Grow Your Business with Online Reviews
Online Reviews 101
Online review sites give people the opportunity to share their opinions about local businesses with their family, friends and larger web communities. It’s kind of like bringing word-of-mouth advertising away from the water cooler and amplifying the message across the Internet.
With that type of potential reach, it’s no secret that online reviews can seriously affect your business.
So why should you bother getting online reviews?
Convert More Patients
Choosing the right dentist is important and getting an endorsement from a family member or friend has a big impact on a new patient’s decision. Online reviews can complement or replace personal referrals and they can be accessed more quickly and easily.
In fact, many consumers say online reviews can be just as valuable as personal recommendations. According to Power Reviews 98% of people feel reviews are an essential resource when making a purchase decision.
A 2023 survey from BrightLocal showed that 59% of consumers would be able to trust an average star rating if the business had between 20-99 reviews.
If you’re sitting at less than 20 reviews, it’s time to start asking your patients to review your practice!
Rank Higher in Google
Google knows that feedback from customers is extremely valuable to someone when choosing a dentist.
When a dental practice has a wide selection of customer reviews over time, that practice is ranked higher - making it even more important to focus on online reviews.
What makes a good online review?
Since it would be easy for a business to just pay for reviews, Google uses an algorithm to determine if a business’s reviews are natural. This algorithm is designed to observe natural human behavior. For example, it wouldn’t be natural to suddenly get twenty reviews for your business on the same day. Google’s algorithm would likely see this as unnatural and wouldn’t post them.
Here are three things to keep in mind when you’re getting reviews for your practice:
- Relevance: The words in the review should reflect the type of business. For example, a review about a dental office will probably include the word “dentist” or “dental implants.”
- Diversity: It’s important to get reviews on all the major review platforms. Otherwise, Google’s algorithm might think you’re targeting one review site and that the reviews aren’t from real customers. The major review platforms include:
- Google Business Profile
- Yelp
- Velocity: The reviews should come in at a natural rate, as patients are asked and then decide to write the reviews. If your business suddenly got 100 reviews – even if they were all from real patients – Google’s algorithm would probably think they weren’t real.
Of course, you can’t control what people write, but you can provide various opportunities for them to do so by providing them links to your profiles. Getting reviews coming in at a natural rate will take time and dedication. Get into the habit of emailing patients personally after each visit to help to keep the reviews coming in over time. We even have a few templates that can help.
Want to learn more about online reviews? Check out our latest blog post on replying to online reviews.