Google and the UK CMA - one step closer

 

This action, described in full in this important article, takes the CMA one big step closer to sanctioning individual businesses that play fast and loose with Google reviews

Let us be clear (for those who haven't read our many previous articles about complying with the CMA regulations)...

Businesses should be alert to the fact that Google will wish to be seen to take action, both by the CMA and by the consumer press, against businesses flouting the CMA's core regulations (see below)

Tens of thousands of UK businesses are currently laying themselves wide open to prosecution by the CMA for...

• cherry-picking customers to invite to post Google reviews - cherry-picking is simple to do, and equally simple to spot: it involves only asking those customers a business is absolutely sure will write a glowing 5* review to do so

• gating: slightly more complicated - using a questionnaire or email to identify those customers and only then asking them to write a review

That's it, in a nutshell. If a business is doing either one of these it is in its best interest to stop - right now. Because it is so easy for others - be it the CMA, Google, or simply your competitors - to spot. 

• Your business has dozens - hundreds - thousands - of customers every month, yet it attracts only a handful of Google reviews over a similar period

• You have customers who have never been invited to write a Google review, yet you have Google reviews (we hear and see examples of this daily)

• Your score on Google diverges dramatically from that on a review site you employ - 4.8 on Trustpilot v. 3.9 on Google, for instance

And what do the businesses in this category say to us? They say that it is unfair to demand that they ask every customer to write a review; they say that they have some customers - don't we all? - that are never happy, however hard they try.

This article is not a sales pitch for HelpHound, but our answer to those two points is a simple 'Yes - we agree on both counts': we then go on to say 'your business needs to adopt a moderated system that allows ('allows' - is the key word here) all of your customers - and other stakeholders - to write a review. And then you are free to actively invite all those you wish to' (Our serious and candid advice is: once you are confident that the system works: invite all of your customers to write a review on your own website, where it will benefit from moderation and you will be able to answer - it helps massively with customer retention). 

Look at this screengrab...

...there's your business's 'compliance button' where anyone can click and write a review.

Further reading

• Review sites on the rack at the BBC - it's not only the regulators that are concerned that reviews can be trusted by consumers

• Last summer we were privileged to have an in-depth conversation with a senior member of staff at the CMA; every business should read the resulting article

• Why have we not mentioned all the review sites in this article, the Feefos and the Trustpilots and the rest, surely the CMA is just as interested in the trustworthiness of the reviews they host? Read this article. Google now accounts for 4 out of 5 reviews posted, and we estimate for over 95% of all reviews read by consumers. We have advised clients to steer clear of review sites in favour of Google for well over 10 years now. Thankfully for all concerned.

Glad we bullied you into focussing on Google reviews?

Back in the day there were a plethora of review offerings, from Facebook to Feefo and Trustilot, from Yelp to Trustatrader and Yell. The list was almost endless. But we stuck firmly with Google. Every one of our clients, for over ten years now has been given this simple advice...

Many people still attribute the stars (and score) you see above to Google. They are actually pulled, by Google, from the business's own reviews hosted on the business's own website.

1. Get reviews to your own website - so they can be moderated and to boost your SEO (and get stars in Google searches)
2. Get those reviews copied over to Google - as many as you possibly can

We did not base this advice on guesswork; it was obvious to us that the other review sites would struggle against Google, for the following reasons...

• Google reaches by far the most consumers: Google was - and remains - the gatekeeper: anyone looking for a business (or a review of a business) has to use a search engine, and Google dominated search - and continues to do so
• Google has credibility: most consumers now understand that there are no barriers to writing a review on Google (much as some businesses wish there were!) and that, unlike sites such as Trustpilot and Feefo and Trustatrader, Google has no direct financial interest in the businesses under review. In short: consumers have come to trust Google reviews.

The numbers

Just look at this chart...

Source: Birdeye 

Facebook, against many pundits' predictions, has dwindled to around 1% of the online reviews market. All the other review sites together total just 20%. 

Here are some more interesting statistics taken from the article linked to above: 

• Google reviews soared by 15%, capturing 79% of all online reviews
• Each business location, on average, received 66 new Google reviews
• Google captured 94% of healthcare, 92% of legal, and 90% of home services reviews
• Facebook’s share of online reviews took a steep dive to 1% in 2023, down from 23% in 2016, marking a drastic reduction in its importance as a review platform

For reviews of high-value services Google is not just dominant, it is just about the only resource trusted by consumers today. All of which corroborates our historical and current advice.

Remind us: where, exactly, does HelpHound come into this equation?

Apart from the 'stars in search' at the head of this article, HelpHound's role is threefold...

1. To provide moderation of factually inaccurate or potentially misleading reviews, enabling the business to confidently ask for reviews in the secure knowledge that the reviewer will be asked to correct them before they are published anywhere - on the business's website or on Google
2. To enable our businesses to comply with the law - the CMA regulations in the UK
3. To provide the software to make the process as seamless as it can be 

And, in addition, to provide tailored specific advice throughout your business's reviews journey.

Further reading

• The proof is in the pudding: concrete proof that you can expect an uplift in business and, just as importantly, an uplift in the quality of each individual piece of business. Backed by our guarantee.

AI and online reviews - does it have a role to play?

Our answer is 'perhaps'. We advise every business to respond to their reviews - all of their reviews - but the overwhelming majority still do not. When we ask them why not we receive answers ranging from 'It's too time-consuming' to 'We are concerned that responding will simply prolong the conversation.' Our answer to both of those is 'All of our fifteen years of experience tells us that businesses that respond to reviews a) score higher and b) receive more enquiries than those that do not. Tried. Tested. Definitively.' The reason that they score higher is very simple: those who are tempted to write a negative review of a business think twice when they know, for certain, that the business will respond.

We also know that some businesses are concerned that they may delegate the task to a member of staff whose written English is not all that good. Again our answer is to channel the response through someone whose written English is good (Grammarly, anyone?).

But failing all of the above, there's AI. Here's a typical negative review...

And here we have asked Microsoft Copilot to draft a response (that's all - no hints):

Here is Copilot's suggested response (delivered in less than a second - free):

Surely this is better - far better - than no response at all? It addresses the issues raised in the review and we are sure that the reviewer will appreciate it, and that others who read it - just about everyone who looks up the business online - will be impressed by it. 

We would love to hear what you have to say - comments below please.

The support your business 'must have' for reviews in 2025

You don't need us to repeat the catalogue of headwinds facing business these days, so we won't! We are going to dive straight into how HelpHound can bring business through the door for your business in the coming year - not 'hopefully', not 'perhaps if you...' but more business, guaranteed.

Guaranteed?

Yes. No ifs, no buts. And you get to set the parameters of that guarantee: tell us what you need to achieve to make your HelpHound membership profitable and we will then set a timescale (usually a matter of weeks; months at the most). 

How can we do this?

Because we know our job (and that is to help great businesses positively glow in search), and by the time we begin working for you, we will know your business as well. 

Look at these two examples, the first in a sector that is never voted 'most popular' by consumers and the second in a sector that you might think would struggle to achieve any reviews at all...one approached HelpHound when it had 5 Google reviews, the other had none whatsoever...

Left: the estate agent that was concerned about being fully legally compliant and understood if they began hand-picking 'happy' clients to invite to post reviews they wouldn't just be in breach of the CMA regulations but also handing their competitors a pretty big stick to beat them with. 

Right: the Harley Street women's health clinic that was afraid that their patients might resent being asked to write publicly visible reviews.

And now?

Both, given their respective marketplaces, are examples of resounding successes, for the businesses themselves and for HelpHound. Such success can be obtained without HelpHound's moderation, but will invariably involve...

• a far greater risk of inaccurate or misleading reviews being posted on Google (and these invariably rate the business at 1*)

• a far higher likelihood of breaching the CMA regulations

The estate agent: 

1.  A great score. At 4.9 with over 500 reviews. Anyone searching for an agent in that area is going to be short-listing this business. We are proud to have played our part in it being able to open a second branch.

2.  A fabulous showing in local search.

• Leading the Google 3-pack

• Leading in organic search

• Having the business's own review score (the '4.9 from 716' reviews comes from the business's own reviews hosted on its own website) pulled through in all local searches

3. A marked increase in enquiries through all kinds of Google search

Not only does hosting their own reviews on their own website enhance the business's SEO (it is widely estimated that this can add up to 15% of a business's score for SEO purposes), but it directly impacts the flow of enquiries to the business through search. Past experience indicates an uplift of between 15 and 25 per cent. Sometimes appreciably more.  

4. A sustained improvement in customer relations

Inviting reviews, initially to the business's own website, has added benefits. Foremost amongst these is the ability to resolve misunderstandings before they result in an inaccurate or misleading review or, as is almost always the case in such instances, the loss of a fee-earning client. And did we mention staff morale? One of the most morale-sapping things that can happen these days is a factually flawed review mentioning a staff member by name, remaining on in the business's Google reviews and showing in search for eternity. 

5.  Great marketing ammunition

All our clients prominently - and proudly - display their customer's reviews on their websites (usually, as above, in conformation with their own branding and website design). This enables them to fully comply with the UK CMA regulations by including an invitation to write a review (arrowed), thus allowing all their reviews to be moderated by one of our expert moderators.

This dramatically reduces the likelihood of a factually inaccurate, potentially misleading - or just plain unfair - review making it into print on the business's website and - importantly - onwards to Google*.

*Everyone who writes a review to one of our client's websites is then automatically invited to copy it to Google

They also show their reviews...

• Face-to-face: to potential clients - iPad or phone or PoS

• In their social media: reviews posted across all platforms

• In all their advertising and marketing: with scores and individual reviews mobilised to provide powerful social proof

The women's health clinic

When we first approached the medical profession, one doctor commented that his patients fell into two categories: those he cured and those he did not cure (the implication being that the former would write glowing reviews and the latter one would rate him one star). When the Harper Clinic in Harley Street approached us, it had studiously avoided inviting patients for reviews, partly for that reason but mainly because they feared that privacy considerations would consistently trump patients' willingness to write a public review. How did we address this?

• first: with very careful and considered wording of the email inviting the review, stressing the need for honestly held patient opinions to be shared with those most in need: future patients in a similar position. And stressing that writing a review - either to the practice's own website and/or to Google was entirely optional

• second; sensitive moderation by HelpHound, opening a dialogue with the reviewer where their review contains errors of fact or potentially misleading statements 

• third: by encouraging the clinic to respond to each and every review, stressing its gratitude on behalf of future patients

The results? Understandably many patients remained reluctant to express their opinions publicly, so the conversion rate was, and remains, far lower than that for a sector such as estate agency. But the quality of the reviews, which is ultimately what matters in a case such as this...well, we will let you be the judge. Here are the three most recent...

...not only have these patients willingly written extremely reassuring reviews, in some detail, but they have done so under their real names. That's how strongly they feel that people in their situation should be able to share their experience of their treatment by the clinic.

So - back to our promise for 2025

Set out your hopes, from a review management standpoint, for your business in the year ahead. Here are some prompts you might like to use: target...

• the number of reviews - on your own site
• the number of reviews - on Google
• the score - on your own site
• the score - on Google (tip: make this at least 4.8)
• the uplift in enquiries - through your own site
• the uplift in enquiries - through Google
• the reduction in negative reviews

Oh, and don't forget 'ensuring compliance'! And then speak to us. We will benchmark those with you along with a timescale. And then off we go.

Further reading...

• Our charges - no contract period, that's how confident we are that HelpHound's review management will work for your business - and they fall as you succeed

• Results - they speak for themself: enquiries up and quality per enquiry up as well. The numbers in this article are realistic - we have had clients whose enquiries have doubled!

• Moderation - the golden key to protecting your business against factually incorrect, potentially misleading or just plain unfair reviews - anywhere 

• The law - compliance is important, not just because the CMA sanctions can be onerous but because being non-compliant - cherry-picking or gating - will be obvious to competitors that will use it against the non-compliant business in pitches