Stand Out From The Competition With Google’s Seller Ratings
Google Seller Ratings might be exactly what your business needs to distinguish itself from the competition. You’ve seen them plenty of times before – Seller Ratings are the little yellow stars that appear next to the names of certain businesses in Google’s search results pages, signifying a particularly trusted or high-quality brand. In this week’s blog, we’ll be explaining more about exactly why Seller Ratings are so important, as well as giving you some handy tips on how you can get them for your business.
What Are Google Seller Ratings?
Basically, Google Seller Ratings are automated extensions that show in your Pay-Per-Click advertisements in Google’s Search Results. These star ratings are displayed in text in Google AdWords, Search Network Campaigns and on Shopping Ads in Google Shopping.
Seller Ratings are a simple and straightforward way for Google to highlight businesses that have brilliant reputations amongst their customers, whether for quality products or fantastic customer service. These Seller Ratings are automatically generated by Google – they’re based on customer reviews that Google collects through a number of handpicked sites that it deems to be trustworthy. Trustpilot is a good example. So essentially, this means that if lots of your customers leave you positive reviews using Trustpilot, Google takes notice, and generates your Seller Rating based on that information.
This is an important note; you’re not charged for Google Seller Ratings. They can help drive clicks to your ads, but you’ll be charged as usual for each click.
Why Are Google Seller Ratings So Important?
Lots of reasons! If you’re in close competition with another business in your PPC campaigns, authoritative stamps of quality from a universally recognised name like Google can really help give you the edge that you need to pull ahead. That’s not all though – here are just a few key statistics:
• Google itself says that Seller Ratings can boost clickthrough-rates on your ads by up to 17%
• Sites with Google Seller Ratings can increase their conversion to a sale by up to 28%
• 61% of people read online reviews before they commit to a purchase
This last statistic in particular is really important to something we’ve talked about before here on the blog at 21Digital Agency; and that’s consumer trust. To refresh your memory, 83% of people who trust your business will not only continue to buy from you, but also go on to recommend it to other people. It’s just another reason why trust is absolutely integral to your business. There’s no one customers trust more than their peers, making reviews (and by extension, Google Seller Ratings) worth their weight in gold.
How Can I Get Google Seller Ratings For My Business?
Well, that’s the million dollar question! As we mentioned above, Google Seller Ratings are automatically generated. The way that Google does this is by collecting at least 150 customer reviews through trusted sources, including platforms like Trustpilot and Feefo. Using these reviews, it then generates an average, which then becomes your Google Seller Rating.
In order to get your Google Seller Rating, you first have to either partner with Google itself (using its Google Customer Reviews service), or one of its trusted sources. It’s worth noting that even though the Seller Ratings themselves are free, you will have to pay for the services of independent websites like Trustpilot. It’s a little bit of investment, but trust us when we say that it certainly pays off!
Once you’re signed up to a review platform, you need to meet the following criteria for Seller Ratings to appear:
• You need to have at least 150 unique reviews
• All have to be within the last 12 months
• These reviews need to have an average rating of at least 3.5
• At least 10 have to be in the user’s Google interface language. That means if you want your rating to display in Germany, you need to have 10 reviews in German
The moment you meet all this criteria, you’ll be automatically opted in to show Google Seller Ratings on your ads. It might all sound a bit demanding, but you can do it – and we’ve got some tips to help.
21Digital Agency Top Tips To Get More Reviews
1. Ask Existing Customers First
This might sound obvious, but you’d be surprised at how many people overlook this step! Existing customers who’ve had pleasant dealings with your business are naturally more inclined to leave you positive reviews, making them a great jump-off point to gain momentum.
2. Streamline Your Site
You can also experiment with the design of your website, to give your customers greater opportunities to leave you feedback. At 21Digital Agency, we use our Conversion Rate Optimisation service to make exactly these sorts of adjustments, and seeking more reviews is a great example of a common conversion goal.
3. Read And Respond To Reviews
It’s no good just collecting reviews; you need to take on board what your customers are saying, using their feedback to build on your strengths and improving on your weaknesses. Don’t forget to regularly respond to them, whether they’re positive or negative. Active communication is one of the key elements of building trust amongst your customers, and can encourage others to leave further positive reviews, bringing you closer to a quality Google Seller Rating for your business.
At 21Digital, our team of digital experts is here to help. We’ve gained a thorough knowledge of Google Seller Ratings through over a decade of bringing our clients success through tailored Google AdWords campaigns, using our insight and expertise to help you get the edge over your competitors. Contact the studio today on 01254 660 560 to take advantage of this expertise and find out how we can help you make it on the web!
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