MadlobaConsult
Staff member
Yes, and the honest version of that answer is narrower than the one you usually get sold.
Reviews are one of the things that decide which businesses get shown for a local search. They are not the only one, and they do not outrank being in the right place with the right category.
What moves is the whole picture: how many, how recent, how detailed, and whether anyone answered. A hundred old five star ratings with no text do less than twenty recent ones that describe the work.
What does not move: bought reviews. They get filtered, and a filtered batch takes the profile down with it.
How to check it yourself:
1. Search what you sell plus your town, signed out, and look at the first three.
2. Compare their review counts and dates with yours.
3. Read three of their reviews and three of yours. Which ones describe the work?
4. Check how many of the first three answered their reviews.
Show us the three you are compared against and we will read them with you.
The full answer, with the sources: Do Google reviews help SEO? What Google's page says - Madloba Consult
Reviews are one of the things that decide which businesses get shown for a local search. They are not the only one, and they do not outrank being in the right place with the right category.
What moves is the whole picture: how many, how recent, how detailed, and whether anyone answered. A hundred old five star ratings with no text do less than twenty recent ones that describe the work.
What does not move: bought reviews. They get filtered, and a filtered batch takes the profile down with it.
How to check it yourself:
1. Search what you sell plus your town, signed out, and look at the first three.
2. Compare their review counts and dates with yours.
3. Read three of their reviews and three of yours. Which ones describe the work?
4. Check how many of the first three answered their reviews.
Show us the three you are compared against and we will read them with you.
The full answer, with the sources: Do Google reviews help SEO? What Google's page says - Madloba Consult