Review sites – can they really improve brand visibility? The answer is yes, and this guide explains why.
But first, what does brand visibility mean exactly?
Brand visibility can be defined as your business’s reach, including how discoverable, authoritative, and attractive your business is to online customers.
A business with high online brand visibility will:
- rank higher in SERPs
- climb review site rankings
- get promoted and featured on review sites
- be more appealing to customers in general (more “clickable”) as well as more memorable
Review sites are one of the keys to achieving this – no matter whether you run a small or large business.
There are many business review sites out there, but the following are the best review sites that will improve your business’s brand visibility. If you’re not using them, now’s a good time to start!
Google, the internet’s most powerful search engine, is used by customers worldwide to search for products, services, and businesses.
And one of its most important features, Google My Business, has been a game-changer for small and large businesses ever since its inception in 2014.
Registering a Google Business Profile opens up a world of possibilities for businesses looking to improve brand visibility.
Not only will it list your business on Google Maps—along with other vital information—but it will boost your online reputation through customer reviews.
In fact, positive Google reviews improve SEO – which is key to climbing Google’s SERPs. The more positive reviews you have, the higher you will rank for relevant search terms, making your business more visible.
Facebook is a high-traffic social media platform that doubles as a powerful marketing tool for businesses.
While Facebook reviews do not affect Google SEO in any way, Facebook is a search engine in itself, where customers can discover businesses that have built an authoritative reputation on positive reviews.
Like Google reviews, Facebook reviews—also known as recommendations—are the key to increasing brand visibility on Facebook.
Positive Facebook reviews will get your business recommended in users’ News Feeds, as well as highly ranked in “Facebook Places” when relevant searches are performed.
Reviews aside, Facebook is simply a fantastic marketing tool. It can be used to interact with customers through engaging content that can skyrocket your online reach.
Yelp
Unlike Facebook, Yelp reviews do affect Google SEO – which makes it another major review site that your business needs to establish itself on.
Where Yelp sets itself apart from Google and Facebook, however, is that it’s a business review site through and through.
So, aside from businesses that list themselves on Yelp, Yelp is used solely by customers to write Yelp reviews and read the reviews of other customers.
Due to this, Yelp is one of the most trusted review sites, having strict review guidelines and a user base that is serious about writing reviews.
Reviews on Yelp are legitimate, detailed, and, as a result, largely accurate. These are the best kind of positive reviews a business can receive—not just on Yelp, but on any review site—which makes it important for your business to use Yelp.
TripAdvisor
If your business is part of the hospitality industry, TripAdvisor is not to be ignored.
As the go-to review site for customers looking for hotels, resorts, restaurants, cafés, tourist attractions, and so on, it’s another review site that can work wonders for brand visibility.
Like Google, Facebook, and Yelp, businesses on TripAdvisor are reviewed by registered users and rated up to 5 stars.
These reviews and ratings also contribute to how highly businesses rank on TripAdvisor, both when searched for and listed (by rank) under, for example, the “Top Hotels” in a given area.
TripAdvisor’s numbered rankings are competitive, needless to say, but among the best ways for hospitality businesses to increase their visibility to customers.
Foursquare
Not many business owners know this, but Foursquare City Guide—the 2009-founded networking service used to discover local businesses—can affect SEO by including relevant keywords in business descriptions.
In addition, users can review businesses on Foursquare, which likewise helps to build online reputations. These reviews, or “tips,” are posted with a rating out of 10 and can even be upvoted by other users.
While Foursquare is largely app-based (allowing users to discover nearby businesses through GPS), its website can also be used to search for local businesses, complete with a map feature similar to Google Maps.
Overall, Foursquare might not be as popular as the above review sites, but it’s one that businesses still should consider for improving brand visibility.
It Comes Down to One Thing: Getting More Reviews
Your business might be listed and registered on the above review sites, but that alone isn’t enough to improve your brand visibility.
In fact, it all comes down to one important resource, customer reviews. And the more positive reviews your business receives, the more visibility it will have online.
Positive customer reviews benefit brand visibility in a host of ways, such as improving SEO, increasing the chances of getting recommended/featured on review sites, and, of course, boosting business star ratings.
Reviews are everywhere online, all helping to do one thing: establish trust. And it’s to be expected that review sites help customers find the most trusted businesses.
The problem is that customer reviews are hard to get, especially since high brand visibility requires receiving positive reviews on a consistent basis – and not just on one site but all major review sites.
To get more reviews, businesses usually opt for manual review requests, such as email requests. The thing is, there’s a far more effective solution – one that can improve brand visibility without all the hard work.
How ReputationStacker Will Help Your Business Get More Reviews
Getting listed on the best business review sites is one thing, but collecting reviews from customers is another. That’s why ReputationStacker was created – to help businesses of all sizes get more reviews.
It’s simple: by getting more positive reviews across different review sites, you’ll increase your brand visibility.
And ReputationStacker will do that for you with its powerfully automated funnel that increases positive reviews and reduces negative reviews.
It works for Google, Yelp, Facebook, and more – so all you have to do is choose the review sites it directs your happy customers too.
As for unhappy customers, the feedback funnel notifies you so you can resolve negative feedback before it becomes a public negative review.
To get more positive reviews and improve your brand visibility at the same time, it’s really as simple as using ReputationStacker.
