Does Replying To Google Reviews Help SEO. Yes, Yes it Does.
Written By: Joey Randazzo
Joey Randazzo is the owner and Founder of Portland SEO Growth Partners based in Portland, OR. He’s worked with hundreds of businesses to build growth-centric SEO campaigns, many of which struggled to run proper A/B tests.
For most businesses, responding to Google reviews will help their SEO.
But, I want to make something super, super, super clear.
There are other more important activities for SEO.
If, for example…
- Your Google Business Profile has no content or photos
- Your website is thin on content
- You have 20 Google reviews and your local competitors have 700
…then responding to a Google review won’t help you rank at the top of Google.
However, if you’ve got the SEO foundations locked in and you’re competing to either…
- Jump those last few positions to outperform the top local competitors
- Are already ranking at the top and want to solidify your position there, preventing competitors from kicking you off the top
Then responding to Google reviews could be the difference between ranking at the top and not.
Contents
- First, Let’s Define “Help SEO” in the Context of Responding To Reviews
- Sometimes, Getting Google Reviews and Responding To Them Will NOT Help SEO – Here’s When That’s The Case
- Does Responding To Reviews Help SEO? Info From Google’s Mouth
- Does Responding to Positive Reviews Or Negative Reviews Help SEO More?
- Responding to Google Reviews to Help SEO: The Right Way
- Responding to Google Reviews to Help SEO: The Wrong Way
- To Wrap Things Up
First, Let’s Define “Help SEO” in the Context of Responding To Reviews
When people leave you a Google review, they leave it on your Google Business Profile.
This below is a Google Business Profile.⬇️ As you can see, there’s a clear location where Google displays your reviews.
This Google Business Profile, while it technically is used in Google’s algorithm to determine many aspects of your SEO performance, generally helps you rank in what’s called the Google Local Pack.
An example of a Google Local Pack is below. ⬇️
So when you ask if responding to Google reviews helps your SEO, what you should be asking instead is…
Does responding to Google reviews help me rank in the Google Local Pack 1) more often and 2) for more keywords?
We share this clarification for a specific reason:
Google’s local ranking factors (AKA algorithm) on how it ranks local businesses in the Google Local Pack (maps) is much different than how it ranks websites for non-local queries.
Sometimes, Getting Google Reviews and Responding To Them Will NOT Help SEO - Here’s When That’s The Case
A local business with a Google Business Profile, (such as a business implementing SEO for interior designers) trying to rank for a local keyword such as “interior designer in [city]” will definitely benefit from responding to reviews since a Google Local Pack will always show up for these types of searches.
A national company with a Google Business Profile for their HQ (such as a clothing company) trying to rank for a keyword such as “best organic cotton hoodies for kids” will not benefit from responding to Google reviews
Why won’t the 2nd example benefit from responding to Google reviews?
The reason is that a Google Local Pack doesn’t show up when folks search for the keywords that they want to rank for.
Even if that clothing company gets 100 Google reviews next month and responds to every single one of them, those reviews will not improve their performance for these types of searches.
The moral of the story here is that…
It doesn’t matter if you have a Google Business Profile and respond to Google reviews if you aren’t a business that relies on local keywords that generate a Google Local Pack (maps results).
To really get the benefit of responding to Google reviews, you need to rely on keywords like:
- Auto mechanic Portland OR
- Best mechanic near me
- Car mechanic in Portland that specializes in BMWs
Does Responding To Reviews Help SEO? Info From Google’s Mouth
Here’s exactly what Google says in their document called “How to improve your local ranking on Google”
I know what you’re thinking…
Google has a page on their site that’s literally called “How to improve your local ranking on Google”?!?!?
Yes, they do. And you should probably read the whole thing.
When it comes to responding to reviews, Google says…
Respond to reviews that users leave about your business. When you reply to reviews, it shows that you value your customers and their feedback. High-quality, positive reviews from your customers can improve your business visibility and increase the likelihood that a shopper will visit your location.
Does Responding to Positive Reviews Or Negative Reviews Help SEO More?
Neither will help SEO “more”.
But I personally believe that responding to negative reviews will help drive more conversions from SEO, which is ultimately what you care about.
Let me explain through a brief hypothetical story.
You’re looking for a new hair salon. You go to Google and type in “best hair salon near me”.
If you’re like most other people searching on the internet, you see the top ranking results and begin investigating, often reading through their reviews.
You see negative reviews for 2 salons you’re considering working with.
Salon 1 negative review goes unresponded.
- If you’re an HVAC company and get 1 lead per week from people finding you on Google, then you can technically say your SEO is “working”
- However, if you’re the top-performing HVAC company in Las Vegas, you should be getting around 3-5+ leads from Google PER DAY.
Salon 2 negative review does respond.
Which salon would you trust more? The one that doesn’t respond to negative reviews or the one that responds apologetically and says they’ll work hard to fix the problem?
Obviously, you’ll trust the second salon more.
In many instances, how a business responds to a negative review may be the final Aha! moment for the user to think “I like how these people do business. I’m going to give them a chance and call them right now.”
Responding to Google Reviews to Help SEO: The Right Way
The right way includes…
Adding context:
If someone leaves you a Google review, you have 4,000 characters to write a response.
4,000 characters is a s*^&-ton of space.
- It’s about 800 words
- 800 words, for context, is over 3 pages (double-spaced)
As you can see in the screenshot above, I only used 141 of 4,000 characters.
Here’s the important note about providing context in your response:
You do NOT need to use all 4,000 characters.
I believe that Google is providing that much space to respond to negative reviews so that you can explain the situation.
If someone leaves you a scathing 1-star review, you likely need to provide a TON of context:
- Apologize
- Here’s what happened
- Here’s how I tried to resolve it during the situation
- Here’s how I’ll try to resolve it after the situation
That might take 4,000 characters to do.
But, when responding to a positive review, you only need a few sentences as you can see from my responses above.
Gently adding keywords, if appropriate:
For most businesses, they have a relationship with their customers and know them well. For others, such as a car wash, the experience is quicker and more transactional.
Either way, you can gently add in keywords to your review response.
Here’s an example of how to respond to a Google review if you’re a car wash in Dallas.
- The 5-star review from someone named Steven: “affordable and easy experience”
- Your response: “Steven, thanks for stopping by our car wash 🚗🚿! We’re glad you had an easy experience with us.”
Responding to EVERY review (quickly)
While Google doesn’t say anything about how quickly you should respond to reviews, I personally believe that the quicker you respond, the more Google trusts that you care about your customers.
Ultimately, Google wants to rank businesses at the top that provide a good experience and care about their customers.
I also think that Google is monitoring how frequently a business logs into their profile. The more active they are in their profile (cough cough… Google owns your profile and the more you use it, the more you’re stroking their ego… cough cough) the more Google will likely want to reward you.
Responding to Google Reviews to Help SEO: The Wrong Way
Short, one word responses
Responding with “Thanks” is better than nothing. But it really doesn’t do the job.
If you’re going to spend the time leaving a response, give just a BIT more. Here’s an example of a company that simply copies and pastes the same short review response to all their reviews, saying…
“Thank you [Name!] Glad we could help!”
If you read the second review from Patrick, he’s writing an epic review! Talking about his van, oil pressure, engine oil, etc.
This company, when responding, could’ve spoken to the details of
Overly keyword stuffed
You know exactly what I’m talking about here. Don’t overdo it.
If you’re using more than 2 keywords in a response to a Google review, you’ve likely overdone it.
Respond to only some reviews
There’s not much to say here…
Be diligent and respond to every single review, regardless if it’s a 2-star review or a 5-star review.
Delayed responses in bulk
One common approach to responding to Google reviews that I’ve seen is to respond in bulk.
Basically, you log into your Google Business Profile once every few weeks or months and spend 20 minutes typing out responses.
This is better than nothing! But it shows inconsistency to Google.
- If your competitor responds to a negative review 5 hours later and…
- You respond to a negative review 15 days later….
Then who is Google going to trust will take better care of their customers?
To Wrap Things Up
- Respond to every single Google review you receive.
- Respond quickly
- Be thorough in your responses
- Gently use keywords in your responses, when applicable
Joey Randazzo
Owner & CEO of Portland SEO Growth