Google Places Reviews: Imperative to Your Online Success

Google is continually changing the parameters for Google Places.The new layout of Google Places puts a heavy emphasis on customer reviews. More specifically, it emphasizes reviews from Google users and no longer shows reviews from third party sites, such as Yelp or CitySearch.

As reviews become an even more important factor in local search rankings, those Google Places pages with more quality reviews tend to perform better. This means getting your customers to post reviews about your business on your Google Places listing is now more critical than ever! Focus on getting positive reviews for your business as an important way to boost your local search marketing.

In this blog post we’ll show you how to add a review of a local business to Google Places.

A Google account is needed to write a review in Google Places. If your customer doesn’t already have a Google account, it only takes a minute to create one.  Please note it is a good idea to list a secondary email (one you use often) when creating the account to have your new Google account password sent to if forgotten. In addition to writing Google Places reviews, having a Google account will allow your customers to access other Google services such as G-Mail, Google Plus and many more advanced features of Google search.

Step 1: Once on www.Google.com, type the name of the business, city and state into the search bar. Then press the [ Google Search ] button.

Step 2: Once you’ve located the business you would like to review, click the Red Pin point next to the business name in the left panel. This will take you to the company’s Google Places page.

Step 3: Once on the company’s Google Places Page, click the  button.

Step 4: If you are not logged into Google at this point, you will now be redirected to the log-in screen to continue with the Google Places review process.

Step 5: After clicking ‘Write A Review‘, a text box will appear on the screen below with a row of 5 grey stars.

Step 6: Select a star rating. You can score your experience with the company from 1 to 5. The better the service/experience, the higher the star rating.

Step 7: Write your Google Places review! Be informative, insightful, and honest. Once you are done writing the review, click on the “Publish” box. Your review is now live for others to view!

Please Note: Do not post fake reviews! Google has several measures in place to keep fake reviews from being posted. If Google is suspicious about the authenticity of your reviews, it could lead to your business’s Places listing being suspended or even permanently blacklisted for flagrantly disregarding their review policy.

The bottom line is, if you own a business you need to commit to an effective and long-term strategy in building online reviews for your own success. The Web Guys recommend focusing on encouraging happy customers to write a review even if this means offering a discount or percentage off the next time they do business with your company. Google Places is a core component to any search marketing strategy so help us help you and get those customer reviews!

Contact The Web Guys for more details about Google Places reviews as well as all of your website design and search marketing needs. We take the time to consult with our customers and choose online marketing strategies that will benefit their businesses the most. Call The Web Guys Phone Number (317) 805-4933 or send us an email at sales@the-web-guys.com and start the conversation today!