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The “other” event of the weekend (apart from my 63rd birthday celebrations) was the announcement that, with immediate effect, Google are going to increase the variety of reviews they include in organic search to include:
their own Google reviews
“critics’ reviews (that means you and I reviewing in places like Facebook)
reviews from the web (that means proprietorial customer review sites like TripAdvisor and also industry specific reviews like WhatClinic, comparethtreatment and so on)
Add that to the recent announcement from Google that they are placing more emphasis on the quantity of reviews you have as well as the quality.
Pundits are suggesting that over 100 reviews are now a necessity for those chasing organic visibility (in addition to all that magical SEO stuff).
Readers will know that I’m a bigger fan of organic search that “paid for” media as my clients constantly suggest that the quality of the enquiries generated by the former are superior.
Google’s latest movement of their goalposts sets the scene very clearly for the importance of reviews – which is, in effect, digital word of mouth.
Users of Exact who have purchased their excellent module “Reputation Manager” will have part of this process automated but the savvy business owner will realise that the chase for (and moderation of) reviews across multiple sites is now an essential part of your marketing strategy.
Do you have a protocol to ask and are you measuring the effectiveness of that protocol (and identifying potential reviewers) in your daily huddle?