The most recent edition of the Google Search App has a number of cool new changes, including automatically launching other Google apps. But the coolest addition, by far, is voice search. Here’s the official video on it:
The voice recognition is surprisingly accurate and much simpler than typing your search queries…go check it out!
One of the best compliments a business can get is a referral. Word of mouth marketing has been an effective tool for ages, and why wouldn’t it be? Could even the most brilliant ad hope to compete with the sincerity of a referral from a friend?
Referrals are still as persuasive as ever, but now there is a more modern equivalent. Online customer reviews were the first big step. You see them everywhere – Amazon is especially famous for it – their “people who had your taste in books had this to say about this novel” reviews, plus the list of “oh by the way, they also liked these” books. Upselling? Maybe. But effective? Absolutely. Perfect strangers can affect the books you buy more than Amazon can themselves!
Now, Google is using reviews, and might even be taking them into account for rankings. Local Search results (Google Maps, in this case) include five-star ratings and reviews. My question is: what affect do reviews (whether good or bad) have on local rankings?
I think we can all agree that local rankings seem to be based on location, first and foremost. In other words, the closer to the address or city in the query a business is, the higher that business will rank. What if we factor in the small matter that a business (perhaps further away) has both more reviews and stars than the competition?
Case in point, a search for “lobster portland me”. Here are the first five search results. Notice only The Lobster Shack (#4) has reviews and stars, and is the only one on the first SERP with them.
It may not seem to prove anything at first. But take a look at the accompanying map.
Whether you’re from Portland (or Maine, for that matter) or not, you can see that Cape Elizabeth is not Portland. The entire first page, plus most of the second and third pages, are filled with Portland results; except for spot #4, which is also coincidentally the only company with customer reviews.
Maybe it is a coincidence. Then again maybe not. I’ve been noticing this trend for a while now, and while it is not a perfect science (sometimes un-reviewed sites rank much better than reviewed ones), it might be something.
The takeaway? Optimizing your site is important – it will help with rankings initially. But reviews (especially if you’re local) are critical. We often suggest our clients use a sort of new-age comment card system: by asking their customers to review their product or service on these local sites. Reviews might just be the icing on the cake, enough to give your company the edge!
Moderator: Danny Sullivan, Editor-in-Chief, Search Engine Land
Speaker: Bryan Horling, Group Product Manager, Google Inc.