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[et_pb_column type=”4_4″][et_pb_text admin_label=”Text”]It is a known fact that Google reviews can help boost the success of your local business. Getting reviews online improves your rankings in local search results and they also influence consumer decisions. Are you tempted to think that buying Google reviews could be an effective way to get more reviews?
There are many reasons why you should never buy Google reviews. In fact, you could end up ruining the reputation of your business.
As a local business, you know the importance of building up a strong reputation. Your reputation comes to define your brand and it results in many referrals. Just as it takes time, effort, and patience in your community to build a solid reputation, so it takes time to build a solid online reputation.
In this article, you will learn about the importance of reputation and why buying Google reviews can harm your trustworthiness.
The Importance of Your Reputation
Benjamin Franklin is quoted as saying: “It takes many good deeds to build a good reputation and only one to lose it.”
In your local community, your brand is your reputation. To be trusted, you need to be trustworthy, consistent, and ethical.
So, you build a trustworthy reputation by providing quality services or products. The ‘good deeds’ you perform is making sure your customers get good value for money. To build a solid reputation, you need to do this every week, every month, and every year.
In time, more and more people know about you because of your reputation and they will talk about you to their peers.
When it comes to online reviews, the exact same is true. Your online reputation develops when customers leave comments and star ratings based on their experience. Obviously, providing excellent services is the best way to ensure you always get good online reviews.
How Google Reviews Affect Your Reputation
Getting a lot of positive reviews has a tremendous impact on your business reputation. And, there are a number of reasons for this.
For example, reports indicate that over 90% of all consumers check out online reviews before contacting a local business. What is quite surprising is that 85% of respondents said they trust online reviews from people they don’t know just as much as from friends.
There is another reason to increase the number of Google reviews you get. It boosts your authority in the eyes of Google. Forbes reported that the number of reviews a business has impacts on search engine results. Customer reviews strengthen authority, provide social proof, and boost local search rankings.
Interestingly, the Forbes article suggested offering incentives for customers to leave reviews. Interestingly, at Starloop, we offer to plant a tree for every review each of our members receive. This has helped many of our members get hundreds of real reviews and also help plant thousands of trees.
Why Buying Google Reviews is Never a Good Idea
With the emphasis on building trust, it is easy to see why buying Google reviews is never a good idea.
If you buy reviews you are telling your community that you are not trustworthy. In fact, there are online websites dedicated to helping consumers spot fake reviews.
Think about it: what will a potential customer think if they realize you have bought reviews and the majority of them on your website are fake?
Another reason never to buy Google reviews is that Google will eventually find out. When this happens, your site will get penalized and all the time and money you spent will be wasted. Even more worrying is that you could lose your rankings in local search results.
Having a strategy of buying fake reviews could be the one deed that destroys your online reputation. So, this is never going to be a good long-term strategy to build your reputation.
At Starloop, we provide ethical incentives to encourage your customers to leave real, trustworthy Google reviews.
This helps to build a reputation that lasts. In time, you will see your rankings in Google search results improve and you will never have to worry about Goggle’s penalties. Real reviews by real customers will also influence decisions potential customers make.
It takes time, patience, and effort for local businesses to build a solid reputation. We also know that building an online reputation is the same.[/et_pb_text][/et_pb_column]
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