Google’s review help document has recently been updated to say that if your business has both negative and positive reviews on its Google Business Profile, this is more trustworthy.
What is a Google Business Profile?
Recently, the Google My Business platform was renamed to Google Business Profile, and Google Business Profile is now the new name for your business’s listing. Nothing has changed with the update except for the name.
Does having negative reviews affect your rankings?
Having negative reviews will not impact your rankings in any way, but if your business has 99% all-positive reviews, Google could flag this, and it may manually audit the reviews for your business.
Google has updated its documentation to say that it values all reviews, explaining that:
“Reviews are useful for potential customers when they’re honest and objective. Customers find a mix of positive and negative reviews more trustworthy. You can always respond to a review to show the customers that you care and provide additional context. If the review does not follow our posting guidelines, you can request to remove it.”
So, what should you do with negative reviews?
If your business has any negative reviews on your Google My Business listing, you don’t need to worry about this – Google will trust your business more if you have a mixture of positive and negative reviews, as having all positive reviews can look unnatural to both the search engine and potential customers.
At Engage Web, we offer search engine optimisation (SEO) services to businesses who want to improve their visibility in search engines. Local SEO is an effective way to help your business to gain more customers from the local area. To find out more about our services, have a chat with our team today.
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