Why Google Reviews Help Your SEO
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When I tell business owners they need to get Google Reviews, it's not just because I want you to have all the confidence in the world in whatever service you provide. Though, it's partially because of that. ;)
It's also so that you can use the feedback to tailor your experience accordingly if you need to make changes.
And lastly, but also very importantly, Google reviews are a huge part of SEO and can help you immensely.
Reviews aren't just social proof for humans. They're a direct ranking input for Google. Here's what's actually happening when you collect them.
So, how do Google Reviews help your SEO? Let’s go over a few of the reasons.
Quantity and Recency
Google treats review volume as a sign that a business is real, active, and worth showing in search results. A practice with 200 reviews is, by default, more credible to the algorithm than one with 12.
But volume on its own isn't enough. Recency matters just as much. A steady flow of reviews tells Google your business is currently operating and currently helping people. A pile of 80 reviews where the most recent one is 18 months old reads as stale. That clinic might be closed for all Google knows **insert shrug here**.
The signal Google wants to see is ongoing activity. That means building a review ask into your normal patient workflow but also running a push to collect some reviews at one time. It is known that a bunch of reviews at one time can look unnatural to Google's algorithm. However, I have yet to see it affect a business when they are getting between 10 and 15 new reviews within a couple of days.
So yes, slow and steady and consistent is the goal. But it's also okay to do a push here and there. I personally just don't like to rely on pushes. I would rather have my asks be there in my workflow, like follow-up emails and texts.
Star Rating
Higher average ratings rank higher in the local pack. They also get more clicks once they're there. Click-through rate is itself a ranking signal, so this compounds.
For most people searching, anything below a 4.0 gets filtered out before they even click. A 4.7 to 4.9 with a healthy volume of reviews tends to look both excellent and real. A perfect 5.0 with only a handful of reviews can look suspicious, but also… if you’ve only gotten 5 star reviews, then, amazing!
One bad review won't tank you, especially if you've already built up volume. Your existing reviews protect your average. What matters more is how you handle the bad one in your response. You can find more on how to get rid of a negative Google Review here.
Keywords in the Review Text
This is the most underused part of reviews for SEO.
When someone writes "Sarah helped me with my pelvic floor pain after my second baby," Google reads "pelvic floor pain" and "postpartum" as relevance signals for that business. Compare that to a review that just says "Sarah is amazing!" Both are positive. Only one helps you rank for the searches your ideal patients are actually typing into Google.
This is why the prompts you give your patients matter so much. Most people genuinely don't know what to write in a review. If you ask "would you mind leaving us a review?" you'll get vague, kind, useless-for-SEO reviews. If you ask "could you write a few sentences about what you were dealing with before you came in and what's different now?" you'll get specifics. Specifics include keywords. Keywords help you rank. Check out my favorite prompts for Google Review asks in this blog.
Help your people know what to say without being manipulative. C’mon now, you know that.
Respond to Your Google Reviews
Replying to reviews signals to Google that the business is active and engaged. It also gives you another natural place to use the keywords you want to rank for, without being weird about it.
Now, here's the thing. With healthcare, it gets a little weird because you can't or shouldn't actively acknowledge people and the diagnosis they saw you for, because of HIPAA laws. Typically, it's nice to acknowledge and thank someone for working with you, for leaving a kind review, and that you're so happy you were able to work with them, or something super generic. I wouldn't necessarily mention the specific things you worked on with that person because of HIPAA.
But I am not a lawyer. Check with yours.
Respond to the good ones with thanks and a brief callback to what they mentioned. Respond to the bad ones with calm, professional acknowledgment and (if appropriate) an invitation to make it right, or whatever needs to be done. Both responses are seen by future patients reading your reviews, and both feed into how Google reads your profile.
The bad reviews are actually where responses matter most. Future patients want to see that you handle negative feedback well (and they are also doing their own work in determining that a past patient who left a negative review may have just woken up on the wrong side of the bed that day).
Google wants to see that you're actively managing your profile. Skipping the response is a missed signal on both fronts.
Prominence
Google's local algorithm runs on three factors: relevance, distance, and prominence.
Relevance is whether your business matches what someone is searching for. Distance is how close you are to the searcher. Prominence is how well-known and well-regarded your business is.
You can't change distance. The clinic is where the clinic is. Relevance you can influence through your Google Business Profile, your website, and your reviews. But prominence is where reviews do the heaviest lifting. More reviews, recent reviews, high-rated reviews, keyword-rich reviews, and active owner responses all stack into a stronger prominence signal.
Prominence also compounds with other signals like backlinks, mentions on other sites, and how complete your Google Business Profile is.
What You Need to Know
Google Reviews help your SEO. So, get them! Make sure asking for reviews is a part of your patient experience. And always give folks prompts to help them write. It really does make a huge difference.
How to Get Started with SEO, Local SEO, and Google My Business Optimization
If you’re looking for ways to get started with SEO, take a look at my SEO Mini-Courses and Mastercourses.
Courses that I’d recommend:
SEO Crash Course ($47)
Blogging Bootcamp ($297)
If you’re looking for a complete course that will teach you everything you need to know about SEO, I’d recommend SEO School.
