Yes, it does.
But don’t go. Although this article could indeed be summed up in just three words – yes, it does – there’s still more to do this.
I’m going to outline a few strategies for your review responses, both good and bad.
And then, how to leverage replying to Google reviews to both improve your local SEO AND get more customers.
Let’s go!
~3 Minute Read
Quick Answer
Replying to Google reviews can help you rank mostly indirectly, through improved engagement on your Google Business Profile. Replying, in and of itself, isn't much of a ranking factor, as Google will always prioritize prominence as the main factor that will impact the local SEO rankings of any given business.
How Does Replying to Google Reviews Help Local SEO
Let’s start off with some insights from BrightLocal; they say that “almost 9 out of 10 (89%) consumers are very likely to use a local business that responds to all of its reviews, both good and bad.”
Encouraging, right?
Replying to your Google reviews adds that human element to your business that customers love, and it allows you to learn from each customer experience as a business owner.
And here’s how replying to your Google reviews helps you rank: by increasing the conversion rate of your Google Business Profile, you’ll have more people clicking through your website, requesting directions, and calling you on the phone (which is what matters the most to home service business owners like plumbers, electricians, and roofers).
Now, THAT is what will improve your local SEO—increased engagement with your Google Business Profile.
One could also add keywords to their Google reviews responses, but in my opinion, you should keep these responses as human as possible (no SEO keywords if it sounds unnatural) and get a bit loose with other aspects of your Google Business Profile, like posts, for example.
How Increased Engagement Helps You Rank Locally
It’s pretty much common knowledge these days that the more clicks and engagement your Google Business Profile gets, the higher you’ll rank.
This is why I stress adding things like media to your profile in other posts on this blog, like images or videos. First of all, Google loves them, and secondly (more importantly), they help you convert, which will lead to Google loving you even more.
Keep in mind that Google always wants to display the best possible result to a user’s search query. In local SEO, this would be considered “the best business.”
As we’ve gone over in our guide on how to rank higher on Google Maps, being “the best” is determined by a few factors, mostly prominence.
Prominence is basically Google reviews (the number of them you have) and backlinks.
However, besides prominence, a big ranking factor is engagement, which includes:
- Clicks to your website through your Google Business Profile
- Calls directly from your Google Business Profile
- Requesting directions to your business address from the Google Business Profile
- Checking out your services, posts, gallery, and other parts of your Google Business Profile
But the first three are the biggest ones.
If you’d to put two businesses with pretty similar Google Business Profiles, and one were to have much more engagement, in theory, that business would rank higher.
How to Reply Properly to Your Google Reviews
Positive Reviews
The proper response approaches vary widely across industries.
You might be wondering now, “Why even respond to ALL positive reviews?”
Well, you should do it because:
- Reviewers expect it, according to that same BrightLocal study, and they expect so only within 72 hours
- Other consumers and potential customers of yours expect you to respond to your customers too
So, do it.
At the end of each 2-3 days, pick up your phone and respond to all reviews you’ve got in that timeframe.
You could use AI to help you with this.
It blew my mind to learn that almost 60% of consumers liked the AI responses to reviews more than human’s (same study)!
Negative Reviews
There’s not just one right way to respond to negative reviews.
At the end of the day, you know your customers best and you and/or your staff remember each customer experience, both good and bad.
Here are some tips you could use:
- Try to resolve the situation through the review response
- Respond to a negative review quickly
- Be upfront and honest
But the thing is, you likely know all of these tips already.
Also know this – a perfect 5 star rating after a certain number of reviews is unrealistic, and customers are aware of this.
Data shows that the conversion rate peaks just before the 5 star rating, but declines when your rating is exactly 5.0.
So, don’t sweat a few negative reviews as much if you’ve got a lot of reviews overall.
That's It for Today
This brings us to the end of this fun post.
A short but sweet, and hopefully you found value in it.
Want to learn more about local SEO? Check out some of our other articles:
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Bogdan is a local SEO expert with over 3 years of experience helping businesses grow using Google. When he is not helping businesses grow, he works on his own SEO projects, works out, takes long walks, and watches Suits, which is completely ironic given how rarely he dresses up in a suit himself.