Regular readers will know that we have been banging the drum for Google reviews since the beginning of the 2010s; we may even have, wrongly, of course, given the impression to some that we only focus on Google reviews on our clients' behalf.
The following have been our priorities for well over a decade, and we cannot see them changing any time soon:
- Get a great score from as many Google reviews as possible
- Get as many reviews to your own website as possible, so that they can be moderated and then copied across to Google
- Keep an eye on the other review sites, and channel reviews to them as and when necessary
No. 3 comes into play when a business finds that negative reviews on other sites are being mobilised by their competitors. Trustpilot is an obvious example. If we see a client's score fall below 4.5 on Trustpilot or any other review sites with reach, we will advise them to channel a proportion of their reviews to that site to maintain their score.
How?
It is easily done: we simply add a link to the business's listing on the relevant site to the existing invitation.
Does it work?
Yes. It has been tried and tested over several years. Customers of good businesses understand the power of factually questionable or misleading negative reviews to harm businesses and are, providing the email is worded correctly*, more than happy to support them by writing multiple reviews (usually by simply copying the first review they write to the secondary sites).
*'Email' and 'worded correctly': both of these are important. Email because it has been. proven time and again that text requests for reviews elicit one or two-word reviews, but email requests result in far more helpful reviews, for readers as well as the business. 'Worded correctly': we have, as you might expect, well over a decade's worth of experience in testing both response rates and quality of response. We will advise on the best wording.
So: back to the headline - which reviews 'surface' (get used to the new use of that word - meaning 'referenced by') most consistently in AI search?
The best way to answer this crucial question is to conduct some popular searches. Here are three...
1. 'Best estate agent in my area'
2. 'Best estate agent in [location]'
3. 'Best vet in my area'
4. 'Best GP in my area'
5. 'Best wealth manager near me'
...and here's what ChatGPT returns for 'Best estate agent in [location]'...
1. The business's own reviews (as distinct from Google reviews) from its own website being surfaced...
Yes. Follow the grey 'Winkworth' link, and you will arrive at the business's own website, and the source of the score and 'hundreds of reviews': the business's own reviews, moderated and processed by HelpHound
2. In default of the AI search finding the business's own reviews on the business's own website, it will return results based on Google reviews, as you can see above. Almost always, the business with the highest score is ranked first.
What we struggle to find, unless the AI is specifically asked for them, are reviews and scores hosted by the review sites, as in this search...
...but even then, Google reviews are, quite rightly in our opinion, referenced the most. Why 'quite rightly'? Simply because...
- Google reviews are free for both the reviewer and the business under review
- Google reviews are consistently returned in every search
- Google reviews carry greater credibility with consumers
- Google hosts 81% of online reviews
- The next largest review sites are Facebook, Yelp and TripAdvisor
Goodness, are we glad we backed Google. And so, we are sure, are our clients.
Further information
If you would like a more in-depth and technical description of the AI search process, we recommend typing 'describe the process AI uses to provide search results' into Google (Google Gemini - Google's AI - will lead the results of that search, however it is performed). It will provide links to all the information you need. Including this helpful video...
No comments:
Post a Comment
HelpHound is all about feedback, so please feel free to comment here...