Where are these reviews?
The reviews I’m referring to are on your Google Business Profile (formerly Google My Business). When someone searches Google for a specific business (like Pioneer Media) or an industry (like local web designers), Google shows a panel with information about the business. If your business doesn’t appear, you may need to create a free profile at business.google.com, which is highly recommended. The panel shows your business name, phone number, address, hours, reviews, a link to your website and more. Here, we’ll focus on your reviews.
Why do reviews matter?
The more quality 5-star reviews your business has, the more credible it looks at a glance. Your business may be listed right next to competitors with better reviews, and strong reviews help you stand out.
Reviews also help your search ranking. Google wants to show the best businesses at the top of its results, since they’re most likely to satisfy the person searching. Strong reviews tell Google a business is well respected and does exceptional work, so your rating is one of many (many!) local SEO ranking factors. AI assistants like ChatGPT and Gemini also lean on reviews when recommending “the best” local businesses. That alone is a solid reason to work on your Google rating.
What if I have a bad review?
Unfortunately, there isn’t much you can do about a legitimate bad review. The best approach is to always provide great customer service, reply professionally, and outweigh the bad review with plenty of excellent ones. If a review breaks Google’s policies (for example, it’s spam, off-topic or offensive), you can report it from your Business Profile and Google will decide whether to remove it. Read more in how to handle negative online reviews.
How can I get more good reviews?
Ask! After you complete a job your customer is happy with, kindly ask them to write an honest review on your Google listing (or your Facebook page, Yelp listing and so on). Start with Google, since it’s the largest search engine and relies on its own reviews first.
- Make it easy. Your Google Business Profile has an “Ask for reviews” option that gives you a short link straight to the review form. Text or email it to customers.
- Ask everyone. Ask all your customers, not just the ones you expect to leave 5 stars; selectively asking only happy customers is against Google’s policies.
- Never pay for reviews. Don’t offer discounts or gifts in exchange for reviews. Genuine reviews are what build lasting trust.
This is all very important for your business’s marketing, branding and online presence.
About the author
Leighton Smith is Pioneer Media’s website designer, web developer and webmaster, based in East Tennessee. As a solopreneur, he is each client’s one point of contact and has built hundreds of websites since learning to code in 2006.
