When searching on Google for brick and mortar locations such as “hot tub dealers in san diego”, the Google My Business section is almost always at the top of the organic (non paid) results, just under the 3 or 4 paid ads at the very top. For anyone selling out of physical storefronts, Google My Business is the most powerful free tool to drive traffic to your store and website that Google offers.

When looking at GMB (Google My Business), there are three main values you have the power to change that will greatly impact your performance. Those values are your average star rating, your number of reviews, and the rate at which you reply to reviews. These values affect how high you will rank on GMB as well as your conversion rate. On GMB, a conversion is when a customer clicks on the “Call location”, “Direct me to the location”, and “view website” buttons.

When it comes to star ratings, overall conversion rate peaked at 4.9 stars and slumped at 5 stars, but there is a much more important figure to look out for. In a recent study, researchers found that companies that grew from 3.5 stars to 3.7 stars within one year experienced a 120% increase in conversion rate growth. What does this tell us? The closer a company’s average star rating is to 4.9, the better. However, crossing the 3.7 average star rating line will have the greatest effect on a company’s conversion rate by far. If your average star rating isn’t at or over 3.7 yet, you should make it your highest priority on GMB.

Another easy way to boost your overall conversions is to reply to more reviews. A recent study found Businesses that reply to 32%+ of reviews get 80% more conversions compared to businesses who reply to 10%. If you do not reply to at least 32% of your business’s reviews, this can be a quick first step that will immediately increase conversions.

The last value we have the power to change is the number of total reviews your business has. Research suggests that consumers in general prefer companies with over 40 reviews, but when Google’s algorithm looks at where to rank your business, it will compare the number of reviews you have to the industry average. 40 reviews is the baseline any company should aim for to satisfy consumers, but if your industry average is higher than 40, you should aim to match or exceed that figure to rank highly with Google.

• Get your business’s average star rating equal to or greater than 3.7. This will likely increase conversion rate growth by 120%.
• Respond to at least 32% of reviews to quickly and drastically improve conversions.
• Have at least 40 reviews on your GMB page. If your business’s industry average is higher than 40, try to match or exceed it.

Murphy, Rosie. “Google Reviews Study: How Many Reviews Do Businesses Need?” BrightLocal, 1 Nov. 2019, www.brightlocal.com/research/google-reviews-study/.

Nguyen, George. “Acheiving 3.7 Google My business Rating Stars Delivers Highest Conversion Boost, Study Finds.” Search Engine Land, 30 Oct. 2019, https://searchengineland.com/achieving-3-7-google-my-business-rating-stars-delivers-highest-conversion-boost-study-finds-323946

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