Local search for restaurants: importance of reviews
Reviews are important. It seems an obvious statement doesn’t it? Just how important can reviews be to your business and it’s online presence though? Well, local search for restaurants is one area that reviews can play a key role.
After reading this tête-à-tête between marketing experts David Mihm and Mike Blumenthal it would seem that in your local online eco-system (the world where search engines source their data) that the answer is very important.
You’ve probably noticed that when you search for your restaurant on google that additional information will now show in a box alongside the search results.
It seems that by having reviews (hopefully all positive!) on a multitude of sites helps your ranking in search results. This makes it more credible to search engines such as google. This article gives a good comparison between profiles receiving reviews over multiple sites rather than just through one.
The question is though, how do I get customers to review my restaurant over a range of platforms, rather than just on Trip Advisor? simpleERB has the solution for you.
using simpleERB to get reviews
Within your advanced settings on simpleERB, you can enable customer feedback. This means that when a customer makes a booking, they are sent a link which they can use once they have dined, to directly send you their feedback.
The first advantage of this is that you have a direct line to the customer, and they to you, meaning that if they are giving negative feedback, it should come to you first, before being posted on any well known review sites.
Secondly, you can set up your social links in simpleERB with URL’s for your Facebook, Instagram, Twitter and Trip Advisor profiles. These can be sent directly back to the customer along with a standard message telling the customer where they could post this review, more publicly.
Lastly, we believe that feedback, in any business is vital to improve yourself and performance. So take the opportunity to take the reviews onboard and discuss them with your staff.
All of this can be activated with just a few clicks and all of it, will improve local search for restaurants.
