Google Reviews Hassle Reduced - Will It Affect Your Strategy?

[MiriamEllis]

Hey Local Pals

As you may have read this past week, Google has FINALLY stopped requiring users to have a G+ account in order to leave reviews. I find this such a breath of fresh air, given what a hassle it was for many customers who simply didn't ever get into the whole Google+ thing to leave reviews on this major player. I believe this can be seen as one of the last stages of the plus/local separation that has been ongoing for many, many months.

Given this change, I thought it would be a good time to discuss reviews. My main question is, now that the only thing your customers need to leave a review is some type of Google account, will you be ramping up your Google-specific review outreach? And, in your own experience, do you feel that Google, Yelp or a different review source has the most impact on your business? Would that be ranking impact, leads, conversions, something else? Best practice is to be diverse, of course, but if you could earn good reviews in just one place, which would it be, and why?

And, if you have any unusual tips for review outreach, I know the community would love to benefit from them. Thanks for joining the discussion!

[MattAntonino]

I'm going to take a very neutral approach to this until I see how it plays out.

Not requiring a G+ account may make things a bit easier for detractors to hate on a business. So it's a bit of one, bit of the other. I'm monitoring all my important reviews closely at the moment just to make sure nothing slips through that I may have in the past missed or let go.

(Taketh the good, taketh the bad. Taketh them both ... )

[MiriamEllis]

Hey Matt!

That's a really good and observant point you've raised. Making it easier for users to leave reviews does necessarily mean it will be easier for dissatisfied or even phony customers to leave reviews now, so an increase in reputation monitoring would be a must. Very true! So, word to the wise from MattAntonio:

Be sure you're monitoring those Google reviews on a regular basis!