How can Bad Customer Reviews Affect Your Local SEO?

It comes as no shocker that you will encounter bad reviews in a business. With businesses moving online, reviews can make or break your game. But how do they work? 

Do they hamper your overall marketing efforts, including local SEO? 

Let's learn about that and more. You'll get to know 7 ways how bad customer reviews can affect your local SEO here.

7 Ways How Bad Customer Reviews Affect Your Local SEO

We will talk about the negative and positive impacts on your business and local SEO.

1. Drop-in Ranking

We may not realize this, but online reviews have a more significant impact than we estimate. Bad reviews and ratings signal poor service, and search engines do not promote that. Hence, search engines like Google factor in reviews as a parameter to establish SERP. 

A report by Whitespark in 2021 suggested that local search ranking factors include a 17% share of reviews. Hence, search engines consider reviews while making the end decision of ranking a page. 

E.g., These kinds of poor ratings will cause a drop in your rankings.

You should consider that reviews are crowd-sourced recommendations, and they signal to search engines about your business quality significantly.

2. Drop-in Traffic

When your local SEO ranking drops, it is implied that your traffic will go down too. So if negative reviews pour in, search engines lower your rankings, and it has a plummeting effect on your website traffic. This hampers your local SEO significantly. 

Here’s an example of how it looks

Bad reviews have the power to steal your business. It is crucial to develop a strategy to tackle bad customer reviews. You should respond to them and take action to improve the customer experience. This will allow you to understand what is expected out of your business.

3. Increased Conversion Rate

Did you know that a single business review has the power to lift conversions by 10%? Yes, that is the truth. A survey by Trust Pulse observed user review behavior and its impact. But what if your business gets a negative review? 

That's a positive, according to the stats.

The survey indicated that negative reviews could increase conversion by 85%. The reason? Consumers trust products more if it has a mix of both positive and negative reviews. So, there is always a silver lining.

Take a look at this screenshot showing a bad review from a customer.

4. Decrease in Sales

Although conversions may increase by 85%, it should come as no surprise that negative reviews have the power to send your sales down the drain. Trust Pulse survey statistics show that only 13% of consumers will do business with 1 or 2 stars. 

Here’s a screenshot to show how it looks:

If there are more than four negative reviews, the sales may decrease by 70%. This is an alarming number that will impact local SEO and business revenue. So, you should prevent that and fix the problem areas.

Read: 15 Tips to Increase Your Sales Using SEO

5. More Traction

We have mentioned earlier, too, that negative reviews have both positive and negative effects. When you get a negative review, customers will engage with your brand. They would want to know more about your business, and they are likely to read your response.

You can use this to show consumers how you are working towards improvement and why they should trust you. This will open a window for new potential customers as well. The bottom line is any engagement is good for Local SEO.

E.g., See how this plumbing company is trying to target and rank for local keywords.

6. Increased Brand Related Keyword Insertion

Negative reviews are not only random words. They are talking about your business and brand. Even those reviews contain keywords that will be relevant to your brand. This will reflect the overall local SEO growth of your business.

 Have a look at how you can use brand keywords for your business

Keywords in negative reviews support your local SEO efforts by including industry and business-specific keywords. However, this does not mean that there is no scope for improvement. You will still have to work out a strategy to deal with negative reviews. 

7. Opportunity to Improve

Reviews are personal insights into a consumer's mind. You can take the negative reviews as a survey and take their honest feedback to implement changes. You should take these reviews and implement strategies to improve your business. 

You should begin by responding to negative comments, following up on them privately, providing solutions, and promising to improve. This is a way to prevent bad reviews and bring more business.

 Have a look at how this business replied to a bad customer review

You should begin by responding to negative comments, following up on them privately, providing solutions, and promising to improve. This is a way to prevent bad reviews and bring more business.

Bad Reviews & Local SEO - FAQs

1. Are There Any Positive Impacts Of Bad Reviews On SEO?

Ans. Yes, there are positive impacts of bad reviews on SEO. A bad review can bring engagement to your website, and it will help support your keyword strategy by talking about the brand and industry-related keywords.

2. Can You Get Fake Reviews Removed From Search Engines?

Ans. To remove fake reviews from search engines, you will have to check first if the review violates search engine policy. If that is the case, then you can report the review on search engines and wait for them to investigate it for further action.

3. Can A Business Remove A Bad Review?

Ans. A business can remove bad reviews from its website. But as of now, there is no method to remove bad reviews from search engines like Google or platforms like Yelp, TripAdvisor, and other platforms. However, you can report negative reviews on such platforms.

4. Should You Reply To Reviews On Google?

Ans. Yes, you should reply to reviews on Google. It has a positive impact on Local SEO. Moreover, it gives you room to engage with your customers and knows your strengths and weaknesses in detail.

5. How To Respond To A Bad Review On Google?

Ans. Go in with a strategy. A response to a negative review must not be harsh. Be polite, address their concerns and provide solutions. This will ensure that you are ready to take action and will help prevent further bad reviews.

Key Takeaways

• Check for a drop in your website rankings. Negative reviews can impact rankings and local SEO efforts.
• Remember Negative reviews = bad ranking = drop in traffic
• Increase conversion rates with a negative review. A mix of positive and negative reviews will help your business
• Avoid negative reviews as they can decrease sales by 70% if you have more than 4 of them
• Track increased website traction due to negative reviews for your business
• Follow stats to see an increase in brand and industry-related keywords towards your website
• Take negative reviews as an opportunity to make things right