Google My Business Reviews Best Practices
How to make the most of reviews on your Google My Business listing
Businesses are permitted to include all sorts of information on Google My Business listings, ranging from free keywords to associate the business within searches, to pictures and multimedia content for search visitors. All essential information can be neatly categorized for easy search discovery, and any other relevant data points visitors might commonly search for can be added by business owners and marketers.
Do’s and Don’ts of Google My Business Review Management
Google My Business also has space for people that visit your business to leave reviews and star ratings of businesses. These reviews can be incredibly powerful resources for swaying potential customers towards your products and services, but as a business owner you should allow these reviews to come naturally.
Do reach out to satisfied customers to request positive reviews
Encourage your customers to hop online and leave you a genuine, positive review, and it will help your business succeed in the long run. Positive reviews can also be used to “bury” negative Google reviews and move them out of sight from the vast majority of your future customers-a simple, effective reputation management tool any business can take advantage of.
Do not fake positive Google reviews
Fake reviews, or “canned” reviews from companies that promise quick results, are a bad idea. They are usually easy to spot thanks to the reviewer’s public review history; and if Google feels that you are unfairly gaming the review system to your advantage, they can pull the plug and de-list your entire Google My Business listing.
Do report inappropriate and false bad reviews for removal
Flagging negative reviews that go against Google’s review policies is a good idea for business owners that are battling false reviews and bad ratings from fake customers. By reporting bad Google reviews that are fake, false or don’t adhere with Google’s review policies in some other way, you may be able to get the bad review(s) marked as restricted or prohibited content by Google. If you can do this Google will remove the negative review from your Google Business listing and Google Maps.
Originally published at https://defamationdefenders.com on July 14, 2019.
