A not-so-little secret about your online reviews

by Glenn Lombardi

According to a survey published by Nielsen, four out of five Yelp users visit the site before spending money, and 93% say visiting Yelp leads to a local purchase. Yelp has a user base more than 100 million strong. This makes the aforementioned numbers staggering.

It means that if any of the potential patients in your area use Yelp, there is an 80% chance they will look up your reviews before scheduling an appointment. The bottom line becomes clear. There are many potential patients riding on your online reputation.

So, once again, we see that the talk about the importance of online reviews is supported by data. But there is one other piece of information crucial to the story, one that often goes overlooked. Your online reviews also affect where you rank on Google's results page.

This is due to three main factors:

1. Google wants to give its users the most useful results it can.
2. Online reviews are, for the most part, considered to be trustworthy.
3. Google needs to verify that your practice is actually a real place of business.

The first point is the most basic. Yelp and Google+ are the most widely used review sites. The large sample sizes they represent make their content extremely relevant. In the world of search engines, a high degree of relevance means a satisfying user experience. This makes their reviews, especially those from Google+, a shoo-in for high results. As you might expect, the practices with more favorable rankings get priority because search engines want to make finding good reviews as quick and easy as possible.

The second point has seen a small amount of contention in recent days, but the data continues to speak for itself. Local Consumer Review, for instance, showed in a much-cited study that 72% of consumers trust online reviews as much as personal recommendations. This means that word of mouth, the oldest and most reliable way of marketing your practice, has moved into the online space. Search engines take your online reviews into account because it's the best way to represent the talk of your town.

The third point may seem strange, but Google actually needs to double-check in order to make sure your practice is authentic. Questionable companies often try to force themselves higher in search results by building fake directory listings, but their sites lack reviews.

If your practice has a healthy supply of legitimate reviews, then Google takes them as evidence that your practice is a real place with real patients. This earns you a boost in search results.

All of these things can make Google your best friend or greatest enemy depending on what kind of online reviews you have. This can feel unfair at times. After all, any of your patients can leave reviews on your page, and some of their negative opinions could be unfounded.

But SEO, when it comes to online reviews, is a game of averages. The best way to go about improving is by generating enough positive reviews to outweigh the negative ones you may already have. The more positive reviews you have, the less weight is given to negative ones, allowing search engines to focus on your best side.

This is easiest when you have a reputation-tracking program that collects, organizes, and analyzes all instances of your practice being mentioned or reviewed online. With one of these, you can pinpoint what aspects of your practice are causing a splash, and which might need improvement – all without lifting a finger.

With so much riding on your online reviews, reputation monitoring should be one of the first steps you take in building your Web presence. Get the tools you need for success, and take control of your online reputation.

Glenn Lombardi is president of Officite, a provider of dental websites and Internet marketing strategies, including social media, search marketing, reputation management, and mobile websites. Officite has built thousands of websites that have generated more than a half million new patient appointment requests since 2002. For more information, visit www.officite.com or call (800) 908-2483.