionProviding a description of the business will help consumers to know what it’s all about and whether it’s a good fit for their needs. You can write up to 750 characters within this section, so be sure to use this opportunity to put the most important information across in a clear and concise way. 14. Add PhotosAdding photos is a fantastic way to help searchers visualize the business and to get a glimpse of the brand. Customers can add their own photos to the listing, and some people will choose to do this when leaving you a Google review. Be aware that you won’t have any control over the order in which photos appear on your listing, so it’s a good idea to have several of your own photos mixed in with the user-generated content. Make sure you showcase different aspects of your products and services, as well as different areas of your physical location. Our ultimate guide to looking good online with GBP photos will teach you all you need to know! Optimize Your Google Business ProfileOnce your listing is good to go, then it’s time to consider how best to optimize GBP to maximize visibility and conversions. Some essential ongoing tasks include:
For expert advice on optimizing your GBP listing, check out this free course by Niki Mosier over on BrightLocal Academy. BrightLocal Tools for GBP SuccessSetting up Google Business Profile is a pivotal first step in any local marketing strategy. Once you have mastered this task, and you understand how to manage the profile moving forwards, then you’ll want to get to grips with some helpful local SEO tools. By using BrightLocal’s Rank Checker, Local Search Audit, Google My Business Audit and Local Search Grid, you can make sure you always have the most up-to-date and accurate performance data for your clients. Get started today with a free 14-day trial! via BrightLocal https://ift.tt/3qYFMcu Check out more SEO posts onhttps://seouk41.blogspot.com/ Yelp is one of the biggest and most popular online business directories. It’s a fantastic place for all kinds of local businesses to advertise themselves for free, and for users to find information and reviews. With more than 90 million mobile users visiting the site each month, it’s clear that this is a trusted source of information for people searching on the go. As well as using it to promote your business, Yelp’s also one of the first sites you’ll want to head to when building local citations to your website. This is because Yelp is a highly-authoritative site in the eyes of Google, making it beneficial for your local SEO. Free Yelp Business ListingsIf you’re a local business owner who doesn’t have a presence on Yelp, then you’re definitely missing out on extra brand visibility, website traffic, and customers. Read on to learn how you can easily add your business to Yelp, as well as to learn how to claim or verify an existing listing. Add a Business to YelpThe Yelp dashboard and listing process may be slightly different depending on the country you’re in. However, most steps will be the same. Step 1. Go to business.yelp.com Step 2. If you already have an account, select the ‘Log in’ option. If you don’t have one, then you can create a Yelp business account via the ‘Manage my free listing’ option: when you click ‘Manage my free listing’, you’ll be redirected to a search page to look up your business. Step 3. Start typing your business name. Yelp will automatically begin showing suggested matches. If you see your business, then select it from the drop-down menu. If your business isn’t listed, click on ‘Add to Yelp for free’: Step 4. Add your business phone number: Step 5. Add your business website or specify that you don’t have one: Step 6. Select a business category. Once you start typing, suggestions will appear. You have to select one of the suggested categories: Step 7. Add your business address (address can be skipped for service-area businesses) and indicate whether you have more or less than four locations: Step 8. Create a Yelp business account or log into your account if you already have one (this step will be skipped if you logged in at the start): Step 9. Verify your business by either answering a phone call to the number you provided or by sending a verification email to the business email address: Step 10. Click on ‘Business Information’ and add more content, such as images and descriptions (this is only available after verification has been completed as it unlocks the full dashboard):
Be aware that some features are only available for paid users. Step 11. To add more locations, click on the profile icon in the top right corner and select ‘Account Settings’:
Step 12. You’ll see the main account information. If you want to add or claim more locations, then click on ‘Add another location to your account’: Step 13. Enter the name and address of the additional location and click ‘Get Started’: Step 14. If your additional locations aren’t listed then nothing will appear in the results. Select ‘Can’t find your business? Add here’ and follow the steps previously outlined: If Yelp finds a match based on your search terms, you’ll be presented with either your listing or a whole list with the most likely match at the top: You may see the following listing statuses: Already claimed: The listing is already being managed and can’t be claimed. If this is your business, you’ll need to find out who’s managing it to request access or contact Yelp support for help. Claim this business: The listing is unclaimed and you can claim it if you’re able to verify ownership. Reclaim this business: This listing has already been claimed, but it’s eligible to be reclaimed. To do this you need to follow the same verification process. If possible, find your business on the list and verify it. Claim an Existing Yelp Business ListingStep 1. Go to yelp.com Step 2. Type your business name and address to locate the listing Your business should be marked as ‘Unclaimed’, if so, select ‘Claim This Free Business Page’: Step 3. Create a Yelp account or log into an existing one: Step 4. Chose your preferred verification method and complete the process: Yelp TipsYelp typically only offers phone verification as standard. In some instances, a business owner may also have the option to verify their details via text message or via email. Unfortunately, there’s no way of telling whether these two additional options will be available. For email verification, Yelp will automatically input the email domain (normally this will be matched to the website) and this can’t be changed. Therefore, if you don’t have access to the email address that Yelp suggests, you’ll need to use a different verification option. Finally, when you add a new business to Yelp, it must be evaluated by moderators before it appears in search results. If you added a business recently but you can’t find it in search, then it’s likely that it still has to be evaluated, so there’s no reason to make the submission again. If you’ve got any tips or tricks for succeeding on Yelp, then be sure to let us know in the comments below! via BrightLocal https://ift.tt/3rfN1Nx Check out more SEO posts onhttps://seouk41.blogspot.com/ |
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April 2023
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