How to collect and manage online reviews for Local SEO

You’ll know yourself how influential reviews can be when you’re buying something.

You can research all you want, but it only takes one bad review from a friend or online to put some doubt in your mind.

Most small business owners know reviews matter.

But when you’re busy winning new projects, completing existing projects and trying to get paid, chasing reviews can seem more trouble than it’s worth.

You might think it’s awkward to ask for a review.

Or that you’ll spend too much time managing them.

Or asking is a waste of time (you’ve tried before), and customers have never come through.

But doing that means you’re potentially missing out to competitors who don’t offer as good a service as you, but put more time into reviews.

The good news is, getting and managing reviews doesn’t have to be as much of a hassle as you think.

Why online reviews matter for Local SEO

Reviews are something Google (and other search engines) use to decide who shows up in the “local pack.” 

But the bigger reason to pay attention to reviews is how they influence your potential buyers:

• Nearly 90% of UK consumers use online reviews to help decide on a product or service. And the Competition and Markets Authority estimates reviews influence up to £23 billion of spending annually.
  
• Reviews are now the most influential social proof that the majority (68%) of UK consumers rely on when deciding what to buy, even outranking family, friends, and brand messaging.
  
• And more than half of customers actually look for negative reviews, with 70% saying they influence their decision-making.

How to collect customer reviews effectively

Success in getting reviews for your local business often comes down to two things.

First is timing. If you leave it too long to ask for a review, your customer may have forgot all about your service and, more likely, has moved on with their life and doesn’t have the time.

Second, is how easy you make it for them to leave a review. Most customers are open to leaving a review, but aren’t willing to go through a seven-stage process to do it.

So when planning on how you’ll get more reviews, consider these things:

• Ask when the customer is happiest. Get a review right after a successful service or purchase. At this point, your customer has the most goodwill towards you, so is more likely to do you a favour and leave a review. For example, a tradesperson can hand over a card with a QR code linking directly to Google Reviews as they finish the job.
  
• Make it easy. Send review requests through email or SMS (like when you send an invoice or receipt) with a one-click link to your review platform. Using QR codes is pretty effective, and also relatively easy to create:

1. Generate your Google Business Profile review link.
   
2. Use a free QR code generator (e.g. QRCode Monkey, Canva).
   
3. Paste the link and create your code.
   
4. Print it on cards, receipts, or thank-you notes.
   
5. Test it yourself to make sure it opens the review page.
   

• Keep it personal. Mention the specific service or product you delivered to remind the customer. This makes it more likely they’ll follow through.
  
• Don’t offer incentives. You might be tempted to offer discounts or incentives in return for a review, but this breaches Google’s rules and risks penalties. So it’s not worth the risk.
  

Tools and systems to make review collection easier

Google Business Profile short links

These links take customers directly to the review box on your Google Business Profile in one click, so it really couldn’t be easier for a customer to leave you a Google review. To create a GBP short link, just:

1. Sign in to your Google Business Profile Manager.
   
2. Choose your location.
   
3. Click “Ask for reviews.”
   
4. Copy the custom short link (e.g. g.page/r/YourBusinessName/review).
   
5. Share it in emails, invoices, SMS, or QR codes.
   

Emails and your CRM

If you’ve got a modern CRM and email marketing provider, you can automate review requests to make it easier not only for your customers, but for you.

These requests can be triggered to go out based on an event or action. All you have to do is:

1. Pick your CRM and email provider: HubSpot, ActiveCampaign, Mailchimp etc.
   
2. Set up a trigger: For example, “job completed”, “invoice paid”, or “order delivered” etc.
   
3. Write the review email: Thank the customer for their business and include your review link (keep these short and to the point).
   
4. Add a timing rule: For example, send the email within 24 hours of the action or event. You could even send additional follow-ups based on whether a customer opens your email or clicks a link.
   
5. Test your email to make sure it sends as planned, and test tracking for email opens and clicks.
   

How to manage online reviews when you get them

The biggest mistake people make with reviews is that they don’t respond to them. They get a good review and think “great”. Or get a bad review, and think they’ll just ignore it.

But reviews should be seen as conversations and opportunities.

Businesses that reply to about a third of their reviews have 80% higher conversion rates compared to businesses that only respond to 10%.

• Reply to positive reviews. Send a thank you message to the customer. This not only shows some appreciation for the person who sent the review, but Google and review sites prefer accounts that engage with reviews.
  
• Handling negative reviews. They happen. When they do, acknowledge the issue, explain how you’ll fix it (and won’t repeat it in the future), and keep the tone professional. Offer to take the issue on personally offline to resolve it quickly. You’ll be surprised how often a bad review can be turned into a repeat customer if you handle it well.
  

Turning reviews into marketing and SEO assets

Nearly half of customers say they trust online reviews as much as a personal recommendation. So don’t just leave your online review on your Google Business Profile or review site. Use it in your marketing.

Use reviews on your website

Put relevant testimonials directly on location pages, product, and service pages. You can do this using plugins or manually add quotes.

Promote reviews in Google Business Profile posts

You can add testimonials to your Google Business profile either as Posts or images:

1. Log into your Google Business Profile.
   
2. Click “Add update.”
   
3. Choose “What’s new” or “Offer.”
   
4. Paste the review text or add a screenshot.
   
5. Publish weekly to show activity.

Repurpose reviews in ads and social media

Turn reviews into graphics and testimonials for Facebook or Instagram. Create carousels for LinkedIn with details about the client, problem, solution and testimonial.

You can even use online reviews as content for paid ads, particularly on LinkedIn.

Optimise reviews for SEO with schema markup

Adding schema markup is an important part of on-page SEO for local businesses, and you can use it to include your reviews and star ratings in your search engine results. They’ll look like this:

To add this schema markup to your website, just:

1. Use a free schema generator (e.g. Merkle’s tool).
   
2. Select “Review” or “AggregateRating.”
   
3. Fill in your business details, rating, and number of reviews.
   
4. Copy the JSON-LD code.
   
5. Paste it into your website’s <head> section.
   
6. Test it with Google’s Rich Results Test tool.
   

Common mistakes to avoid in review management

Remember, online reviews are very public, and how you’re seen to manage them (both good and bad) can be a reflection of your business and could put people off coming to you if you get it wrong.

Here are our mistakes to avoid when managing reviews:

• Don’t ignore them: Google doesn’t look well on brands that ignore reviews. And customers won’t get the best impression of your brand if you leave reviews with no responses.
  
• Don’t get defensive about bad reviews: Even if you think the review is unjustified, it’s not a good look to get into an online spat with a customer with a gripe against your product or service. You’re the only one who’ll lose out by getting into a public argument. Stay calm and professional.
  
• Don’t buy fake reviews: Would you trust a business that wrote fake reviews about itself?
  
• Don’t just get reviews on one platform: Definitely put some focus on your Google reviews, but also look for reviews on review sites like Trustpilot or industry-specific review sites like Checkatrade.
  

Create a review strategy for your Local SEO

There’s nothing better for building trust with potential customers than positive reviews from existing or previous customers.

Even if your service is better than the competition, the business with the most (and best) reviews is usually more appealing to customers.

Getting and managing reviews is all about asking people at the right time, making reviews as easy as possible to give, responding consistently and using reviews in your wider marketing.

If that still sounds like a lot or you need help with reviews as part of your Local SEO strategy, get in touch.