Many marketers and business brands still find it difficult to make the connection between customer reviews and website traffic. Below, the big question – “do reviews affect site traffic?” is answered. In addition, we explain how reviews affect website traffic.

Yes, Reviews Directly Affect Website Traffic

According to the Google My Business support page, customer -generated content, including reviews and service ratings, affects a site’s search engine ranking.

A recent statement on the page states that “high quality, positive reviews from your customers improve the visibility of your business and increase the likelihood that interested customers will visit your location (online or offline).” Therefore, it is necessary that you encourage your customers to leave a review to strengthen your ranking.

How Customer Reviews Affect Web Traffic

Reviews can help encourage prospects and leads to choose your business over the competition while also boosting your SEO performance.

Here’s what usually happens:

1. Customer reviews improve SEO ranking

Keywords basically determine search engine ranking. Google regularly checks its database for the pieces of content that have the most chances of a key search term. Then, taking care of other ranking factors returns results that best respond to the search term.

Customer reviews contribute to this as Google treats reviews as content, such as blogs, and videos, etc. Therefore, just as more quality blogs guarantee a better ranking, more positive and high quality reviews automatically mean a better SERP ranking. Higher rankings also equate to more traffic because more potential customers will find you first.

2. Positive reviews can lift you to the “local package”

The Google local pack is the products and services that appear on Google search results pages when you perform a local search. Typically, you’ll see a map of business locations that offer the product/service locally, along with listings for the three businesses related to the search.

Now, imagine that your store or products appear on the list! It’s a goldmine for local businesses because the consumer can easily record your address and go straight to your store. Or, they can click to order if they want the item delivered. Bright Local study shows that local reviews are the second most important factor in local pack ranking after Google Business Profile.

3. Positive reviews guarantee referral traffic

Describe it: you just found out you had a leak in your roof. So, now you need to quickly find an experienced roofing professional in your area. Fortunately, you have some recommendations from friends. What will you do next? Search the roofer on Google and social media to see if they have a good reputation, right?

This is what is happening in the digital world today. A quick review on Google and social media lets you read reviews to confirm if you’re dealing with a legit business. It also gives you the opportunity to assess the company’s extensive reputation. And, if the reviews aren’t fantastic, you’ll likely find alternative recommendations from your social circle, complete with links you can click to visit the new service provider’s website. Top brands get thousands of views through referral traffic each year from situations like this.

4. Positive reviews encourage visitors to take action

Finally, positive reviews can also make a difference on search engine result pages and review websites and platforms. For example, suppose your blog ranks fourth on the Google search results page. However, it does have some reviews highlighted in the meta description. Or, you may be up against some other brand on Yelp or TripAdvisor.

Positive tests can make a difference in both cases. A good ranking (say 5-stars) and tons of positive user reviews is enough to convince new users to click your website link. Meanwhile, some negative reviews can be a red flag that immediately stops potential visitors. However, you can mitigate this by directly responding to any negative reviews.

Summary

Reviews, directly and indirectly, affect website traffic. They can influence SEO ranking, referral traffic, and encourage users to take action. Thus, what users say about your brand and products can determine how many prospects visit your business online.

Do you want a pro-active plan to automate getting your customers and clients to leave reviews on your website, Google My Business listings and any review sites? We can help a program to do that! The more positive reviews you have, the better the reputation of your business.

Mike Gingerich is president of Digital Hill Multimedia (www.DigitalHill.com), a Goshen web design, web software and social media marketing firm. He is also a business blogger in tech, marketing, and growth. Find out more at www.MikeGingerich.com/blog/.