Why A Business Needs Reviews Everywhere – Including Your Website

Often I hear from business owners and marketers that they just want Google reviews or just Yelp reviews or just reviews at some vertical site. Google recently rolled out the inclusion of reviews from around the web summaries in the Knowledge Panel and from where I sit, this should make clear that you want reviews at a number of sites.

Building Reviews On A Mix Of Review Sites, Not Just One

You should probably work with at least three review sites.  It would be smart to include another one or two more as you never know one day to the next who Google is working with and who they aren’t.

Google still sends the vast majority of search traffic to local sites and converts an equally large number to purchase decisions right from the search results. Reviews have long been proven to increase conversions and visibility. Even if a searcher ultimately leaves Google, the impression created there goes a long way towards closing the sale.

In fact, in research done by Google, The Benefits of Complete Business Listings, they found that on average, having reviews showing with a listing increased driving direction requests by 144% and web site visits by a whopping 360%.

This effect can only be amplified by Google’s inclusion of additional 3rd party review content from other sites.

A Look At “Reviews From The Web” Now Added By Google

Andrew’s Jewelers and Barbara Oliver Jewelry are in the same market and have roughly the same number of reviews at Google. But Barbara Oliver has, during the 7 years she has been working her review plan, expanded the breadth and depth of her review process to include a number of third party sites.

Compare the two Knowledge Panels below and decide which one is more compelling:

We’re also pleased to see that some websites using GetFiveStars testimonial widget (using review rich-snippets) are also getting their own site used in the Reviews from the web feature.  Hat tip to Joy Hawkins who first discovered this today.

Yes, reviews on your site can show up in the knowledge panel. Another huge win for @getfivestars cc @mblumenthal pic.twitter.com/LjFqTf89ID

— Joy Hawkins (@JoyanneHawkins) September 8, 2016

Below is an example from GetFiveStars customer The Growler Guys showing one of their location’s Knowledge Panel with reviews from their own website via our Testimonial Widget.