Scope and Use of Google Reviews:

Google hosts 73% of all online reviews for businesses, making it the most used platform (Ranko Media) (Luisa Zhou). In 2021, 81% of consumers reported reading Google reviews before visiting a business, compared to 63% in 2020 (Exploding Topics). Online reviews influence 67.7% of consumer purchasing decisions (Review42).

Trust and Authenticity:

50% of consumers believe they have seen a fake review on Google (Ranko Media) (Findstack). Google removed approximately 55 million reviews that violated its policies in 2020 to maintain review authenticity (Exploding Topics).

Impact on Local SEO:

Online reviews account for about 12% of the ranking factors for local SEO on Google (Review42). Review signals, including volume, diversity, and speed of review accumulation, make up about 15% of SEO ranking credit (Findstack).

Responding to Reviews:

53% of consumers expect a business to respond to a negative review within a week (Luisa Zhou). 56% of customers say that a response to a review changes their perspective on the business, and 45% are more likely to visit a business if it responds to negative reviews (Luisa Zhou) (Findstack).

Consumer Trends and Behaviors:

83% of consumers believe reviews must be recent and relevant to be considered (BrightLocal). 47% find the "Sort by most recent" feature very useful when looking for reviews (BrightLocal). On average, consumers expect a business to have 112 reviews before deciding to purchase from it (BrightLocal).

Strategies for Obtaining Reviews:

87% of consumers are willing to write a review if asked, and about 70% of reviews come from post-transactional review requests sent by email (BrightLocal). The most common methods for requesting reviews include sending emails, adding messages on receipts, in-person requests, SMS, and social media (BrightLocal).

Benefits of Positive Reviews:

An increase of 0.1 stars in the rating can boost conversions by 25% (BrightLocal). 55% of consumers prefer buying a product with a large number of reviews and an average rating over a product with few reviews and an excellent rating (BrightLocal).

Impact of Negative Reviews:

94% of consumers say they have avoided a business because of bad online reviews (Findstack). Ignoring negative reviews can increase the customer churn rate by 15% (Findstack).

Conclusion:

Reviews are crucial for local businesses, directly influencing consumer purchasing decisions, improving local SEO, and helping establish trust with potential customers. To maximize benefits, businesses should actively encourage reviews, respond to reviews (especially negative ones), and manage their online reputation proactively.