The concept of reputation marketing has really begun to take off in recent years. Companies are starting to realize that obtaining the right reviews from happy customers and users has a huge number of benefits. After all, word of mouth marketing is the most powerful advertising strategy in the world today. Consumers value the opinions of their fellow customers more than any marketing message produced by a business. Ever since Google began showing star reviews in search engine results, the demand for user reviews on websites has continued to grow. Here, we’re going to look at just three of the reasons why user reviews are essential to any website.

They Help you Rank Higher in the Search Results

First of all, reviews and ratings are crucial to gaining a better ranking on the search engine result pages. A study by Moz in 2017 found that review signals make up about 13% of the ranking power that Google uses to decide where your website should appear in relation to certain keywords and phrases. That means that reviews are the fifth most important factor in SEO. Hosting reviews on your website also ensures that your customers can find the information they need on your site, rather than looking for it elsewhere. This gives your consumers more reasons to stick around and read your content, leading to higher engagement.

Positive Reviews Improve Click-Through Rates

While reviews can help you to rank higher on the search engine pages, they can also convince more customers to click through onto your website. According to a recent study, 56% of consumers will prefer to visit a website that has online reviews. Even Reviews on other website can help to improve your access to traffic and leads. For instance, the StockTwits review not only teaches people what they need to know about an important stock-trading social platform, it also encourages more people to go and check out that social channel too.

Positive Reviews Build Trust

Finally, positive reviews help to develop trust with your potential customers. As all companies know, faith is the holy grail of marketing, because it’s ultimately what convinces people to buy from your brand. Around 9 out of 10 customers say that they figure out whether they can trust a business by reading around 10 reviews. Of course, this doesn’t mean that you should stop getting reviews from your customers after you’ve had ten testimonials sent in. Building a strong reputation for your business is an ongoing process, so make sure that you encourage as much feedback as possible. Everything from pictures of customers posing with their new product on social media, to case studies with B2B brands, can help a company to generate a more positive presence online.

While the concepts of word of mouth referrals and reviews have been around for some time now, they’re becoming increasingly popular as companies begin to realize how important it is to protect and build their reputation in a social world. In an environment where everyone is connected and informed, reviews are more important than ever.

Original post: Why User Reviews are Essential for Any Website