Stop! Before you buy Google advertising...

We are sometimes surprised that a service business - and here we are mainly talking about the professions: law, finance, medical and education - will spend valuable resources on a Google Ads campaign whilst ignoring the customer journey. Let's take just one example...

We had to use a 'real' business to illustrate this article. We didn't select this one - it was simply returned in a Google local search. It should also be noted that the business in question is representative of its sector: independent schools have increased spend on Google Ads considerably since the recent government action

The customer journey goes - in over 70 per cent of cases - as follows...

• research potential businesses - in this case independent schools - in person and online (even 'in person' research - personal recommendation - almost always results in a web search, even if only to find contact details or precise location)

• See Google score - and react (one of two ways: be impressed and continue that specific search or be dismayed and search elsewhere)

• Read Google reviews - why would they not? 

Let us be quite clear: the business above is paying Google to display it, plus a scrape of the information held on its Google Knowledge Panel ('Sponsored' above a Google listing means 'this business is paying to appear in this search')...

Now, we know, for certain, the following...

• Any Google score under 4.8 deflects enquiries, calls and click-throughs

• Negative reviews, such as this...

...especially if not responded to by the business (as is the case here) will deflect considerable numbers of enquiries

• For each 'thumbs up' (18 here) the review will have been read by +-100 people, maybe far more

What should this, and any other business in this position, do?

Put its review management on a professional footing. Take professional advice* and develop a simple strategy to...

1. Invite stakeholders to write reviews - to its own website and then to Google
2. Have those reviews moderated by an independent entity - HelpHound is one such - to ensure they are fair, factually correct and unlikely to mislead the reader (the potential customer/client/patient/parent)
3. Aim for a Google score of 4.8+
4. Aim, initially, for 100+ Google reviews, and then a thousand
5. Respond to its reviews

And finally: set as short as possible a time frame for achieving all of the above (months, not years).

Results

Reviews on a business's website enable a) potential customers to see moderated reviews written by genuine customers of the business and b) the business to comply with the CMA regulations (a.k.a the law)

This business began its relationship with HelpHound with two reviews on Google and none on its own website...

And it now leads in all relevant Google searches. Imagine the impact this has had on their business (for a start, it has helped them to expand and take over another agency)? No potential customer is going to be put off contacting a business, of whatever kind, that looks like this. Many will be positively encouraged to do just that, even if it was not originally on their short-list.

Further reading

• Moderation: the key safety mechanism that protects both businesses and their potential customers from inaccurate, misleading or plain unfair reviews

• *Taking professional advice: here are our fees - we hope you will be pleasantly surprised to see that they fall when your objectives have been achieved

Review Management - four options for businesses

Do nothing

It's what a lot of businesses do now. The majority, in fact. Just look at how many plumbers in Chiswick have bothered to get their customers to post reviews:

Advantages:

• We cannot think of any (apart from the fact that it would save someone in your office about half-an-hour a week) but that's maybe because we have seen all the advantages of taking a proactive stance with reviews for so long now!

Disadvantages:

• You lose a massive opportunity to harness your customers' goodwill to drive new business
• You allow your competitors to steal a march - and look better on their own websites and in search than you do

Independent review sites - general

   These days only one kind of review shows up directly in Google search: Google reviews.

Advantages 

• Reviews can be shown to potential customers, via links in emails or in person.

Disadvantages

• They don't always show in search when Google reviews invariably do
• Beware of their business models: do they rely on pushing your reviews down unless you pay - often called 'Premium Listing" -  (Yelp)? 

Independent review sites - specialist

   There are three ways of being listed by Google showing in this single screenshot: Paid-for advertising, the 3-Pack and natural listings. Greene & Co currently appear at the top of the 3-Pack and are the top of natural search as well. Two questions: Do you see any independent review site (specific: AllAgents or RaterAgent or general: Yelp/Yell) showing and do you think their Google score of 4.9 from 131 reviews is helping to drive business?

Advantages

• They're sector specific, so you know that someone looking at them is looking for a business like yours

Disadvantages

• You will be shown alongside all your competitors, often at a disadvantage if you do not pay for a 'premium listing' or if your rating or score is not quite as good
• Few of them will allow you to embed reviews without a link to their websites (it's never advisable to invite visitors to your website to leave to visit a site containing details of your competitors)

Do-It-Yourself

Advantages 

• You save any fees (although you should factor in time spent ensuring your strategy remains current)

Disadvantages

• You are unable to claim that you host verified reviews on your own website (verification self-evidently must be done by someone independent of your business)
• You will need to monitor changes at Google and the relevant review sites (see under 'Professional - advantages' below)

Professional Review Management

It is all about trust: this hotels' potential guests are able to fully trust the reviews hosted on the hotel's own website - all 429 of them - because they are being reassured by the line under the hotel's logo. They also love the subliminal message that they too will be invited to post a review after their own stay.

 
Here we'll take the disadvantages first!

Disadvantages

• It's going to cost you. Not a lot, and we would like to think the advantages listed below tip the balance, but it's not free
• That's it, unless you count the time spent in implementing and maintaining our recommended strategy across your business

Advantages

• You will have independently verified - and therefore credible - reviews to show to every single visitor to your website
• You will be able to ask your customers to copy those reviews onto any other open website you choose: Google, TripAdvisor, Yelp and a so on
• You will have someone - HelpHound - monitoring the reviews landscape for you 24/7. Did you notice the introduction of the Google review filter? On January 1? We did. When did we tell our clients about it? On Tuesday January 5 - the first working day after its introduction. The Google Magic 7 replaced by the 3-Pack? Same. Advice to our hotel clients to take care with TripAdvisor's modified Review Express? Within a week. Important and relevant advice - when you need it
• Full support: had a negative review - on any site? We'll advise you. Need to understand your G+ page(s): We'll explain them. Cannot wait to dovetail your reviews with social media? We'll show you the best way to integrate them with Facebook, G+ and Twitter.

Finally

If we discount the first option (doing nothing) and the second option (getting reviews to sites that don't show in Google search) the choice is yours; if we have said enough to convince you to at least speak to us about going the professional route just speak to Fiona Christie or Karen Hutchings today.

Google includes Reviews in Ads

As if we needed yet another reason to ensure you all look great on Google - now Google will be serving reviews in ads:

Great for our clients, but not so great for any business that looks less than wonderful (we reckon 'good' on Google is 4.0 plus and 'wonderful' is 4.5 and over). And woeful news for third-party review suppliers and their clients.