Changes in Google Star Ratings

Why the changes in Google Star Ratings matter for Your Business Success?

Reviews in general, including star ratings, are enormously important for a business to become successful.  According to BrightLocal, “91% of consumers read online reviews before visiting a business and 84% of consumers trust online reviews as much as personal recommendations.” What does this mean? Well, all reviews impact your business’ online reputation, whether they are good, bad, or nonexistent. Google’s new policy for star ratings and customer reviews are about to become much more important.

Businesses use to have to have at least five reviews before they were given a star rating, only having four or less reviews meant your business wasn’t rated. That was a good thing if you had a couple negative reviews — most consumers didn’t even notice. Yet it was a problem for businesses that had four positive reviews, well again, nobody probably even noticed.

That’s all changing, and changing fast. Now, if a customer leaves a negative review for your business, and it’s the only review listed, that’s going to essentially determine your entire rating. Well, until someone else decides to write a review. This could be a good or bad thing, depending on the rating.

Let’s try this scenario: If only one customer leaves your company bad reviews then you’re going to end up with a poor star rating.  This could gravely impact a potential customer’s decision to use your business.  58% of consumers believe that a business’s star rating is most important to them, not the reviews themselves.

On the other hand, if you only have one or two reviews and they’re both good, then Google will give you a good star rating. This should encourage people to check out your company.  But why risk it, hire a company like MySocialRep to manage your Online Reputation, before it gets bad!