Google Review Management: How To Manage Ratings & Reviews? 

Google Review Management is one of the most influential factors that affect your online reputation, visibility, and ranking. According to a study by Moz, Google reviews account for 15.44% of how Google ranks local businesses.

Additionally, according to a survey by BrightLocal, 87% of consumers read online Google review links for local businesses in 2020.

Moreover, 48% of consumers only pay attention to reviews written in the last two weeks.

This means that managing your Google reviews is crucial for your business success. But how do you manage your Google reviews effectively and efficiently?

Well, that’s what I have brought you today. In this article, I am going to explore the best practices for managing the ratings and reviews on Google for your business. 

From why managing your Google reviews is important to how to do it, I have covered it all. So, what’s the wait for? 

Come dive right into it! 

What Is Google Review Management?

Google Review Management is the process of monitoring, responding, and improving your Google reviews.

It involves collecting and analyzing data from your Google reviews, such as the number, rating, sentiment, and content of your reviews.

Moreover, it also involves interacting with your customers who leave reviews, such as thanking them, addressing their issues, or asking them for more feedback.

Therefore, it also involves taking action to improve your products, services, and customer experience based on your Google reviews.

Why Is Google Review Management Important?

Using Google Review Management software is important for several reasons:

1. It Helps You Improve Your Customer Satisfaction And Loyalty

By managing your Google reviews, you can show your customers that you care about their opinions and feedback and value their satisfaction.

Therefore, it can help you build trust, loyalty, and retention with your customers and reduce your customer churn rate.

2. It Helps You Attract And Retain More Customers

By managing your Google reviews, you can leverage your positive reviews to promote your business to potential customers searching for your products or services online.

In addition, you can also address your negative reviews and turn your unhappy customers into happy ones.

Therefore, this will help you increase your word-of-mouth marketing, referrals, and revenue.

3. It Helps You Improve Your Online Reputation And Credibility

Managing your Google reviews can enhance your online reputation and credibility in your industry and niche.

In addition, you can differentiate yourself from your competitors and position yourself as a trusted authority in your field.

4. It Helps You Improve Your Online Visibility And Ranking

By managing your Google reviews, you can optimize your Google My Business profile and website for search engines and users.

In addition, you can also increase your click-through rate, social media engagement, and backlinks. These are all crucial factors for white label SEO.

Moreover, the review quantity, freshness, specific keywords, and the frequency of customer reviews significantly affect ranking on Google SERPs. That is, the higher the quantity of reviews and ratings, the more it helps to build trust and credibility. 

And, this in turn signals the search engine bots to rank the website or content higher for the keyword searches. This way, businesses can improve their rankings and customer engagement in the digital landscape. 

Therefore, this can help you rank higher on Google search results and maps and reach more potential customers searching for your products or services online.

How Do You Manage Your Google Reviews?

To manage your Google reviews, you must first earn the Google Project Management Professional Certificate. It’s also known as the Coursera Project Management Professional Certificate.

After you earn any one (or both of these certificates), your next step is to:

1. Claim And Optimize Your Google My Business Profile

Your Google My Business profile is your online storefront that displays your business information, such as your name, address, phone number, website, hours, photos, and reviews. Moreover, to manage your Google reviews, you need to claim and optimize your Google My Business profile.

Therefore, you must verify your business, update your information, add relevant keywords and categories, and upload high-quality photos. Additionally, encourage your customers to leave reviews.

2. Monitor And Respond To Your Google Reviews

To manage your Google reviews, you need to monitor and respond to your Google reviews regularly. Therefore, you can use Google My Business dashboard, Google Alerts, third-party tools like Semrush alternatives, and other SEO API tools like Brand24 or Reputation.com.

Moreover, you should respond to both positive and negative reviews and do it as soon as possible. In addition, you should be polite, professional, and personalized in your responses and avoid being defensive, aggressive, or generic.

3. Improve Your Products, Services, And Customer Experience

To manage your Google reviews, you need to improve your products, services, and customer experience based on your Google reviews.

Therefore, do this by analyzing your Google reviews, such as the rating, sentiment, and content of your reviews. In addition, you may take the help of an experienced SEO freelancer or a Freelance SEO consultant.

Moreover, you must identify the common themes, patterns, and trends in your reviews and find out what your customers like, dislike, want, and need.

Therefore, you should also take action to address the issues, complaints, or suggestions that your customers mention in their reviews. In addition, make changes or improvements to your products, services, and customer experience.

4. Managing Multi-Platform Reviews 

Since customers no longer rely only on Google reviews, it is vital to manage the multi-platform reviews. That is, businesses need to incorporate a centralized review management system that covers Google, Yelp, Facebook, and other industry platforms. 

Moreover, businesses should consistently monitor the reviews on these different platforms — providing personalized responses, strategically handling negative comments, and pinning the positive reviews at the top. 

So, the future customers can view the good reviews and great news when they open the site. And, check the strategic responses to the negative comments — then, they can feel the brand can be trusted for its specific products or services. 

How To Get More Customer Ratings And Reviews On Google? 

Managing Google reviews is one thing, and getting more reviews is another. That is,  by simply employing a good strategy, business can increase their customer reviews on Google. So, here are some common ways to get more reviews— 

• Firstly, ask your customers to review your Google Business Profile immediately after they visit the local store. This way, you can compel the customers to directly share their experiences on the internet through ratings and reviews. 

• But if your business model doesn’t interact with the customer through a physical store, then sending review links to their registered email ID or contact number can help get instant ratings. 

• Additionally, you can employ an automated communication system that sends reminders for reviews through SMS or email. So, customers can get reminded to review your business even after the service period is over. 

• Finally, you can invest in a workflow system, where the reviews and ratings are part of the process. That is, to move forward with the client’s work, the customer needs to put the reviews and the ratings on Google. 

How To Handle Negative And Fake Reviews On Google? 

One of the crucial aspects of negative comments is how businesses handle them. That is, if the business responds to negative reviews hastily, it might create the impression that the brand is not willing to improve based on customer feedback. 

That’s why it is vital to know how to strategically handle negative or fake reviews to ensure the brand’s reputation is maintained. So, here are a few ways to handle online negativity. 

• Firstly, stay calm and composed while responding to the negative comments. So, it is better to acknowledge the issue and apologize for the inconvenience, even if they are wrong. 

• Then, explain shortly how the issue is highlighted and offer a potential solution for the concern. This way, you can assure your customers that the business is considering all the possible solutions to counter the issues. 

• But if the review is fake, then scroll down the Google reviews and flag it for being inappropriate. This will help Google to remove the fake reviews from harming the brand’s reputation. 

Choosing The Right Strategy For Google Review Management 

Google review management is a vital part of any business strategy. It can help you improve your customer satisfaction and loyalty, attract and retain more customers, improve your online reputation and credibility, and improve your online visibility and ranking.

However, Google review management can also be a complex and time-consuming process, especially if you have a lot of reviews to manage and monitor.

Therefore, by using the right tools and best practices, you can simplify and automate your Google review management tasks and optimize your results and ROI.

We hope this article has provided you with a complete guide on Google review management and helped you understand what it is, why it is essential, and how to do it.