Are your customers reviewing you on the most important online review sites for your business? Let’s look at these sites… and learn how to get more reviews on them.
Reading awesome online reviews of your business is great for your ego (5 stars, woo-hoo!), but these positive reviews are important for much bigger reasons.
Research has proven that customers give online reviews a lot of weight when making buying decisions and that most customers trust online reviews as much as they trust recommendations from their own friends.
So you know that customer reviews can make or break your business. But the internet’s a big place…
How can you be sure you’re getting the most out of your customer reviews? By focusing on the customer review sites that matter most to those customers.
The “Big 3” Online Review Sites
Google Reviews (King of All the Review Sites)
Google is undoubtedly a leader in all things web, including reviews.
Your Google Business Profile (aka Google My Business) is a vital information source for millions of online users.
You get every business’s contact information and operating hours at your fingertips – plus, the Google reviews come in pretty handy, too.
Google reviews are crucial for a business’s reputation since they’re easy for potential customers to find and minimize any uncertainty about the business.
Needless to say, Google is the most popular search engine, and as more and more people use it to make local searches each day, more local businesses are competing for top rankings and more Google reviews… because reviews help businesses rank better.
Facebook Reviews (Surprisingly Relevant for Local Businesses)
On Facebook, users may create profiles, post photos and videos, send messages, and keep in touch with friends and family while following their favorite businesses and brands.
Companies can develop business profiles that consumers can follow and rate depending on their interactions with the company. Yes, Facebook reviews are important regardless of your business type.
Yelp Reviews (Often Annoying, Still Important)
Yelp is a website and app that publishes reviews for local businesses. It also offers training to small companies on how to respond to negative reviews, hosts social events for Yelpers (also known as Yelp reviewers), and provides useful statistics on businesses, such as health inspection scores.
Yelp used to be the most important review site, and while it’s market share has waned over the past decade, it’s still a major player in the space and shouldn’t be ignored.
Review Sites: By the Numbers
Not all popular review sites publicize their visitor stats, but we still know quite a bit about the number of visitors these sites attract.
Yelp reports that it averages over 178 million unique visitors every month across all platforms. It also generates 28 million new users on its app every month. Yelp users had written a total of 244 million reviews between the site’s launch in 2004 and the end of 2022.
Facebook had over 3 billion monthly active users at the end of 2024. Anyone with a Facebook account can view reviews posted on the site, and over a third of the world’s population actively uses Facebook. That’s a lot of attention!
Google doesn’t provide any public information about the number of reviews that are posted by its users. But keep two things in mind: anyone with access to Google can read reviews posted on an organization’s Google Business page, and Google hasn’t dipped lower than 90% of the entire global market share of search since 2015. Translation: almost everyone in your customer base probably has access to Google reviews written about your business.
Review Habits: By the Numbers
While the “big three” review sites (Google, Facebook, and Yelp) provide a bit of information about their user stats, a recent survey tells us a lot about how these sites rank against one another…
The survey asked respondents: “In the last 12 months, have you reviewed a local business online?”
63 percent of people surveyed had written Google reviews in the previous 12 months.
54 percent of people surveyed had written Facebook reviews in the previous 12 months.
32 percent of people surveyed had written Yelp reviews in the previous 12 months.
When it comes to posting online reviews, Google and Facebook are growing in popularity, while Yelp’s popularity is holding steady and still remains incredibly powerful.
How to Focus on Review Sites
Some businesses make the mistake of thinking online reviews are totally out of their control. It’s true that you shouldn’t buy online reviews or try to manipulate your customers into writing false reviews about their experiences. However, you can influence where your customers write reviews, so it’s important to focus in on the sites that are most important to your business.
For most organizations, the big three review sites are important. Many businesses only focus on those three sites, but if your industry has niche review sites, then add them to your list.
A few examples of niche review sites:
For lawyers: Avvo, Lawyers.com
For doctors: Healthgrades, RealSelf, ZocDoc
For restaurants: Zomato, TripAdvisor
For service providers (contractors, roofers, cleaners, etc.): Angi (formerly AngiesList), HomeAdvisor
Keep in mind that more isn’t always better when it comes to review sites.
Say that 30 satisfied customers write reviews about you in a given month. Would you rather have a few reviews posted on each of a dozen sites, or would you rather have five or six reviews posted on the most popular sites? Of course, you want to get reviews concentrated on the most important online review sites.
That’s why we recommend you focus on no more than five review sites in total, but 3 review sites is even better. Don’t water down your online reviews by scattering them too far and too wide.
The best thing you can do for your online reputation is to ensure that you’re receiving a steady stream of positive reviews on a limited number of your business’s most important online review sites.
Tips for Selecting Online Review Sites
Here are a few tips on how to choose the best online review site for your business:
Select Mainstream Review Sites
Review sites typically set reasonable guidelines on what sort of customer review content they accept. Sticking to mainstream review platforms with reasonable review content standards is beneficial for your business and just makes sense.
Go to Where Your Visitors Are
When determining which sites to focus on, a crucial factor to consider is how familiar your audience is with them. According to a recent survey, 66% of customers don’t trust online review sites they’re unfamiliar with. As a result, putting effort into developing a presence on review sites that your clients aren’t utilizing is probably a waste of time.
Instead, focus your efforts on the sites that provide the greatest benefit, such as Google, Facebook, and Yelp. According to the same study, 87% of smartphone users have access to the apps for at least one of these three sites, and those with the apps installed are almost always already signed in, which makes it incredibly easy for them to write a review.
Choose User-Friendly Review Sites
Customers typically do not take the time to explore a new review site and wrap their heads around its functioning, so you must guide them to sites that make the whole leaving-a-review process as simple as possible.
Writing a review is pretty simple, but a lot of counts on the kind of user experience a review site offers – the small and super-niche ones often have a user experience that’s sluggish, confusing, or just plain bad.
Put yourself in the customer’s shoes while choosing the review sites that are most appropriate for your marketing approach. Check to see if the review platform makes writing and posting a review simple.
Next Steps
Once you’ve identified your business’s most important review sites, you can focus on getting your customers to write reviews. It’s often as simple as asking your customers to review you.
But that’s not a perfect system. Customers will forget to write reviews, or you’ll forget to ask. That’s where using an automated review system like ReputationStacker is so helpful for collecting customer reviews.
It makes it incredibly easy to consistently get more positive reviews on your business’s most important online review sites.
In Review(s) (see what we did there?)
With so many online review sites, it can be challenging for a business to know which ones matter.
The big three review sites – Yelp, Facebook, and Google – are the most popular and, therefore, influential sites, but it’s important not to ignore any niche sites that cater to your industry.
Once you’ve figured out where you want your customers to write reviews, get them working for you using an automated system like ReputationStacker, and take the work out of getting more positive reviews from your customers.
FAQs About The Most Important Online Review Sites to Get Reviews On
What is the most important review site for local businesses?
The most important review site for local businesses is Google. Google reviews, available through your Google Business Profile and Google Maps, have a significant impact on local search results and can greatly influence potential customers. A steady stream of positive customer reviews on Google are essential for enhancing online visibility and attracting new clients.
How do Google reviews affect a business?
Google reviews are crucial because they appear prominently in search results and Google Maps. Positive reviews can boost your local business’s credibility and visibility, while negative reviews may impact your reputation and local search results. Regularly monitoring and responding to Google reviews helps manage your online reputation effectively.
What role does Facebook play in customer reviews?
Facebook reviews are important for a local business as they offer another review platform where customers can leave detailed reviews. Positive Facebook reviews can enhance your reputation and attract new customers, while negative reviews may require a thoughtful response to address concerns and improve your image.
How do Yelp reviews impact a business?
Yelp reviews are vital for most local businesses as Yelp is a popular review platform for finding and evaluating local services. Positive Yelp reviews can drive more business by improving your visibility and appeal, while negative Yelp reviews might deter potential customers. Engaging with customer feedback and consistently collecting reviews on Yelp can help improve your review profile and help it rank better in local searches on Yelp.
What should businesses do if they receive negative reviews on review websites?
Businesses should address negative reviews customer review sites promptly and professionally. On the review platforms, respond to negative feedback with empathy and a willingness to resolve issues. This approach can mitigate the impact of negative reviews and demonstrate a commitment to customer satisfaction.
How can businesses encourage positive customer reviews?
To encourage positive customer reviews on review websites, businesses should actively request reviews from every customer (yes, every customer). Providing excellent service, making it easy for customers to leave reviews, and following up with a request for feedback can increase the likelihood of receiving customer reviews.
And remember, it’s not all about positive reviews. The occasional negative customer review can not only provide helpful feedback about how to improve your business, it also helps your business profile look more real to potential customers (who can actually be deterred if your company reviews are all 5-stars).
What are the best practices for managing reviews on customer review websites?
Best practices for managing customer reviews include regularly monitoring review websites, responding to both positive and negative reviews, and using feedback to improve services. Actively collecting and managing reviews on platforms like Google, Facebook, and Yelp can enhance your online reputation and influence potential customers.
Using a review system like ReputationStacker can help you get more reviews, manage and respond to reviews, and use the data from reviews to get deep insights about your business.
How can businesses use review data to improve their services?
Businesses can analyze review data from platforms like Google, Facebook, and Yelp to identify common trends and areas for improvement. Detailed feedback from customer reviews helps businesses understand customer preferences and pain points, guiding service enhancements and strategic decisions.
Software like ReputationStacker provides a complete review system to help you get more customer reviews, pull all your reviews into a single dashboard where you can respond to them and share them on your own website, and provide advanced analysis to help you improve your business.
Are there other review websites besides Google, Facebook, and Yelp that local businesses should be aware of?
Possibly – it depends on your industry and type of business. Some local businesses – particularly those in the travel and hospitality industries – may also want to focus on Tripadvisor reviews. Lawyers can benefit from client reviews on Avvo and Lawyers.com. And it never hurts to have a few Better Business Bureau reviews for overall credibility. There are industry-specific review websites for many types of businesses. These review websites, along with Google, Facebook, and Yelp, provide diverse perspectives and can influence customer decisions.
How often should businesses request reviews from customers?
Businesses should regularly request reviews, particularly after a positive interaction or completed transaction. If you don’t request a customer review, don’t expect customers to leave reviews on their own. They need to be reminded. Review software like ReputationStacker automates the review process, making it easy to collect reviews.
Frequent requests for reviews on platforms like Google, Facebook, and Yelp help maintain a steady stream of customer reviews, which can improve your review profile and local search results, ultimately drive more business your way.
