
Prioritize the customers who prioritize youīusiness owners have to prioritize their time to be successful. Plus, customers are more likely to leave a note of praise if they know you’re absolutely going to respond in kind. That way, positive reviews, rather than negative ones, end up at the top of searches. Here’s why: You can boost the visibility of amazing reviews by responding with your company name, location, and any keywords you wish to highlight. This kind of engagement can start anytime and anywhere, but it’s essential that you bring it to the review sites themselves. Consider taking this approach to the next level by sending emails to your newsletter list requesting reviews, which will help boost the volume of positive comments online. When you hear about a fantastic experience, ask your customer if they would be willing to offer that same praise on a review site. Research shows that about 70% of people will follow through with a review when asked.

Next, ask happy customers to share their positive experiences online. (The search engine favors its own rating platform.)

Don’t just stick to Yelp - instead, create review opportunities across a number of different sites, especially Google. To benefit from a higher visibility on search engines, encourage reviewing across multiple platforms. When Google ranks a business, it looks specifically at the nature and volume of reviews, as well as the consistency. This isn’t just about increasing your pool of happy customers - responding to reviews increases your visibility in search engines, especially for localized searches.
