All Systems Go Marketing, the leading SEO agency in San Diego, California, has published a blog post discussing the importance of a company’s GMB listing to its growth online.
A company’s Google My Business listing is usually the first thing to appear in search results when a customer enters the company’s name in the search engine. The visibility of these listings plays an important role in a consumer’s decision to select a business for their requirements. It makes sense because as a consumer you tend to play it safe and gravitate towards a business that is well reviewed and has a lot of positive reviews. However, it also means that someone could be dissuaded from enlisting the help of a company when they find negative reviews about their service.
This is a persistent problem for local SEO, as over time, the number of review sites and specialized registries that select companies in a particular sector has increased significantly. Consumers are more conscientious and tend to use reviews as a sword in business to get good service. When they are not satisfied with the service received, they express their frustrations in the form of negative reviews as a last resort. Today, when a business is listed online, it doesn’t take long to find reviews that start popping up praising or ridiculing the quality of service they offer.
Negative reviews can definitely be a liability for a company because newer customers will tend to take what the reviews say at face value and will not give the company the benefit of the doubt. According to some studies, four out of ten consumers will avoid a business that has a negative opinion, even if they have worked with the business before. In other studies, it has been shown that around 86% of potential customers will not even consider the business if they have a negative opinion. While these numbers are depressing for startups, they are not all doom and gloom.
The All Systems Go Marketing article goes on to talk about the positive benefits of negative reviews on a company’s SEO. First of all, a review, even a negative one, increases the review count on the GMB listing. Second, the article reminds the reader that customers are generally smarter than you give them credit for and can tell when overly negative reviews attempt to smear a company’s image without adding constructive comments. Consumers also tend to distrust companies with perfect ratings, as they seem fraudulent or too good to be true. Negative reviews, therefore, add authenticity to a business. Third, negative reviews increase a brand’s engagement metrics despite its adverse effect on brand image. Fourth, they can be a source of keywords that help a business’s local SEO. Lastly, negative reviews are a way to improve service by taking constructive criticism seriously and implementing changes that improve the service overall. Recovering from a negative review and taking it easy can help strengthen a business.
Then the article concludes that negative reviews are bad for business, but they are not the end of the world. They don’t have to be the death sentence that many people insist they are. The article says that Google takes negative reviews into account when recommending a company, as it is a strong indicator of a company’s quality of service. The more people recommend a business, the greater the affinity Google’s search algorithms will have to put the business front and center of search lists. To get more organic traffic, companies should consider managing their GMB presence in their online marketing strategy. A business that is affected by negative reviews might even consider hiring online reputation management companies to suppress negative reviews.
All Systems Go Marketing can be contacted at phone number (888) 471-2746 or email id [email protected].
For more information on All Systems Go Marketing, contact the company here:
All systems go to marketing Craig Wright (619) 304-0152 [email protected] All systems go to marketing 8064 Allison Avenue, # 108La Mesa, CA 91942
Sources :
