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Keep a Close Eye on Your Google Star Rating

Last Updated: March 30, 2017

Be on the lookout for any changes to your Google star rating!
Seeking to provide a valuable user experience, Google has long highlighted customer reviews and star ratings on its business listings. However, Google has altogether changed the way it determines and displays a business’s star rating.
Of course, it’s still based on customer reviews, but it now only requires a single review. Previously, Google wouldn’t generate a star rating until a business had at least five customer reviews. This change means a star rating, which displays right next to your business name, will appear even if you only have one customer review.
This could be good or bad for your business, depending on the review. If your only review is four stars, then your business will have a four-star rating on Google. Not too shabby, right? But if your only review is from a disgruntled customer who gave you a one-star review, your business won’t look so good. Most people would agree that a one-star rating is worse than no star rating at all.
At the risk of sounding melodramatic, a single customer review now has the ability to make or break your reputation on Google.
So how can you protect your online reputation from the whims of a single customer? By minimizing the impact of any one review. You do this by having lots of customer reviews. For suggestions on getting reviews, check out “How to Get More Customer Reviews Just by Asking for Them.”
For extra credit, take a look at Adam Heitzman’s article on Search Engine Journal for more details about Google’s policy change: “Google Reduces Star Rating Threshold: Why Businesses Should Take Notice.”

Want to Dominate Local Search Results? Here's One Thing You Need

Last Updated: March 14, 2017

You want to be one of the first local businesses people see when they search for products or services you offer. Obviously, you know that to be prominent and visible in local search results, you need placement on Google Maps. So, it makes sense that you would start your online marketing efforts with a Google Maps listing for your business.
There are a lot of reasons to believe Google Maps and a handful of other sites (namely Yelp and Facebook) are all you need to be visible on a local level. After all, those are the platforms that show up most often in local search results, and they’re the platforms many people turn to when looking for info on local businesses. However, don’t be fooled into thinking you can skate by with just a few online listings and nothing else. In reality, your local visibility largely depends on having a website.
In today’s post, we’ll look at how so many local business owners mistakenly believe they don’t need a website. Then, we’ll explain why websites remain vital to your presence in local search results.

Google Intensifies Focus on Local Search Results

First, let’s get some background on the importance of local search. In the last year or two, Google has been making significant user experience advancements to make on-the-go searching easier. As you may have heard, Google has been tailoring its search algorithm to cater to the rapid increase in smartphone usage.
This push to deliver a better search experience for mobile users is also what’s causing Google to prioritize local businesses. The logic: Most people search for local businesses on their smartphones because a) they’re on the go and want to find the nearest place quickly; or b) they want to call a business as soon as they find one that meets their needs.
As Google wants to make finding local businesses easier, it’s developing Google My Business pages that can act as fully functional landing pages. They contain photos, contact information, customer reviews, and even company status updates. Google even goes as far as directly asking users to submit photos and confirm addresses of businesses they’ve visited in order to flesh out these listings. In short, Google wants users to get all the info they need about a business as soon as they find it in search results, effectively eliminating the need for users to stray from Google’s search results page.

Social Media Joins the Local Search Party

Seeking to cater to their users’ smartphone habits, many social media channels, namely Facebook and Instagram, also have dedicated pages for local businesses. They function similarly to Google My Business pages in that they are essentially landing pages. They contain the business’s contact info, reviews, photos, and status updates. The end result is similar to Google’s: Users can find nearby businesses relevant to their interests without having to open a different app.

But You Can’t Rank in Local Search Results Without a Website

All of this emphasis on mobile and local search demonstrates why having a location-targeted web presence is more important than ever. However, many business owners misinterpret this trend and incorrectly believe all they need is a few listings and/or profiles on a handful of platforms. Unfortunately, that’s not how local search works.
If you want your business’s Google listing to appear in local searches, then you need to have a website. And not just any website, but a well optimized one at that.
Why? Because, as Marcus Miller of Search Engine Land reports, on-page SEO is still the number-one ranking factor in local searches. What do we mean by “on-page SEO”? It’s just a technical term for all of the content optimization on your website. You know, things like relevant keywords and images, well written content, appropriate headers and page titles, and so on. Your business needs a website with all of these elements in order to develop the kind of authority that will make Google want to feature it in search results. 

Your Website Boosts Your Local Search Presence

The fact that SEO is the number-one factor in local ranking doesn’t mean your social media pages and Google My Business listings aren’t important. Customer reviews, social buzz, and matching business information (like service categories and contact details) all contribute to your local rankings, too. Plus, those pages and listings serve an important function by providing users with easy-to-access info about your business.
In fact, it’s not uncommon for users to see a local Google listing in the search results, get all the info they need from that listing, and call or visit that business without ever clicking on the business’s website.
Ideally, your goal is to dominate local search so this exact scenario plays out and generates lots of business for you. However, in order for that to happen, you need the potent SEO juice that only a website can provide. It may sound counterintuitive (“Really? I need a website just to power my Google listing?”), but if you’re serious about wanting local visibility online, a website is not optional.

How You Can Use Word of Mouth to Edge Out the Competition

Last Updated: March 9, 2017

Does it feel like David vs. Goliath out there for your small business?
Big companies may be able to outspend you on ad campaigns and merchandising, but there are areas where ad spend has no power. One such area is word of mouth. Glowing reviews and personal referrals are just as good as—if not better than—any marketing money can buy. As long as you consistently deliver satisfying products and/or services, there will inevitably be some chatter about you. Your customers will mention you in conversation and may even give your name when asked for a referral.
In other words, big companies may have a leg up on spending, but no one has a monopoly on customer satisfaction.
Here’s how you can leverage word of mouth and give your small business the competitive edge it needs.

Online Reviews Are the New Word of Mouth

It’s easy to spread word of mouth through the digital grapevine. With the prominence of online communities like Facebook, Yelp, HomeAdvisor, Angie’s List, and even Google Maps, word travels fast.
Online, word of mouth exists in the form of customer reviews. You can establish your brand reputation just by delivering a memorable experience that customers will want to write about.

READ: How to Get More Customer Reviews Just by Asking for Them

Whether they’re on your social media pages or your directory listings, customer reviews are like word of mouth from strangers. In fact, a recent study revealed that 84% of people trust online reviews as much as recommendations from their friends. So if you’re a small business owner, all you have to do is wow your customers and ask them to leave you reviews online. The reviews will speak for themselves, as long as you have enough of them.
Here are some tricks to help you get started on collecting enough customer reviews:

  • Use an on-page feedback form or button right on your website.
  • Ask the customer directly during your interactions, and mention which site (e.g. Facebook, Yelp, etc.) you prefer them to use.
  • Send reminders in follow-up e-mails and even invoices.
  • Offer incentives for leaving a review, like coupons or small freebies.

Old-Fashioned Word of Mouth Still Works, Too

While the dynamics of social media and online interactions change, people are still the same. They still want to hear from friends and family—people they trust—about their personal recommendations.
For instance, when looking for a team to install new windows, they’ll probably first turn to anyone they know who recently had a home renovation. Failing that, they’ll probably use Facebook, a virtual megaphone, to shout from the rooftop and ask for all of their online friends’ recommendations. Think about it: You’ve probably seen at least one friend on Facebook do that this week.
At the same time, people are often looking out for each other. If they recently had a positive experience with any business from a roofing contractor to a new restaurant in town, they’re likely to speak up if they think one of their friends or family members would appreciate it, too.
However, you can further encourage them to speak up by directly asking for referrals. Here are some of our suggestions:

  • Ask customers at the beginning of your working relationship so they unconsciously keep an eye out for things they like about you.
  • Offer referral bonuses and incentives, like giving customers a discount on their next purchase when they refer a friend.
  • Surprise customers with unexpected freebies and other perks that keep them happy and wanting to gush about you.
  • Make referrals easy by providing customers with a clear form to fill out. Minimizing guesswork or confusion will make them much more likely to follow through with a referral.

A Positive Experience Is Invaluable

Ultimately, leaving customers with a positive experience and a good impression is the best way to build your reputation.
Susan Ward of The Balance offers a simple guideline:

To get good word of mouth building about your small business, think about what makes up a pleasant customer experience in your case and make sure that all the elements that would contribute to such an experience are in their best shape.

When it comes to word of mouth, there’s no substitute for customer satisfaction. You’ll have the edge over the big guys by giving your customers the personal care, friendly service, and attention to detail only a small business can provide. Use this to your advantage! Give them an experience they’ll be raving about. 

What You Need to Know About Changing Your Business Address

Last Updated: February 15, 2024

When you change your business address in real life, what do you do? You probably start by submitting an address change to the post office. Then, you update any accounts you have with banks, credit card companies, insurance agencies, and so on. You also have to go down the list and notify all of your vendors, marketers, and important contacts. In a nutshell, it’s a big pain.
Unfortunately, that’s not all. It’s crucial that you also remember to update all of your business’s online listings. And we’re not just talking about on Google. Every reference to your business’s address on the web (commonly called a “citation”) must be updated—otherwise, your search rankings could take a serious hit.
We’re not being melodramatic. In this post, we’ll discuss:

  • Why it’s so critical to update all of your listings with your new address.
  • What goes into the process of changing an address online.
  • How a marketing specialist can come in the clutch to help.

Let’s jump in!

An Accurate Business Address Is Vital 

Did you know one of the biggest influences on your rankings comes from the accuracy of your online information? Here’s how we explained it in a previous post about controlling your online presence:

Google and other search engines want to present the best possible information to their users, so they gather data from around the web to verify what’s on your company’s listing. And when Google sees conflicting details about your company coming from different sources, it flags your listing for having the wrong information: Google won’t want to display your business as a search result if there’s a chance it’s not a legitimate company. This results in poor rankings and, sometimes, suspended listings.

So if you update your business address on your Google listing while leaving up the old address on other listings, your local search rankings will suffer tremendously. When your business address changes, it needs to change identically across the board.

How to Update Your Business Address Online

Here’s where things get tricky.
You may have no problem thinking of places where your business is listed online. Google Maps, Bing Local, Yelp, Facebook, Manta, Better Business Bureau (BBB), and Angie’s List probably come to mind right away. However, these directories are only the tip of the iceberg.
You see, some online directories in the darkest corners of the Internet populate their listings by crawling the web for business information. You won’t be aware of them because you never created a listing there yourself, but they exist all the same. And they need to be updated, too.
What does this mean? Essentially, you have to spend hours searching the web for your business name and contact information in order to find every last place that mentions you. Then, you have to figure out how to update those listings, since you never created them in the first place. Sometimes, it’s as simple as claiming them on the spot. Other times, though, the process can present multiple hoops to jump through.
For instance, the BBB is notoriously difficult to work with in this context. It can take three to four weeks to update your information on their site because they want to get you to pay for accreditation (which comes with expedited processing, of course). Updating a Yelp listing may also be complicated if you don’t own your listing. At the end of the day, a lot of variables affect how smoothly and efficiently the update process goes.

Updating Your Business Address May Require a Specialist

If that all sounds like a lot of work… it is. We won’t sugarcoat it.
However, that doesn’t mean you have to spend all of your time and energy doing it. Internet marketing specialists like the ones at Prospect Genius are a great resource to lean on for these types of projects.
Our specialists do this every day. It’s their job. That means they know the most efficient, streamlined process for finding and updating every last one of your listings. Moreover, they’re familiar with the best ways to deal with the BBB, Yelp, and other difficult directories so they can update those listings as quickly as possible. They even know the most important listings for your industry that need to be double- and triple-checked before moving on.
Check out our WebFax® and CleanSlate™ programs for more details on how we can help keep your web presence neat, tidy, and working for you!

Consistency Is Key

When your business address changes, you need to update the entirety of your online presence. It’s not an easy job by any means, but it’s absolutely necessary if you want to maintain your local search rankings. Now that you have a better idea of how to handle your new business address, you can move forward without hurting your web presence!

How Blogs Help Your SEO More Than You Think

Last Updated: February 24, 2017

You already understand the fundamental purpose of blogs: to share information and ideas with your audience. But there’s a more practical reason to blog, too. Evidence shows well maintained and updated blogs can actually strengthen your SEO and improve your rankings over time.

Blogs, Keywords, and SEO

Stephanie LeVonne explains the SEO benefits of a blog in her recent article on Search Engine Land, “Will My Organic Rankings Suffer If I Don’t Have a Blog?”
According to LeVonne, a blog is a useful tool for expanding your content so you can cast a wider net for popular keywords. For example, if you’re an appliance repair company, you can use your blog to cover topics specifically related to appliance malfunctions, as well as tangential topics like household cleaning techniques and kitchen renovations. Just make sure you choose topics you know your target audience will be interested in. By covering brand-specific topics and loosely related topics in equal measure, you’ll increase your keyword base all around.
LeVonne also points out that, beyond keywords, blogs boost your SEO score on the merits of fresh content creation alone:

As an added benefit, an influx of fresh content requires Google to regularly crawl and index your site, and fresh content is a consideration when Google ranks your page in search results.

Blogs Help Sales

Of course, the ultimate goal of SEO is to create more brand awareness and increase sales.
Blog posts help you achieve this by giving you more content and making it possible for you to appear more often in the search engine results pages (SERPs). As a result, you’ll increase your click-through rate. Obviously, driving more traffic to your site is the first step in educating prospective customers about your company. And, as LeVonne notes, your audience enters the sales conversion funnel the minute they start reading your blog—before they even realize they might want to make a purchase down the road. Soon, your readers could become paying customers.
To sum up, blogs:

  • Give you more topics to draw in a wider range of prospective customers.
  • Improve your SEO and Google rankings thanks to more keywords and fresher content.
  • Put more prospective customers into your sales funnel.

If you haven’t created a blog on your website yet, how much more convincing do you need?
Be sure to read Stephanie LeVonne’s full article for more details, strategies, and helpful suggestions!

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