This guide explains Google verified reviews.
Below, you’ll find out everything you need to know about verified Google reviews, including what they are, why they’re important, and how to get Google verified customer reviews for your business to improve its reputation on Google Maps, Google Search, and Local Services Ads.
As you’ll discover, verified reviews on Google are a good digital marketing strategy to take advantage of to help book more jobs and services for your business.
What Are Google Verified Reviews?
Google verified reviews are reviews written by customers who found and hired a service provider through Local Services Ads on Google. Verified Google reviews contain the “Google Verified” label to show users that the person reviewing the service actually purchased it through Google’s customer tracking system.
Google Customer Reviews vs Google Verified Reviews
Google Business Profiles have two review types: Google Customer Reviews and Google Verified Reviews. The main difference between these review types is that standard Customer Reviews are not verified by Google (i.e., anyone can leave a Google Customer Review on a Business Profile). However, only people who have purchased a service through Local Services Ads can leave a verified review on the company’s Business Profile listing.
Additionally, Google Customer Reviews is a free service that allows all organizations with a Google Business Profile to collect feedback from customers who have made purchases from their company. Google Verified Reviews require you to purchase a Local Services Ad and pay a cost-per-click (CPC) fee for the ad click that generated the sales lead. Both types of reviews contain star ratings.
Why Google Verified Customer Reviews Are Important
Google verified customer reviews are important because it verifies a service was purchased and reviewed by real customers. Verified reviews on Google help ensure that legitimate customers are providing trustworthy feedback; not paid or fake reviews to inflate a business’s reputation online.
The number of verified Google customer reviews is also important because it affects how a business is ranked in Local Services Ads. Businesses with a higher quantity (and positive star ratings) of verified reviews typically have increased visibility on Google’s search engine for local searches as well as improved trust and credibility from the customer’s perspective.
Local service providers can benefit greatly by getting more verified customer reviews on Google by setting up Local Services Ads and encouraging satisfied customers to leave reviews on their Google Business Profile.
How to Get Verified Google Reviews
Share Your Verified Google Reviews Link
The first way to get verified Google reviews is to share your review link with customers and ask directly for a review of your services. When you sign up for Local Services Ads, your business will get a personalized Google review link you can share through email and on printed materials.
Mark Leads As Booked
Another way to get more verified Google reviews is to mark leads through the Local Services app as booked. You can then choose to ask for a review through Google’s system that will appear next to your Business Profile listing on the search engine after it has been verified. Using this option will authorize Google to send an email to the customer with a link to leave you an honest review of your services.
Ask for Reviews In the Reviews Tab
The Google Local Services app also has a Reviews tab where you can ask customers for verified reviews. Next to the job, select “Ask for Review” and enter the person’s email address to send them the review link.
Link Existing Verified Reviews to Your Google Business Profile
If you have an existing Google Business Profile that has customer reviews, then you can link those ratings to your Local Services Ads account. Go to your dashboard and look for this option under Reviews. If it’s not available, then check out this related guide on how to contact Google My Business to get the URL added to your account.
Use the Add a Review Feature
Although customers who didn’t book your service through Local Services Ads cannot give you a verified review, it’s still a good practice to reach out to those people to get an unverified review. These reviews still count toward your business’s star rating, which can help improve trust and credibility for your business.
Offer an Incentive to Your Customers
Another easy way to get more Google verified customer reviews is to offer an incentive to people who leave feedback for your services. It’s against Google’s terms of service to ask directly for positive reviews; however, you can incentivize happy customers to leave good feedback and star ratings by offering a discount, free shipping, or another benefit when they shop with your company again.
Send a Follow-Up Message
Google provides several ways to ask for verified reviews as you’ve already seen above. However, those features don’t always get customers to respond because they may seem automatic and detached from the business owner. If you’re not getting many responses from those methods, then you can try to send a personalized follow-up message to your customers with the verified reviews link embedded in the email. Sometimes all it takes is a direct ask from the business owner to get people to leave the verified review.
Respond to Customer Reviews
Responding to all customer reviews, whether they’re good or bad, encourages more people to leave reviews for your business. Users who see that the company takes the Google review process seriously are more apt to provide feedback. Additionally, if you’ve asked a customer to leave a review on Google and they did it, you should always respond to it. This type of goodwill shows others that your business cares about its customers.
Google Verified Reviews Summary
I hope you enjoyed this guide on Google verified reviews.
As you discovered, verified Google reviews are written reviews by customers who found and hired a service provider through Local Services Ads. Google verified customer reviews contain the “Google Verified” label to show users that the person reviewing the service actually purchased it through Google’s tracking system. And getting more reviews for your business often just takes a simple request that contains the shareable verified reviews link.
