Google 5 Star Reviews Guide [The Right Way]

Word of mouth remains the most important factor that influences customer decisions with 74% of buyers affirming that word of mouth is the deciding factor in their purchasing decisions.

The internet has made it easier than ever for customers to share their experiences with the products and services of businesses through the customer reviews system. Research shows that 90% of buyers read online customer reviews before deciding to buy from a business.

At the heart of this customer reviews system is Google search. Google Search displays the profile and reviews of relevant businesses in response to search queries. Google also uses a rating scale to assign a 1 to 5-star rating to businesses based on the quality of reviews each business has accumulated.

This Google 5 star review rating system heavily influences how potential customers judge your business with 58% of buyers saying they need a 5-star review rating before they can choose a business.

This makes getting Google 5 star reviews a must if you want to draw more potential buyers to your business.

Why 5 Star Reviews From Google Are Important

There are many online business listing sites like Yelp, Facebook, Bing Places, and many others that display business profiles and customer reviews, but Google is by far the most important.

Google rules online search and 64% of buyers use Google specifically to check the customer reviews of businesses during their decision-making process.

The online profile and star rating of your business on Google are crucial to creating a good first impression with potential customers. You wouldn’t be interested in choosing a local restaurant that has a 2-star rating on Google – and the same applies to your customers.

If you want your business to appear credible and trustworthy on Google search results – you need to invest in earning more 5 star reviews. This process of managing how customers view your brand online is called reputation management.

At Evergreen Marketing we offer reputation management services to help clients take control of their online presence. We use state-of-the-art platforms to help businesses with Google My Business (GMB) optimization, management of online reviews & reputation, and citations & directory listings.

Below are a few more reasons why investing in the management of your online reputation and acquiring 5 star Google reviews is important:

• Customer Trust: a 5-star rating on Google signals to potential customers that your products and services can be trusted while negative reviews and a low rating push buyers away.
• Increase in Sales: 5-star reviews and a top-rated ranking on local search results will drive more customer traffic to your business which will boost sales and lead to an increase in revenue.
• Rank on Local Search Results: Google takes 5 star Google reviews into account when ranking local businesses for local search results. The more Google 5 star reviews you get, the higher your chances of getting your business on the Map Pack.
• Brand Reach: if customers like your business they will share their 5-star reviews on other listing sites like Yelp, Realtor.com, Manta, and others – this expands your review ecosystem and brings more exposure to your brand.

How Many 5 Star Reviews Do I Need?

It’s clear you need to get 5 star Google reviews for your business, but just how many do you really need? You need at least 10 reviews that were posted within two months and an overall 5-star rating from Google.

Research shows that 90% of customers read between 1 to 10 reviews and that the most important factors are the recency of your reviews and your star rating from Google.

Customers expect a significant number of your 5-star reviews to be recent, preferably less than two weeks old and not more than two months. Customers use recency to judge if the quality of your products and services is still as good as advertised.

Customers will also look at the overall star rating of your business from Google.

Most customers won’t bother to read your reviews if your overall star rating is very low. Since Google weighs your positive reviews against your negative reviews, getting a bunch of negative reviews will severely impact your Google star rating.

How Do I Increase My Star Rating On Google?

To increase the overall Google star rating of your business, you need to focus on these four important measures:

• Get more Google 5 star reviews from loyal customers
• Add Schema code markup to your business website
• Improve your rankings in local search by boosting your site authority
• Get your customers to share 5-star reviews on other trusted review sites

It is a given that you need 5-star reviews from customers to boost your Google star rating. If a few disgruntled customers decide to leave negative reviews on your profile, drown out their reviews by soliciting an overwhelming number of positive reviews from other happy customers.

Adding Schema code to your site will link Google 5 star reviews to your website and you can do this yourself or hire a marketing and SEO expert to do it for you.

Boosting your site authority involves getting other authority sites in your industry to link to your website. This tells Google that high Domain Authority (DA) sites in your niche are vouching for your website, and Google will rank your site higher in local search results.

If you rank higher in search results, Google will recognize and trust your business. When Google recognizes your business, your overall star ratings will start to appear in search results.

Simple 4 Step Guide To Gain 5 Star Google Reviews

Below is a four-step guide to help you get and display 5 star Google reviews on your business profile:

Step 1: Set Up Your Google My Business Profile

Without a GMB profile, your customers won’t have anywhere to leave positive reviews on Google about your business.

Before you start sourcing 5-star reviews from customers, register and set up your GMB account. It is the information in your GMB account that Google will use to create the online profile of your business in Google Search results.

Step 2: Get Your Google Reviews URL

After you have registered and verified your GMB account, you need to get your Google Reviews URL that will be shared with your customers.

This review link will give customers easy access to the Google Reviews box where they can write and publish their 5-star reviews of your business.

This link should then be shared with your customers.

Step 3: Share Your Google Review Link

Now, it’s time to send the link to your loyal customers and ask for reviews. Make your customers understand the importance of 5-star reviews to your business.

Let them know that their 5-star reviews will support your business and help you remain competitive in an environment of fierce competition from other businesses for online visibility.

Customers that are satisfied with your products and services will want your business to succeed and will happily leave 5-star reviews on your profile.

Step 4: Show Appreciation

Respond to customer reviews and say thank you to loyal customers that took the time out of their day to support your business.

Let them know you appreciate their loyalty & support and it will strengthen your relationship with those customers. Also, potential buyers will read your responses to customer feedback, and to them, it shows you care about your customers.

Can You Ask For 5 Star Reviews?

Yes, you can.

Taking the initiative is the most effective way to get customers to leave 5 star Google reviews on your profile. The best time to ask is immediately after customers have enjoyed your products and services.

Ask them at the peak of their happiness. Customers that are happy with the products and services they just got from your business will gladly leave a 5-star review on your profile.

You can ask by email, text, phone, face-to-face, or any other means that is comfortable for your customers.

If you don’t ask, you won’t get enough reviews.

Research shows that customers are more likely to leave a review when they have had a bad experience with the products or services of a business. However, if they had a positive experience and you ask for reviews, 76% of happy customers are likely to respond and leave a review.

5 Tips To Generate More Reviews

Below are tips to help you get more 5 star Google reviews:

Sell Great Products and Offer Stellar Services

It all starts with offering the best products and services that will delight customers and differentiate your business from your competitors. Customers will only say good things about your business if your products and services meet their needs and exceed their expectations.

Let Customers Know You Need Their Reviews

We touched on this earlier in the article. Let your happy customers know that you are interested in their comments about the quality of your products and services.

Send simple requests through personalized emails or texts for customer feedback and 5-star reviews. Don’t forget to show your appreciation to them for choosing your business in the first place, and also remember to include your Google reviews link.

Take Advantage Of Reputation Management Software

Reputation management software tools help you to generate, monitor, and share customer reviews from Google, Facebook, Yelp, and other review sites.

With these tools, you can set up campaigns to ask customers for reviews and guide them through the process of sharing reviews on your online profiles. You can also monitor and respond to negative reviews while capturing positive reviews to be shared with a broader audience.

Some of these reputation management tools are:

• Grade.us
• Review Buzz
• TrustPilot
• Nearby Now
• BirdEye

Display Your 5 Star Google Reviews On Your Website

You can display your 5-star reviews on your website by adding a review widget to each of your landing pages or you can even create a dedicated reviews page on your website.

Displaying 5-star customer reviews on your site serves as social proof for your business and it influences new customers to take the time to leave a review – especially if you add a CTA to your review page.

Respond To Negative Reviews

Negative reviews matter, they show you areas in your products/services and customer service that need improvement. Responding to negative reviews shows customers that you care about their problems and will take the time to resolve them.

Also, potential buyers expect every business to have a few bad reviews since you can’t satisfy every customer. It is suspicious when a business has hundreds of 5-star reviews with no customer complaints.

What matters is how you respond to such complaints. Apologize, and work to rectify the complaints of the unhappy customer. When potential buyers see this, they will know you listen to your customers.

Final Thoughts

Getting positive Google reviews from customers to help your business get a 5-star rating on Google is crucial to building a positive online reputation for your business.

With a positive online reputation, you will attract more customers and increase sales for your business. Now it’s up to you to use the information in this article to set up a process that will consistently generate 5 star Google reviews for your business.

You may find online reputation management time consuming or difficult, and you need the help of reputation management experts. Evergreen Growth Marketing can help.

We are a Raleigh NC SEO & customer review management company that can help you generate & monitor customer reviews. We will also manage your online profiles and business reputation. Get in touch with us today.