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Trust is the center of trust in the digital age. As a small local business or an enterprise, it is through the building of credibility with your audience that the lifeblood you have drives relations built and sales driven. One of the most powerful ways by which this can be done is through social proof, and no other form is as great as Google reviews. If you are not making the Google reviews appear on your website, you may miss opportunities to engage with visitors and increase conversions.
In this post, we will discuss why you must show Google reviews on your website, as well as how to include Google reviews on your own website easily.
Why Google Reviews Matters for Trust?
Before we get into the technical how-to of the process, let’s first discuss why Google reviews are important to you in the first place.
1. Social Proof Builds Credibility
Humans are, by nature, social animals. We rely mainly on others to give us validation concerning our choice-making. This is what comes to be known as the social proof approach-a psychological phenomenon whereby people use other people’s behavior and opinions as a way of directing their own actions. When it comes to businesses, consumer reviews would win the vote of the potential consumers over any form of marketing and advertising.
Google reviews are, in a way, social proof. When your visitors notice that other customers have had good experiences with your business, it becomes easier for them to trust you. Hence, displaying these reviews on your site gives your visitors the social validation they need to feel confident about your products or services.
2. Google Reviews Are Highly Trusted
Google is the biggest search engine in the world and its review is one of the most trusted by the consumer. As indicated in a 2020 BrightLocal survey, 79% of consumers report they trust online reviews as much as personal recommendations. Google reviews are particularly valuable because they link directly to your Google My Business (GMB) profile; therefore, they are visible on Google search results, Google Maps, and within other Google services.
3. They Improve Search Engine Rankings
Publishing Google reviews on your website not only works to build trust but also seems to affect the SEO ranking of your site. A website’s reputation and overall engagement with the user is checked when sites are ranked by Google; thus, the positive reviews make all the difference in rankings.
4. Customer Reviews Trigger Conversions
A study by Spiegel Research Center showed that the display of reviews on product pages increased conversion rates as much as 270%. In most cases, having other people buy your product or avail of your service and everything turns out well can compel the prospects more to do the same.
How to Display Google Reviews on Your Website
Now that we know how important Google reviews are, let’s dive right into how you can easily place this on your website. It is possible to manually include screenshots of reviews onto your website, but the most effective way to include Google reviews will be to embed a Google review widget.
Step 1: Get Your Google Reviews
Before you can display reviews, you must collect them. First, you need to get a Google My Business account so that you can receive and manage Google reviews.
Create a Google My Business Account: If you do not already have one, click on the Google My Business, and set up your business profile.
Get More Reviews from Existing Customers: Have customers come to your page to leave a review. As before, give them a direct link to your Google review page. You can also use follow-up emails or a call-to-action on your site to request more reviews.
Manage Your Reviews: After you start getting some reviews, reach out to your customers and thank them for letting you know what they think. Responding to your reviews shows that you care about what people think of you, which creates that much more trust.
Step 2: Choose a Google Review Widget Tool
Putting Google reviews on your website, as always, will require a widget tool. Several third party tools make it easy to publish Google reviews without your own having to bother to update the content every time. Some tools include:
Tagembed: Tagembed is a social media aggregator where you can collect Google reviews and then present them as an incredible, customizable widget on your website. It provides free plans with limited features and paid plans for advanced functionality.
EmbedSocial: Utilize EmbedSocial to surface Google reviews as a widget. You can even further customize the way they are shown. You can even filter which reviews to display.
Trustpilot: Assuming you’re already using Trustpilot for your reviews, their widget can pull in both Google and Trustpilot reviews for an expanded display of social proof.
Step 3: Customize Your Widget
Once you have settled for a widget tool, customize how the reviews will look like on your website. Most widget tools will offer several options, such as: Layout: Choose among grid, carousel, or list view. Design: Match colors and fonts of the widget with your website.
Filters: you can choose to display reviews based on a specific rating or hide not-so-positive ones (even though it’s more authentic if you will display positive and constructive ones).
Review Source: some tools allow the review to be displayed from different sources, like Google, Facebook, Yelp, etc. and some will only focus on showing Google reviews.
Step 4: Add the widget on your site
Once you have decided your modification of the widget, it will then generate an embed code. To add this widget in your website, follow these steps:
Copy Embed Code: The widget tool will provide you with a line of an HTML code.
If you use a CMS such as WordPress, Wix, or Squarespace, you can paste this code into any custom HTML block or section of the page where you want to have the reviews show up. Website builders are generally pretty user-friendly when adding custom code.
Preview and Publish: Make sure that the widget looks good in your website. Preview it to see how responsive it is- in other words, how it looks on both mobile and desktop. You can then publish the change.
Step 5: Keep Updating Your Reviews
But to keep your website nice and fresh with relevance, always update your reviews. Most review widgets take all the work; they’ll automatically refresh with the latest reviews, yet you still must often check your Google My Business profile to stay on top of new feedback. And using responses, interacting with your customers helps keep your reputation strong.
Best Practices for Using Google Reviews on Your Website
Now that you know how to display Google reviews on your website, here are some best practices to make sure you are using them effectively:
1. Use Reviews in Context
Do not leave reviews just anywhere. Strategically locate them on your website. For example, place them on the product and service pages or even on your homepage in the hopes that you’ll establish trust with the potential customers.
2. Highlight main reviews
While you should, of course, show a fair representation of different reviews, focus on the reviews that will be most meaningful to your audience. This could include positive feedback concerning specific products or services you wish to promote.
3. Leverage Your Business with Reviews
Collect reviews to display, but also use them as an indication of feedback on your business. Pay attention to both good and not-so-good reviews, as these will provide insight to where to change and improve. Engaging with negative reviews can be very valuable for your customers-they will know you do care about their experience and will do your best to fix it.
4. The widget needs to work on smartphones
With this, you can be expecting your site to be viewed by quite a lot of mobile users. So, your widget should fit perfectly in both smartphones and tablets. Since most modern widgets automatically adjust their view for mobile use, check theirs as well to ensure they are user-friendly.
5. Continually Recruit Reviews
Keep your Google review stream fresh by regularly asking satisfied customers to leave feedback. You can add the review request as part of a post-purchase email or follow-up communication to help keep that stream steady with positive reviews.
Conclusion
The best ways to build trust with visitors, improve SEO, and convert them into customers are by displaying Google reviews on your website. This is a good way to influence the potential customer to believe that others have indeed had positive experiences with your business. The process of embedding Google reviews is simple, and with tools like Google review widgets, it’s easier than ever to showcase authentic feedback directly on your site.
Implement these steps and best practices, and you’ll be on your way to a more trustworthy, engaging, and conversion-friendly website. Don’t underestimate the power of Google reviews, though – start showing them off today and watch your business really take off.
