6 Reasons Local Reviews Matter for Your Business

Gone are the days where you’re left to rely on your neighbor's suggestion on where to get your car fixed or your friend to tell you which hairdresser they’d suggest.

Today, consumers look to internet customer reviews for guidance on almost everything. The internet has brought us the ability to both search for a company and read their reviews - all in a matter of seconds. It’s highly likely, in fact, that a person will google the restaurant they’re planning on eating at before ever setting foot inside.

Small companies tend to have a love-hate relationship with on-line reviews. On the one hand, positive evaluations help a business get noticed, to the degree that it’s become necessary for businesses’ marketing plans to prioritize gathering reviews. Indeed, good reviews are powerful and from a business perspective, pack a lot of punch. Negative reviews, by contrast, can scare away potential customers.



Regardless of their opinions about them, online reviews end up as mostly a win-win for most businesses. On average, there are far more positive than negative reviews, most customers happy to report their favorable experiences. The contribution these make to business is undeniable.

The improvement in local SEO (Search Engine Optimization) ranking is probably the main advantage of raising your company's presence on online review sites. Google has a few different elements that affect how well a company does in local searches.

Relevancy. One of the first things Google takes into account is how relevant your business is to the person’s search query. Google wants to give the searcher the results that most closely match with their question.

Proximity. Another element is the closeness of the searcher to your establishment. This is the next consideration used by search engines. Although distance is something you can’t control, you can still make an effort to ensure that your website and company listings are optimized for local search. Spend some time making sure your name, address, and phone number are the same on all of your listings and on every page of your website.

Prominence. The final factor that helps determine a business’ local search ranking is prominence. This is where online business reviews come into play. When it comes to local SEO, prominence refers to things like how well-known your business is in the offline world and the amount of information that exists about your business across the web, particularly in the form of links back to your site and online business reviews. Additionally, it also helps if you’re interacting and responding to online reviews – both positive and negative ones.

Here are a few reasons why local reviews are so important for your business:

It won't take you long to uncover reviews of a company when you search for it; in fact, they'll usually be among the first results you encounter. When deciding which companies to return in local searches, Google considers the review ratings from a variety of websites. Online reviews and certain keywords actually have the biggest impact on local search engine exposure.

Owning a small business means that you’re able to connect with your customers on a much more personal level than are larger corporations. You are not only serving the community, but you’re also a part of it.



Any successful business needs to have trust with its customers and reviews provide an excellent opportunity to do this. Customers can be more confident that your company delivers on its promises if they see you engage with reviews and utilize them to enhance your business. When potential customers see positive reviews, they’re assured that your company has value and is trustworthy.

Reviewers do not earn anything from leaving feedback, they only wish to relate their encounter, whether it was positive or negative. People will pay attention to these reviews. In fact, buyers place the same amount of faith in internet evaluations as they do personal recommendations.



It’s fair to say that people rely on these reviews when making a purchasing decision, and if your reviews are positive, then your business will earn a lot of credibility with customers.

Most customers investigate before investing money or time at your small business. Reading about someone else's experience at a company before you try it out yourself provides a certain amount of confidence. It follows that online reviews have an impact on most shoppers. People read evaluations from rival businesses and consider them when making decisions about what to purchase, where to dine, or even where to seek employment.

Consider this hypothetical situation: you ask your best friend or siblings for advice on where to have your car fixed, as you need a new place. You are choosing between two auto shops, but your friend only recommended one of them. Which one are you going to pick?

The easier it is for consumers to decide to try your services, the better your company's internet reputation is. Few customers are ready to chance doing business with a company that has few, or largely negative, ratings.