As a business, there is no doubt that you have worked extremely hard to get your business noticed in the right way. You might have an SEO strategy in place that helps to create an image for you but often this is not sufficient enough. When it comes to your customers, many are more than likely going to believe the views of others who either promote your business or leave negative reviews rather than what you promise them. Therefore, this proves that reviews are crucial to the success of your business.

The power of reviews should not be overlooked because 90% of consumers carry out research and read reviews before they choose to visit a business and what’s more, Google actually cares as well and so, there are a number of reason why reviews can help your SEO.

New content offers a fresh approach
When it comes to ranking factors, reviews make up just short of 10% of the total. They are unique and they are often relevant to many search queries, not to mention that they are useful to others. They offer a unique value and they are easy to read, regardless of the device and so, they form content that many are willing to share.

They share similarities to search terms
Those people who leave reviews for both products and services often create content that includes very similar or the same characteristics as those people who are using search terms to find your business. What this means is that they often use the same search terms to describe your business and what you offer and so, they often use the same long-tail keywords.

Rich snippets can be created
If you follow schema standards, it means that Google will look favourably on your site. When it comes to reviews, schema ultimately means that it can create rich snippets. These are often found at the top of search engine results and they often include the name of the product, a star rating, the number of reviews as well as the advantages and disadvantages. Rich snippets are extremely clickable.

Improve authority with the backing of other sources
When it comes to improving authority, one of the most influential ways is to be supported by other sources. If a large percentage of your reviews are positive, Google will look at this in a favourable way and that will mean that they consider your business to be popular. This will mean that rankings are boosted for many of the pages on your site. However, in order for this to work effectively, you need to ensure that the number of reviews is increased as well as the percentage of positive reviews.

Star rating from third-parties
Google takes reviews on your website as well as third-party pages seriously and so, you should look to maintain a star rating of more than 3.5, especially on those prominent review sites for your industry. You should be looking to achieve a minimum of 30 positive reviews in 12 months for Google to take this into consideration.