Virtually all American adults (93%) read online reviews to determine if a business is good or bad, reveals BrightLocal in its latest annual Local Consumer Review Survey report. Reviews continue to be extremely important, as 94% of respondents use the internet multiple times a year to find local businesses, and the majority are more likely to use a business based on positive reviews.
In fact, Millennials now turn to review sites when researching leisure travelmore than any other type of site, per comScore research.
Reviews are also critical to local SEO – and deemed the “new link alternative,” according to new research from LocalSEOGuide.
When judging a local business based on reviews, consumers are more likely to pay attention to its star rating than to the quantity or recency of its reviews, per BrightLocal’s survey. However, the quantity of reviews seems to be gaining in importance for respondents, as is the presence of a business’ response to them.
As for the quantity of reviews, two-thirds (68%) of respondents report needing to read at least 4 before they can trust a business. That includes a plurality 34% who would need to read 4-6. Interestingly, some need more convincing, as 1 in 8 profess to reading more than 10 reviews before trusting a business.
The recency of those reviews can have an influence, too. Two-thirds say that the review has to have been posted within the past 3 months for it to impact their decision, and half won’t consider reviews that have been posted earlier than 1 month prior. Read the rest at MarketingCharts.com.
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