How to Beat Your Competitors with Google Seller Ratings

How to Beat Your Competitors with Google Seller Ratings
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Whether you sell products or services, you have to deal with competition on a regular basis. It can be hard to keep track of how all of your competitors are doing. And even harder to figure out how you can get ahead of them.

Google seller ratings can help you get a leg up on your competitors. Not sure what seller ratings are? In this post you will learn all about Google seller ratings, and how you can improve them to stay ahead of your competition.

What are Google Seller Ratings?

Google seller ratings are an automated extension that highlights advertisers who have high ratings. The extension displays the seller rating of an advertiser below their text ad when it shows up in Google search results.

The following screenshot shows an example of how the seller ratings are displayed with an ad listing. In this case, the business has a rating of 4.6 stars, (out of a possible 5).

Popular among retailers and ecommerce websites, these ratings work just as effectively for businesses that provide professional services. Healthcare professionals, educational institutions, as well as businesses in the hospitality and service industries make use of Google seller ratings.

But these ratings don’t always appear when an advertiser launches a campaign through Google AdWords. According to Google, you need to meet the following criteria to have your ratings displayed with your ads:

#1. Quantity of Reviews

Google seller ratings will only show up with your ads if you’ve gotten a minimum of 150 unique reviews within the past 12 months.

#2. Quality of Reviews

You need to have a composite seller rating between 3.5 and 5 stars. This is because Google wants to make sure the ratings boost the success of advertisers, and lower ratings could have the opposite effect.

How Google Seller Ratings Impact You

Having a seller rating displayed with your PPC ads is an excellent way to win the trust of your target audience. Through these ratings, you’re proving your credibility, while at the same time showing that other customers stand behind your product or service.

Reviews and ratings from other consumers impact the purchase decisions of potential customers. In fact, a study published by Moz found that 67.7% of consumers make purchase decisions based on online reviews. And 69% of consumers conduct research through online product reviews.

Which means that Google seller ratings can also impact your ad’s performance. When users see the star ratings with your ad, they’re more likely to click on it. According to Omnitail, ads with seller ratings had a 107% higher click-through rate than those without.

How to Get Your Seller Ratings to Appear

Now you understand how Google seller ratings can positively impact your ad performance, which can, in turn, help you beat your competitors.

If your seller ratings aren’t appearing on your PPC ads, here’s what you can do:

#1. Try to Solve Bad Reviews

Bad reviews may seem detrimental, but don’t try to hide them right away. Instead, use them as opportunities to show others that you’re competent enough to solve customer complaints. Go through your negative reviews to see if there’s any way you can solve the issues. You could turn a negative experience into a positive one. Which could make the customer reconsider their review (and delete it), or post a new positive review.

#2. Engage with Positive Reviewers

Improve the quality of your review content by responding to positive reviews. Thank customers for leaving a good review, and include keywords and relevant search terms, along with your business name in your response. Your engaging response could encourage them to make more purchases, and it will help spread the word about your business.

#3. Update Correct Merchant Data

It’s crucial that you properly update your information in the Google Merchant Center. If there’s any incorrect or inaccurate data, some reviews may not be attributed to your business. You could lose valuable reviews, which will then negatively affect the visibility of your Google seller ratings. Double check information like your domain name, business name, and contact information.

#4. Encourage Customers to Leave Reviews

Only 6% of consumers always leave online reviews after buying something. So it can be a huge challenge for advertisers to reach the 150 reviews mark. You could encourage customers to submit reviews by sending them an email prompt once their product has been delivered, or a few days after they use your service.

Now you have a better understanding of what Google seller ratings are, and how they work. You also understand how these ratings can impact your ad performance.

And best of all, you’ve learned some effective tips to ensure that your Google seller ratings show up with your PPC campaigns. Now all that’s left for you to do is to start applying these tips to encourage more clicks, and beat your competitors.

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