Do review sites like consumer affairs negatively affect SERPs?

[Dynata_panel_marketing]

Hey all,

So when googling the name of our site we see consumer affairs pop up around 5th with a 1 star rating. These negative reviews are mostly spammy (competitors, etc.) since we have an awesome support team that deals with all unhappy members very effectively. We reached out to CA and they came back asking for $10k+ (highway robbery) to "help us improve our rating."

My question is: do poor ratings on review sites like these negatively affect your SERPs? And if so, how can we work to combat their effect?

Thanks in advance,

Roman

[LoganRay]

Roman,

Here are my thoughts:

1. Can we PM our followers on twitter or facebook and directly ask? As long as you stick to people you know would be a brand advocate for you, I don't see why not.

2. Which medium is generally most successful? We've generally only done email, but primarily because that's how we communicate with them on a normal basis anyway.

3. What if we tweeted something like: "we need your help, anyone that leaves an honest review on yelp will get _____ (money, gift card, appreciation, etc.) -  I know it's tempting and seems logical to make offers like that, but it violates Google's guidelines. Even if it's not for Google reviews, they might get wind of it and discount those reviews. Reviews are supposed to show a reflection of your business, not what you've offered in exchange for good reviews.

4. Which review site is the best for improving reputation and SERP- google plus, yelp, bbb?  Those 3 are the top ones I'd stick to.

5. Would you recommend sending people to consumer affairs to try to offset the bad rating or to just focus on all the other review sites and have them usurp consumer affairs' position? Definitely try to get some better ratings on CA to cancel out the bad.

[Dynata_panel_marketing]

Patrick,

Thank you for your response. I was hoping I could also get some input from you. So we're going to up our efforts for getting positive reviews. I was curious to know if you had any insight into what's acceptable practice and what isn't. For example:

1. Can we PM our followers on twitter or facebook and directly ask?

2. Which medium is generally most successful? Email, twitter, facebook

3. What if we tweeted something like: "we need your help, anyone that leaves an honest review on yelp will get _____ (money, gift card, appreciation, etc.)

4. Which review site is the best for improving reputation and SERP- google plus, yelp, bbb?

5. Would you recommend sending people to consumer affairs to try to offset the bad rating or to just focus on all the other review sites and have them usurp consumer affairs' position?

Thanks again for your help!

Roman

[Dynata_panel_marketing]

Logan,

Thanks for your response. So we're going to up our efforts for getting positive reviews. I was curious to know if you had any insight into what's acceptable practice and what isn't. For example:

1. Can we PM our followers on twitter or facebook and directly ask?

2. Which medium is generally most successful? Email, twitter, facebook

3. What if we tweeted something like: "we need your help, anyone that leaves an honest review on yelp will get _____ (money, gift card, appreciation, etc.)

4. Which review site is the best for improving reputation and SERP- google plus, yelp, bbb?

5. Would you recommend sending people to consumer affairs to try to offset the bad rating or to just focus on all the other review sites and have them usurp consumer affairs' position?

Thanks again for your help!

Roman

[Bigb06]

Hello,

You may respond to ALL negative reviews and encourage your customers to post reviews on this site. And try to get a lot of reviews from trusted sources like Yelp, Google Local, ... You can also use service like GetFiveStars to improve your rankings and get rich snippet for your home page or product page.

[LoganRay]

Hi Roman,

According to Google's Search Quality Raters Guidelines, third party reviews can have a negative impact on your organic visibility. Google is actively pursuing reputation information from third party sites and factoring that into the way they determine the "best results" for a query.

The best thing you can do to curb this, and hopefully improve your overall ratings, is to get some new good reviews to overpower the bad ones. My suggestion would be to start by picking a handful of customers you know have been happy with your products/services and reach out to them. If you've (or the client if you're not in-house) got some staff internally that interact with these customers, have them do it. People are much more likely to be responsive if they're asked by someone whom they've dealt with before. The message should be very candid, but not canned, people see right through that.

And as Patrick mentioned, always follow up on bad reviews. The only thing worse than a bad review, is one that goes unaddressed.

Hope that's helpful!

[PatrickDelehanty]

Hi there

While it may not hurt you in a lower search ranking, it will hurt you in the user's eyes. What I would suggest doing is adding a review feature to your website, focus on Yelp! or Google Reviews, and certifications like the BBB or other relevant industry certifications. These are usually where Google and other search engines will pull from and they are usually harder to manipulate. I would focus on reviews there and getting established on those sites.

Also, whether a legit review is good or bad, always follow up, thank the person, and see where you could be of more service. It's a good look for your brand and company when doing so.

Let me know if you have any other questions or comments, good luck!
Patrick