The first-ever website was launched in August of 1991. Fast forward to 2021, and now, there are well over 1.8 billion websites on the internet, according to Statista. With so many websites out there, it cannot be said enough how important search engine optimization (SEO) is for your website.
SEO is utilized to boost your web pages, landing pages and other unique content that help draw in visitors to your website. SEO allows search engines to index your website’s content and helps users find your site through relevant keywords and phrases.
But did you know that SEO can be used for content you haven’t created yourself?
Website Reviews: The Free SEO Content You Might Have Missed
No matter your industry, you provide your customers with some type of service or product that makes their lives easier and more enjoyable.
When a customer is satisfied with your product or service, they may feel compelled to leave a positive review. Research has shown that 92.4 percent of consumers use online reviews to guide the majority of their everyday purchases. This means including reviews in your site can compel your visitors to convert while they are still on your site.
Customer reviews not only let you know that your customers are happy with your offerings, but they also provide you with more unique content for your website.
How Do Website Reviews Help SEO?
Now you might be asking how website reviews help with SEO.
The additional unique content brought by website reviews allows search engines (primarily Google) to index and track your website, just as it does for content that you or a local SEO company creates for your website.
As a result, these reviews bring a new diverse set of keywords to your website to increase your overall ranking on Google.
Below, we look at two other top reasons why website reviews are helpful to your website SEO and what kind of impact they can have on site visitors.
Keeping Potential Customers on Your Site
When it comes to searching for services and products, most people will head straight to Google. From there, they will be directed to a number of options in the search results. And once they come across your business, they will likely look for reviews and testimonials.
By having reviews already on your website, you give your prospects more reason to stay and browse around. Depending on the number and length of reviews, potential customers would likely spend an additional 5-10 minutes on your website as they read through the reviews.
Social Proof Builds Trust
Most people look up reviews to look for local services and products. Social proof is easier than ever to find online, from places like Google Business Profile to an individual’s own social media feed, where they can see where their friends and family are looking for similar services or products.
Given that review interactions are up by 50 percent, it is in your best interest as a business owner to generate customer reviews and use them directly on your website.
Remember how having reviews on your site can help keep potential customers on the site longer? That built-in social proof helps establish trust and keep visitors on your website long enough for them to make a decision without being distracted by other information.
How Do I Add Customer Reviews to My Website?
Adding customer reviews to your website can be done in a number of ways. You can use an outside program, such as a widget to display reviews on your site, or Google’s built-in tools.
Adding reviews to your website is something you can do yourself. But letting specialists take on the task takes the guesswork out of the process and streamlines the project from start to finish.
So when it comes to how to embed Google reviews on a website, you can pick and choose which method best suits your preferences.
Widgets and Plugins
There are different widgets and plugins available in WordPress (WP), which powers most businesses today. These allow you to easily import customer reviews directly onto your website.
Some of the plugins include:
- WP Business Reviews
- WP Customer Reviews
- Starfish Reviews
- Site Reviews
- Customer Reviews for WooCommerce
- Widget for Google Reviews
Widget for Google Reviews provides step-by-step installation instructions and offers a number of features in the free version including the option to include a “Write a review” button on your website.
These widgets and plugins allow you to embed reviews onto your website and often include a variety of other useful features. You can explore the different details of each of the widgets and plugins to determine which one has the features you are looking for the most.
Google’s Application Programming Interface
An application programming interface (API) is a feature you can use by enabling Google Business Profile (formerly called Google My Business) API. This API will need to be enabled through your Google account.
Once it is enabled, you can follow the steps here to display all of your Google reviews or a single review to one specific location of your website.
This API also allows you to reply to reviews and even delete replies.
Where Should I Display My Google Reviews?
Now that you know how to embed Google reviews on a website and just how website review SEO can impact your site, let’s look at where you should consider adding reviews to your website.
Website reviews, as we have discussed, help establish trust between you and your website visitors. Using them in different places like on product pages can be an extra step in utilizing the SEO they provide and engaging your site visitors.
Need a few ideas on where to embed Google reviews on your website? Here are a few ideas:
- Create a “View All Reviews” page. This will be a dedicated page for all of your reviews and can serve as a great landing page for website visitors.
- Add positive reviews to a section of your homepage. This allows you to highlight the reviews that reflect customers’ experiences with your website and the services or products that you offer.
- Add one or two reviews to your About Us page. You can help further solidify your brand’s story and history with relevant reviews that can pull potential customers into a conversation about what you offer.
- Place them on relevant product pages. If a review specifies a product or service, include it on that product page. This presents site visitors with another person’s take on the product and helps them make the final decision.
How Important Are Google Reviews for SEO?
Google reviews can be very important for SEO! According to Google, managing and responding to reviews impacts a business’ visibility. Google indicates that review count and review score are both factored into local search ranking.
Google also says,
More reviews and positive ratings can improve your business’s local ranking. Your position in web results is also a factor, so SEO best practices apply.
So yes, having reviews on your website can be extremely helpful to your overall SEO ranking.
Encourage Customers To Leave Reviews
One last best practice to consider is to ask customers to leave reviews. As we have explored above, how consumers view your business can make a difference. And by actively asking for reviews, you keep in contact with your existing customer while potentially pulling in more customers with their positive experiences that they may share online.
Encouraging customers to leave online reviews can be done through methods like:
- Website
- Social media channels
- Receipts
- SMS texts
So there you have it: the importance of reviews to your SEO and how you can integrate them into your site. We hope these tips will help start using reviews to boost your ranking performance.