HelpHound - our most important - and helpful - articles

There are now over 1100 articles here. We never delete one as we believe this adds to our credibility - readers can scroll back over ten years' of articles and see whether or not we got it right!

What were we definitely right about?

1.  The power of Google reviews: ten years ago there were Facebook reviews, and they had over 15% of the review market. Now only 1%. And the independent sites (you see them quoted everywhere), but all added together - Yelp, TripAdvisor, Trustpilot, Feefo, Reviews.io and the rest - they now make up under 20%. Google dominates. Bizarrely, we now see large corporations adopting other review sites specifically to hide their negative reviews from the public view!

2. Compliance: nearly every business that did (and does) engage with Google reviews broke (and continues to break) the law - by selectively inviting only identifiably 'happy' customers to write reviews. We continually warn businesses that the CMA is on the case of this practice and, almost more importantly how powerful the knowledge of such misbehaviour was in the hands of competitors: 'Yes, we know they look great: of course they do, because they only invite happy customers to write reviews.' 

3. SEO: just about the only thing apart from a really well-designed and optimised website that will help a business rise in local search is a steady flow of its own reviews on its own website.

 

The Top 6

Anyone can search for a specific subject, be that 'education' or 'compliance' or 'how to...' by using the search option to the right >, but every so often we look back and choose half a dozen articles that really stand out as being more than usually helpful.

 

We have seen better and we have seen 'not quite so spectacular' - one thing we have never seen after a business has adopted moderated review management is a fall in inbound enquiries!

• First and foremost: 'Results' - no business embarks on review management unless it can see concrete financial benefits, over and above any alternative strategies. The warm fuzzy feeling of seeing a great review is simply not enough. See two clients' success stories featuring both the uplift in new business as well as the quality per individual piece of business and a consumer story showing how reviews reinforce their journey and choice in the article above. For examples of businesses that had next to no Google reviews on joining see their 'before and after' positions in this article.

• Going direct to Google. It is every business's first reaction: 'Let's get loads of great Google reviews.' and their second reaction? Only invite customers who are guaranteed to write a 5* review - understandable, until you realise it is also illegal. In order to have the best of both worlds - to be CMA compliant by allowing anyone who visits a business's website to write a review and still select those you actively invite your business needs a moderated review management system. This probably comes under the heading of 'boring but essential' but it definitely enables our clients to sleep at night. You wouldn't neglect to insure your business's premises or stock; look at moderation as your business reputation's insurance.

 

If your business provides a professional service in 2025 there's only one review solution - Google (combined with moderation - see above). 

• Independent review sites. You've had the sales call - they spend an awful lot of their resources on sales, unlike Google, which doesn't sell or directly monetise its review function at all (it is, of course, extremely grateful for the flow of valuable content). If you are considering one (or have bought one) - and you want potential customers to see your reviews rather than just having a headline score and reviews that are near to impossible to find in search, read the article linked to above.

• Sectors that should begin to take Google reviews seriously.  From wealth management to the law, from private medicine to private education, those in the professions and high-value services have been late to adopt reviews. For one very good reason: asking a customer, client or patient for their opinion of a sometimes extremely complex process is fraught with hazard. The solution is in combining a Google reviews strategy with independent moderation as described in the second paragraph above. On average about 7% of the reviews our clients receive contain errors of fact or statements with the potential to mislead the reader of their review. These are invariably reconciled before the review is ultimately published, on our client's own website or to Google, thanks to our moderation process.

 

• If you like an infographic you will welcome this article: it illustrates and explains the review process from beginning to end, although in reality there is no end, because reviews are now such a firmly embedded part of everyday interaction between consumer and business - they are here to stay.

• 10 things HelpHound will do for your business. Perhaps this should have been the first bullet point, but if you've read this far it will prove a valuable aide memoire and checklist. 

And finally...

The best thing your business can do is prove all the above for itself.  By adopting professional review management. Here are two more articles to round out the key information about HelpHound...

• Our fees and our guarantee