Bad Google Reviews - Should I Remove the Map From My Website?
-
I have a Google map on a website. Currently, there are only two 1-star reviews — which show next to the company name on the map. We added the map for local SEO reasons, but I’m thinking I should take it down because customer experience supersedes local SEO. Why boost search rankings if the content will drive people away from converting?
So basically, customer experience > local SEO.
Question: Do you all agree, or do any of you have any evidence that I should leave it? For example, it’s below the fold, so it isn’t the first thing they see, and we really need to boost their local SEO.
-
Glad to answer such a great question as the one you've asked, Blue Corona. Really a good topic you've brought up here!
-
Hi Miriam! Thank you for taking the time to put together such a thoughtful and thorough response. I am heading over to check out those resources right now — much appreciated!
-
Thank you, Cory!
-
Hi Donald, thank you for the response! These are some great points to consider.
-
Logan - thank you for this! Such a valid point. We really appreciate the response.
-
Hi Blue Corona,
I'm with the community on this - lowering the visibility of those reviews on the website is not going to prevent potential customers from finding them on Google, so this will be an ideal opportunity to really start throwing yourself into earning some excellent Google reviews, leading to the positive sentiment outweighing the negative. Here are some resources that could help:
https://whitespark.ca/review-handout-generator/
https://moz.com/blog/the-complete-guide-to-creating-onsite-reviews-testimonials-pages
https://moz.com/blog/mastering-owner-response-quintet-google-my-business-reviews
https://www.getfivestars.com/blog/13-ideas-make-business-complaint-friendly/
I totally get that it could be embarrassing for the company right now to have those negative reviews showing up on the website, but consider:
-
This is temporary. You must have a plan to drown out those couple of negative reviews with a slow-but-steady acquisition of positive reviews.
-
Google has been very clear about wanting unmoderated reviews on websites that use review schema to markup their own reviews that they are gathering directly from consumers. In other words, in Google's eyes, your reputation should be unedited. Right now, the business has a customer service issue being reflected on Google - this is presently the reality of the business, and while it's not flattering to the business, it is authentic. So now, it's the time to make an authentic response with a) resolution of problems b) excellent owner responses and c) acquisition of improved reviews over time.
Hopefully, the company can really get on this. An estimate 92% of consumers read online reviews and it's a given that this business' potential customers are seeing those negative reviews on Google. I'd make improving this scenario priority #1, over any technical or SEO considerations.
-
-
I am with the 2 previous responses. The issue with the 2 single star reviews is not that they are visible. The issue is what led to the single star reviews and what has your client done to correct the situation? Also get more real 5 star reviews to add to the poor reviews.
-
Blue Corona,
I do not think to bad reviews should make or break an SEO strategy.
1. How did you respond to those reviews? you can up your customer service game by responding and rectifying the situation that caused the bad review.
2. Ask for reviews from your clients and get more good reviews than. I am sure you have good customers that would give you good reviews. This can also be a quick way to boost those conversions. Everyone gets a bad review from time to time. If you don't have good ones your not asking for them.
3. Improve your customer experience. What are in those bad reviews? is there room to improve?
-
Hi,
I don't see this as an either or thing, if people find the website useful enough to go down to that next funnel stage, they're going to do their research and find those reviews regardless. If customer experience outweighs local SEO, there should be more effort at not having one star reviews, right? In lieu of improving custom service or whatever problems led to those reviews, they should be responded to and handled appropriately. People generally don't have a problem with bad reviews if the situation was handled well by the company. You could also work on increasing the number of reviews to over power the junk ones. Ask the client to reach out to their best customers and simply ask them to review. I've found it's very helpful when doing this to include detailed instructions to minimize confusion and make it as easy as possible for the reviewers.
Got a burning SEO question?
Subscribe to Moz Pro to gain full access to Q&A, answer questions, and ask your own.
Browse Questions
Explore more categories
-
Moz Tools
Chat with the community about the Moz tools.
-
SEO Tactics
Discuss the SEO process with fellow marketers
-
Community
Discuss industry events, jobs, and news!
-
Digital Marketing
Chat about tactics outside of SEO
-
Research & Trends
Dive into research and trends in the search industry.
-
Support
Connect on product support and feature requests.
Related Questions
-
GOOGLE SERP HELP
hey guys - a new member here, and huge issue i can't seem to wrap my head around where i could really use yalls help! I oversee about a couple firemen in my local neighborhood - however the issue lies in this: Lets say theres 50 firmen total if i look up lets say his name is 'john james fireman' on google then him and his GMB appears - great awesome, right?
Local Listings | | Johndavisx
Well then, if I search a second employee lets say her name is jill jansen and i look up 'Jill Jansen fireman' what happens is that john james GMB appears when i search her name then lets say i search another employee - calling him "jake bo" - if i look up "jake bo fireman" john james GMB STILL shows up - even though no where are there names related THEN the confusing part is that he only appears for select employees, not all of them. I don't know if this a metatagging issue, i went through his content seo and nothing seems to trigger it, so im at a loss - Any help would be greatly appreciated1 -
Local SEO: How to get local business showing up in Google Local
Hello, We moved to a small town in Council, ID. It's interesting. None of the businesses around here are showing up in Google Local - map, phone number, hours, etc. Nothing. It's all Yelp and stuff. Is there some sort of collective local SEO that has to be done to get Council, ID on the map? It's kind of strange that no businesses show up. I want to help local businesses, but I don't know if Google will even register them. We can get a group of local businesses together if we have to. Let me know what we can do. Thanks.
Local Listings | | BobGW0 -
[Local Search] Do you get penalized by using a Google Voice number for each seperate business location?
My client is expanding and opening up separate locations and I will be getting all their online business listings up and running. The client wants to use a single 1-888 number for all locations, however, it was my assumption that they would need a local number for each location to improve their ranking. Could I suggest using free Google voice numbers that get forwarded to their 1-888 number or will Google discredit us for this?
Local Listings | | aedesignco0 -
Increasing positions in local maps
Our team is working with a small law firm and we haven’t had as much luck increasing their local visibility for those key terms that they would like to rank for: Santa Barbara accident attorney/lawyer injury attorney Santa Barbara wrongful death injury lawyers serious injury attorney Santa Barbara We’ve currently got an 87% on Moz Local, 12 5 star reviews on Google+ and are working to raise the bar, however the client is unhappy not being on the top 3 - there are also instances where firms with 0 reviews, non verified G+ pages who rank higher than them. They lost a lot of links when they moved from a large marketing firm specializing in working with attorneys to our firm, which could be a factor. Although we’re gaining ground, they are considering going back as they only want the results - and I don’t blame them. Would appreciate any tips, thoughts, or advice so we can help this client.
Local Listings | | DougHoltOnline0 -
Google keeps updating/tweaking my Local business branch addresses ? to whats different in my citations and on page. how can I stop it?
Hi All, I have a number of branches as we have separate branch pages and separate google local listings for these. I have been trying to keep them in consistent for citation purposes but google keeps trying to tweak the address in the local listings. Sometimes for example , google is trying to remove the premises number from the Road e.g 78 Doncaster Road is the actual branch address but google local business wants it as Doncaster Road, I also see Google is wanting to sometimes remove the locality name etc?.. Also If the local listing has a county ( in America - you would have State) , google is sometimes wanting to remove this add United Kingdom in Country instead ?. Is this a problem and how to deal with it as I think this is obviously impacting my local rankings?. If i approve all these changes then do I need update all my citations and page addresses all the time ? Or can I just leave the suggested "Update" or overwrite googles suggestion with what I had originally. Does anyone else have this problem ? thanks pete
Local Listings | | PeteC120 -
Best practice for setting up multiple Google Places listings?
Hello, My client has just opened up two new smaller offices which I now need to have listed on Google Places as the primary office is. How is this done (using best practice)? Thanks
Local Listings | | Martin_S0 -
Google Local Business SEO
Under "http://moz.com/blog/everybody-needs-local-seo" Q) There is a paragraph saying "If your business has multiple locations, you should have a unique location landing page for each Google Plus Local listing." Does it mean that for each of my shop (location), i have to create an brand new google plus page for it? Q) There is a paragraph saying "you're dealing with a single location, then we're talking about your home page - but these elements should also be locally optimized on product and services pages. City and state in the title tag. City and state in H1 heading" For example, if my country is australia, i have to create a page within my website and the it is optimised to the keywords "Gold Coast | Australia" in my 'product and services page'?
Local Listings | | kevinbp0 -
How do URL's influence Google Rankings?
Hi There, I have a new client who wishes to rank in Google UK for 'Antique Fireplaces London'. Currently they rank 49th. They do not know their logins for Google Local (where they have 40+ positive reviews). And have very mess social activity (which i am trying to sort out). The domain is around 8 years old - website has just been redone (drupal) where a lot of the former SEO errors were corrected) but they seem to be outranked by much newer websites that have much lower domain authority and less inbound links. My client also has much more recognition in online trade magazines and newspapers than most of their competitors. Would buying some additional domains with the keywords they wish to rank for help? Or will this look dodgy to google? Any other quick tips to give them a boost?
Local Listings | | skehoe0