Many real estate agents generate hundreds of 5-star reviews on third-party websites such as ratemyagent or realestate.com.au, forgetting (or possibly being unaware) that Google is actually the first place most sellers will see their brand - and begin their agent search for that matter.
Look, we get it - ratemyagent is a cool site and has some great features - there's certainly a place for it... but we will let you in on a little secret, most of your vendors don't know about it until you tell them, so it’s really not the most effective way of generating NEW business…
It’s been proven time and time again, that we’re simple creatures. If we are looking for a local business, for example, the best local real estate agent… we will very likely (a whopping 80% of us) Google it... and we will probably type something like “best real estate agent <suburb>. Yep, we're that basic.
Now, on the topic of key phrase searching, there's been a little change to Google that will make a big impact on small businesses.
The recent change will mean managing your Google reviews well will be more important than ever.
Why? Because it will affect how visible your brand will be at the top of Google search results for prospective clients when they do a phrase search.
Let’s take the key phrase “best real estates agent Perth” for example…
By default, Google will set the star rating to 4.0+ which means if your business has less than 4 star rating, you're not going to show up. Remember that age-old saying, quality over quantity? It’s not just about how many Google reviews you have, it’s how many of your reviews are 4 stars or above.
And it's not just the reviews that Google takes into account, it's how you interact with your clients on the platform.
TIP: Your ranking will also be boosted if you're seen to be responding to reviews:
When you reply to reviews, it shows that you value your clients feedback.
While reviews on any platform serve a benefit to your business, just keep in mind that those on platforms such as ratemyagent and and realestate.com.au don’t actually factor into your Google ranking - Google is still King.
BUT WAIT... we've got more for you!
Check out our previous blog Optimising your Google listing to get the most out of the platform.