When you think of SEO reputation management—or Online Reputation Management, ORM—those thoughts are probably dominated by Google search rankings, and how to impact those placements through better website or blog content strategies.

Perhaps you’ll think of the impact that local PR and digital publications can bring by linking to your business’ online properties for a bit of extra SEO juice. As a savvy digital marketer, you might even consider the impact of social media profiles on the trustworthiness of your local search presence.

But do you think about how review generation can impact your SEO?

Digital marketers and community managers: ignore reviews at your peril. They are essential to boosting your local SEO strategy, building trustworthiness in your map results, and showcasing the sort of digital word of mouth that can bring new customers to your doors.

How does review management add to my local SEO strategy?

Google loves it when other people love you: link building still counts for local search optimization, but reviews also indicate just how much people enjoy what you do.

If local search is like digital word of mouth, then your online reviews are the public recordings for those conversations. Those conversations are so important to local SEO that they can shape your online business reputation, improve the visibility of your local outlets, attract new local customers, and ultimately help build brand trust and loyalty.

Trustpilot and Canvas8 found 89% of global consumers check online reviews as part of their digital buying journey, and just under half of those will treat a positive review as one of their top influences informing their purchasing decision. It’s a consistently important factor—BrightLocal’s 2024 Local Consumer Review survey found that 33% of customers “always” read online reviews when browsing for local businesses, and 81% of consumers used Google to evaluate a local business.

Review management is an essential spoke to your local SEO hub. Yet, a healthy amount of caution pays off when it comes to online reputation management: today’s consumers are more savvy and even more cynical.

That same 2020 Trustpilot/Canvas8 research found almost half of global consumers believe perfect reviews and ratings suggest manipulation by the brand; they had more faith in high yet imperfect 4-star reviews and ratings, because they appeared more authentic. Customers also reject companies they suspect “censor” or buy their reviews, with 70% of global consumers naming review censorship as a serious concern.

Still, reviews can provide a great source of localized keywords, and remain a top signal for rankings across all search engines and map providers. So, how do you handle this hot potato of local search optimization and online reputation management? Start with the hierarchy of needs for effective reviews.

The Hierarchy of Needs For Effective Reviews

To navigate the complexities of local search optimization and online reputation management, it's crucial to address the foundational aspects of effective reviews first—and then work your way up the hierarchy of need

Get found

The foundation for everything else is the need to get found in the first place. Look at ways to improve your local search optimization, influence potential customers to visit, and drive better conversion rates when they do. These are the building blocks of your local SEO strategy.

Brand image

Once you’re found, you need to look sharp at all times. To build and maintain a positive brand image, consider how you look and feel—you need not only strong visuals, but strong messaging, too. All of these qualities must remain consistent no matter where a customer finds you.

Remediation

When mistakes happen—because they do—make sure you have a plan in place for acting swiftly. If you notice a trend of complaints at specific locations or a critical incident, make sure you alert your local operators to act ASAP. The whole company plays an essential role in winning back upset customers.

Analyze

These days, we have so much data at our fingertips. Your role as a digital marketer is to analyze that data and make recommendations. Look for any emerging trends in reviews to help inform your strategy. This is where sentiment analysis can come in handy the most.

Respond

Having a library of pre-approved, on-brand review response templates can help with responding quickly and efficiently while also protecting your brand image. Aim for a 100% response rate to all reviews, but always in a curated manner.

Remediation is paramount

Addressing mistakes swiftly demonstrates commitment to customer satisfaction and helps mitigate potential damage to the brand's reputation. By promptly identifying trends in complaints or critical incidents, businesses can prevent escalation and ensure local operators take immediate action, showcasing responsiveness and accountability.

Engaging the entire company in the remediation process not only fosters a culture of customer-centricity but also reinforces trust and loyalty among upset customers, ultimately safeguarding the brand's integrity.

Analyzing feedback is highly beneficial

Data analyses provide valuable insights into customer sentiments and behaviors, enabling digital marketers to make informed decisions. With a wealth of data readily available, it's essential to leverage tools like Uberall’s sentiment analysis to identify emerging trends in reviews.

By understanding customer perceptions and preferences, businesses can adapt their strategies effectively to meet evolving needs and stay ahead of the competition.

Responding to reviews is an imperative

Make no mistake: search engines check how frequently a business responds to reviews, and how authentic those responses appear. If you haven’t built out review management as a significant tactic in your local SEO strategy, it needs to become one—fast.

Search engines monitor reviews on the whole for responses and engagement—an Uberall study found 86% of consumers are more likely to shop at a store that responds consistently to customer reviews.

Here’s a simple plan for responding to reviews

• Identify new reviews, ideally through the means of an integrated dashboard avoiding the need to check individual platforms manually.

• Read the reviews and really try to understand what the customer is saying, regardless of whether it’s positive, neutral, or negative in tone; and look for keywords and emotion-driven phrases.

• Take a step back and analyze the reviews: what is there to learn from these customer experiences?

• Create a report to deliver this analysis to relevant stakeholders, keeping sure to prioritize any critical incidents that require urgent attention.

• Reply because your customers and search engines are waiting for your response; and the rate you respond absolutely matters to both.

The Building Blocks of A Stronger Local SEO Strategy

Reviews are, of course, just one in a wide-ranging list of tools for SEO reputation management. It’s important for all businesses to consider their broader local SEO strategy when building an online presence—but especially multi-location businesses that want to rank nationally as well as in those specific areas where they have stores.

Local search optimization differs from a general SEO strategy in important ways. Instead of creating content and optimizing your digital properties to rank higher in search results, you’re effectively targeting keywords for your region—those all-important “near me” or “open now” searches, which have increased by 500% in recent years. It pays to invest time into a local search optimization strategy for more long-term results with better staying power—and to avoid the local SEO mistakes that are easy to fall prey to.

Local search is all about carving out a visible space online for your multi-location business. You want your local branches to be front and center when potential customers are searching for what you offer. Consider tactics such as:

• Enhancing your Google Business Profile, which links to how Google displays your business in maps. Filling in all of the GBP fields and settings for each of your location ensures consistency across the board to increase your chances of ranking in the all-important Google 3-Pack. But don’t forget to optimize for other search engines and maps providers, too; especially with Apple Maps gaining traction.

• Selecting the particular keywords you want to target locally. Local keyword research is a lot more nuanced, but local SEO search accounts for 51% of Google searches; you’ll be looking at much lower volumes, but you’ll likely find the traffic those target keywords yield is much higher quality. So don’t be afraid to go hyperlocal!

• Optimizing your website with content, meta tags, descriptions, page titles, and other indexed content that not only resonates with your audience, but also hits those target keywords. Moreover, ensure your online presence feels mobile-friendly for potential customers on the go.

• Building links with local websites, directories, social media sites and review sites for greater local relevance. Even building relationships with local influencers can help accelerate the link-building process. But make sure your business information is consistent across all platforms. NAP consistency improves local search outcomes by as much as 16%.

But how do you get more customers leaving reviews?

Once you’ve set yourself up for success, your next step is maintaining your brand’s authenticity. This is where your in-store staff can team up with the community managers and digital marketers to present a united front.

Multi-location businesses need to both encourage customers to leave reviews and educate them on how to review. Show them how they can share their experiences, and tell them straight-up which platforms will help you the most. By breaking it down into easy to follow, step-by-step instructions, you’ll help even the most technophobic customers express their real experience.

Consider including this information on your website. Pop it in a follow-up email when you thank customers for their purchase. Have a business card or a flier on the counter, or put the request on the customer’s receipt—visual aids work better for some buyers. Responding to reviews can also help encourage customers to leave further reviews, so negative reviews deserve a thoughtful and considered response.

To recap, there are five things you can do to mix customer reviews into your local optimization strategy:

1. Make it easy to review

2. Ask at the right time

3. Subtly incentivize engagement

4. Respond to reviews consistently

5. Leverage social media

Don’t make the mistake of getting hung up on one platform while trying to follow all that advice. Not everyone will leave a Google review, but they might rave about you on Facebook or TripAdvisor; or one of these most important review websites.

No matter the venue, don’t delete negative reviews if you want customers to trust you. And definitely don’t pay for reviews, ever!

Strong SEO reputation management builds on stronger review management

You’re probably thinking this sounds like a massive job, or group of jobs, and wondering how you could ask for more budget and additional resources to cover it all. But better management doesn’t have to be a time sink.

An online review management software can help the smallest marketing teams (even of one!) to monitor and manage online reviews. By deploying a single, integrated, AI-powered platform like Uberall, you can turn online reviews into actionable insights for improving your online reputation.

Uberall’s review management software enables you to maintain online reputation management without the stress. With personalized and localized response templates, automated review responses, and the ability to monitor reviews across all your locations, it’s an essential partner to local search.