Visits up 27% thanks to HelpHound!

Yesterday Google introduced Google My Business performance statistics. Sent to each business in an email they look like this...

Curchods went live with HelpHound this summer - this, for just one of their branches, was sent to us today by their marketing director (and shared with permission). Calls up 18% and website visits up a massive 27% - and the only difference? HelpHound (and for a month - August - where they would normally expect falls)

There is a strong message from Google here - following right on from last week's surge in searches for 'best' - and that is that looking great in reviews is vitally important if you are to maximise returns from search.

Look like this...

 ...with your own reviews, gathered with HelpHound, showing the star rating, score and number (top left) and with a direct link from 'Reviews from the web' to your website in the Google Knowledge Panel; then your Google reviews and rich snippets (bottom right), all working in concert to produce the uplift in calls and visits reported by Google in the top screenshot.

The knowledge panel (above) and organic search (below) are so important for businesses now - the days of embedding relevant key words into your site and hoping for the best are well behind us, and with the day when Google serves the 'best' businesses in search fast approaching, any business that does not take its review management seriously is bound to suffer...

 ...a glimpse into the future...

 ...no photoshop! The 'best' business at the top of the google 3-pack and first in organic search

We think the message is now even clearer - that professional review management pays dividends - we hope, like Curchods, your business will see the benefits too. One thing is for sure: you will know within weeks of joining because Google will tell you!

And please note: While the business in this example is an estate agency  - and just one of twenty branches of that agency - the principle will apply to any business from accountancy to zoos.


Further reading:

•  An index to the most relevant articles on this blog

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