Is It Beneficial to 'Like' My Clients Google Reviews?

[Justine.Hedge]

I have a client who is insisting that all of us in the office 'like' his positive reviews on Google.

My boss & I are fine with doing this, but due to the industry the client works in, my staff is questioning doing this or not because they do not want to be associated with his company outside of work.

Is there any SEO benefit to us liking his reviews or is this more for him to feel better that people are reading them? Does my staff have anything to worry about if they do 'like' his reviews?

[ClaytonJ]

Intriguing question. In short yes there is a benefit - in so far as the three-panel reviews that appear are often manip[ulated by likes. So your liking a positive review may push a negative review off the SERP.

However, should your staff write false reviews, 100% not, that would not good from an objective perspective?  In Australia it would be a disaster for staff and the business moral, effectively it is imposing your views on your staff on possibly private gmail assets and asking them to publish your views.

[effectdigital]

As far as I know, although aggregate review ratings themselves can be used by Google in terms of GMB / Google maps rankings, 'likes' don't factor at all and will make zero difference

It looks weird anyway, I would think that it would be very rare for people to take the time to 'like' reviews. Maybe if it was something they were passionate about (a book they read, then they saw someone's review and really vibed with it. Or a big brand with an extremely innovative product...)

- but to see liked reviews for drier SMB stuff, would seem a little contrived (just my 2pence)

[jasongmcmahon]

Hi there, it certainly won't harm anything, unless you work in a large office & everyone does it around the same

[MiriamEllis]

Good Afternoon, Justine,

This is an excellent question. There is no documentation regarding SEO benefits from the presence of thumbs-up activity on Google reviews. They may have some impact on the  order in which reviews are displayed, but I have never seen any study undertaken as to whether they have any impacts beyond that.

Because of this, I would treat the topic, in general, as one of low priority/low concern.

However, we've waded into something deeper here with this scenario of a client trying to pressure an agency to thumb up his positive reviews.  I'm assuming he's doing so because he believes it will benefit him in some way, but your question deserves a thoughtful answer.

So far as I know, Google has never released formal guidelines for the use of the "like" function on reviews since they rolled it out in 2016. They don't specify who should use that function (owners, the public, etc.) or whether they would consider any particular use of it spammy.  But what we do know is this: Google is very big on the concept of reviews being honest and transparent and sourced directly from customers. Anything that resembles manipulation is forbidden.

The "like" button isn't the review, of course, but it's associated with the review. Does it strike you that what this client is asking you do is to manipulate his review corpus? After all, you are his marketer ... not a customer. Google's position is weak here, because so far as I know, they haven't released specific guidelines. In that environment, I could certainly make a case for your client interpreting the "like" button as something he should use when he receives a review he's grateful for. He could respond to the review and hit the "like" button as a thank-you. But when the owner begins bringing in his marketers to do the same ... marketers who are not customers but are, in fact, paid contractors, does this not seem to be crossing a line from gratitude to manipulation?

Another way to look at this: how would the business owner feel if his competitor hired 100 people who did nothing all day but like his reviews? Would that feel fair or honest to him?

So, as I said at the outset, I would consider this a low-level priority given that I have no documentation indicating that likes impact rankings, and I can't even fully quantify the level of impact they have on review ordering because you will commonly see reviews with multiple likes being outranked by reviews with no likes. This isn't the biggest issue in local SEO, but your client's attitude could prove troubling if he is inclined toward manipulation. I've never had a client try to order me to do something, and that that seems odd, too.

If it were my agency, I would say "no" and talk with the client about the need to earn his reputation rather than try to fake it in any way. That kind of approach seldom pays off in the long run, and I'd hate to okay a client engaging in any practice that I was even remotely worried might be perceived by Google as spam. You'll need to make a decision on this at your agency, and then present it to the client. Good luck, and I hope my thoughts on this are helpful!

[Alex_Ratynski]

Hey Justine!

Great question, as far as I understand, Google does NOT actually use “liking” reviews or marking them as “helpful” as any ranking factor. However, I believe it does use them to rank which reviews to show. Similar to how Yelp shows reviews.

In regards to your team, they shouldn’t have any problems if they decide to Ike the reviews. That being said, liking the reviews is just patting your client on the head, but not actually majorly affecting his rankings.

I suggest sharing that with him, he may not find it as important if he knows. On the flip side, if it makes him happy, your team shouldn’t have anything to worry about. I wouldn’t suggest liking every review simply because not every review is ”helpful” some might be truly more helpful than others,

I hope that answers your question!

Here is an article that shares a little bit of info: https://contractorcalls.com/7-things-didnt-know-google-reviews/ see point 6.

If that didn’t answer your question, Mozzer Miriam Ellis might have more insight.

Best,

Alex Ratynski