Do Google Reviews Help SEO?
In today’s society, reviews help people understand more about products, services, and other various things. While there are influencers for social media, when it comes to your Amazon storefront, Google Business Profile, Facebook, or other online presence, reviews can be the key to helping entice people to convert with your brand.
What Are Google Reviews?
Google reviews are reviews found on Google that are written by customers and users about individual brands. The reviews are compiled and shown in Google Business Profiles on Google’s Search Engine Result Pages (SERPs). Primarily you can find these reviews in SERPs that are branded. For example, if you were to look up your local coffee shop there are likely going to be reviews about the customer’s experiences.
From an SEO perspective, Google reviews play an additional layer of support when it comes to a website. This is because it is commonly referred to when people talk about E-E-A-T.
What Is E-E-A-T?
E-E-A-T stands for Experience, Expertise, Authoritativeness, and Trustworthiness. It is a framework used by Google to assess the overall quality of the content on a website. Websites can use E-E-A-T signals to showcase important information about the brand to site visitors and search engine crawlers. These can help to increase the chances of conversions while building on the brand’s overall relationship with customers.
Do Google Reviews Help SEO?
Since Google looks for E-E-A-T signals when crawling a website, it is important to create content and provide information that can help showcase them. Things like adding reviews to key pages, optimizing About pages, optimizing blog Author pages, and other methods can help improve E-E-A-T.
Each site is different so depending on your website’s needs and setup, the level of E-E-A-T will likely vary. You can speak with an SEO specialist to identify areas to improve if you want to learn more about E-E-A-T.
What Is Local SEO?
Local SEO is the process of improving a website’s search visibility, traffic, and brand awareness for local businesses. Since many local businesses rely on search and foot traffic, local SEO optimization can help to encourage people to visit the businesses.
Whether you are a large business or small business, local SEO and Google Business Profile optimizations are an important part of a healthy website’s SEO strategy. You can create a Google Business Profile here.
How Google Reviews Affect Local SEO
Google Reviews From a User Perspective
To help show why reviews matter from a user perspective, let’s consider the following information. Imagine you are looking for a hotel in New York and come across three brands. When choosing a hotel from Google whether on maps or in search you will want to see where it is a one-star or a five-star so you know what to expect. While there are various ways for you to find that information, when you are in the search features on Google, these may be less prevalent without the help of Google reviews.
In the situation above where you are searching for a hotel, imagine one hotel has no reviews, another has 100 reviews and is 2.5 stars, and the last hotel has 2,000 reviews with a 4.3 star rating. If you were to solely look at the Google search results or Google Maps, which hotel seems most appealing?
From a user perspective, this can also be applied to other businesses, searches, or industries depending on your Google Business Profile and clientele.
Google Reviews From a Search Engine Crawlers Perspective
As Google encounters the various pages on a website with E-E-A-T signals and sees that there are people who enjoy the products or services offered, it can use the information to help rank your brand. The more the crawlers can understand that the brand is providing value, the more likely Google will want to showcase your brand to other searchers.
Note: Optimizing for E-E-A-T and increasing Google reviews are just a few strategies that can help rank a website. To best increase your website, you should consider the whole SEO strategy as well.
Final Thoughts
Local SEO is a great way to increase your overall presence in various cities across the world, and Google reviews can help you get there. Google reviews are important and so are Google Business Profiles, but having a full SEO strategy is what can help tie websites together. Things like content marketing, social media, and various other digital marketing methods can help you increase your brand’s visibility and overall traffic.
David Buttrick is a writer who is passionate about helping people simplify their lives and reach personal goals. He blends practical insight with relatable storytelling. At SignalEdit.com, he shares lifestyle tips, productivity advice, and strategies for everyday growth.
