When you work on optimizing as many websites as we do, and have over the past decade, you begin to see some patterns. Among these patterns is what businesses are doing to diminish the performance of their website in getting leads. There are several that we’d like to share with you over the next few weeks:
LEADS KILLER PART I: Google Customer Reviews Issues
- GOOGLE CUSTOMER REVIEWS ARE CRITICAL: Tracking that we do regularly with heatmaps proves it. Prospects not only click on the reviews shown but even the “more reviews” button. This is especially true for B2C businesses. Not as important for B2B, however.
- STALE REVIEWS ARE A KILLER: If your most recent review is over one month old, your site may not convert well at all. Don’t let this happen.
- FEW REVIEWS: If your site has 20 reviews and your competitors are in the hundreds, this will also hurt your conversions.
- LOW-RATED REVIEWS: If you have few reviews and they are low-rated, don’t advertise them on your site. The prospect can still find them, but make it a top priority to get more reviews and more in the 4s…then put them up on your site.
- ALL “5-STAR REVIEWS”: Nobody believes that anyone or any company can always be perfect. Don’t only ask for 5-star reviews. Let your customers decide.
- CURATED REVIEWS: Don’t post reviews that have been rewritten and think that they are persuasive. They are not. They show desperation and you are wasting your time (unless you are a B2B site where curated reviews are acceptable as many businesses will not leave a customer review.)
- MAKE SOMEONE AT YOUR OFFICE RESPONSIBLE FOR GETTING REVIEWS: There are many easy ways to do this from automated systems like we have built for our clients to third-party companies like Podium.
- REVIEWS SHOW GOOGLE THAT YOUR SITE IS POPULAR: Google is looking at thousands of “touch points” to determine if your site belongs on the Front Page. This is most likely one of them. This is true with B2B too.
These points are non-negotiable for a Page One/Front Page Google ranking. And that’s where the traffic is, and the traffic leads to clicks and the clicks lead to sales leads. Don’t fight it…just do it!
Onward and upward!
MORE INFO: https://detroitseocompany.com/blog/mass-media-news/detroit-named-one-of-the-worlds-greatest-places-in-2022-by-times-magazine/
