SEO That You Didn’t Ask For
Every electrician has had this experience. You’ve just replaced a clean panel and the homeowner is happy, perhaps even a bit surprised that the mess was fixed in a couple of hours. They’re happy. You’re happy. You put away your tools, present the bill and drive home, and the feel-good factor disappears the next day when you wake up and look at your position in Google, and wonder why the guy two suburbs away with half as much experience as you is still kicking butt. I’m guessing he has more reviews. That’s why seo for electricians is so reliant on something that occurs after the work is done, rather than while it is being carried out.
Reviews are ranking signals. Google sees them, evaluates them and incorporates them into its decision-making about which local electricians should be shown in the search results. This is not hearsay or Internet mythology – it’s part of the Google local algorithm. The number, age, rating and even the language used by customers in their reviews are all taken into account when it comes to ranking your company up against the competition in the local map pack. Not paying attention to reviews as part of your SEO strategy is akin to not worrying about the wiring and wondering why your lights aren’t working.
It’s All in the Quantity and Recency
A business with 200 reviews garnered over a three-year period will typically rank better than a business with 20 reviews garnered in a similar time frame – all things being equal. However, “all else being equal” is seldom the case, hence the importance of recency. If you have a steady stream of new reviews, Google knows you’re still in the business of serving customers, not relying on a good reputation from a couple years back. An electrician with their last review written eight months ago begins to look like a “dead” business to Google, assuming the business is anything but.
This means that review acquisition can’t be a one-off. It must be part of every job closeout. Not an annoying, badgering way, a human, natural request at a high-satisfaction moment. It’s usually when you’ve just fixed their problem and they can see how it will work for them. Ask when the iron is hot.
The Text of Reviews Is Keyword Content
Electricians aren’t aware that Google indexes the text of customer reviews. If a customer reviews your business by saying “emergency electrician 10 p.m. call, arrived within an hour” Google associates “emergency electrician” with your business name. If another reviewer writes “panel upgrade in [suburb name],” Google will further associate your business with that location and service. You’re getting a Google-friendly customer testimonial written about your business by someone other than you, and Google finds this far more reliable than self-indulgent content marketing.
That’s why it’s worth asking customers to be as specific as possible (without telling them what to say, which is a no) without being too pushy. It’s appropriate to say “you can mention the job we did and the area you live in if you want, that will help people with similar issues find us” There’s a huge difference between a review that reads “awesome service, highly recommend” and “repaired a shorting breaker in our [neighborhood] home on Saturday morning, quick and professional” when it comes to SEO. Both are five stars. Only one is working hard.
Your Reply Rate Is Part of the Signal
Google notices if you’re responding to reviews. Frequent and authentic responses show that you’re paying attention – and that activity is a part of local rankings. And if you respond to reviews, you’re regularly adding new content to your profile – and that’s part of the same freshness signals as new reviews. It may not be as big as the effect of the number of reviews, but it’s real, and it takes only a few minutes per week.
More significantly, the way you respond to negative reviews impacts the way prospective customers see you. Responding to a negative review in a cool, professional way – acknowledging the issue, explaining what went wrong, and offering to correct it – is a sign of a business that takes responsibility. Homeowners don’t expect trades businesses to be perfect. They want to know you’ll be professional when things go wrong. All it takes is one polite response to a poor review to turn a cynical viewer of your profile into a potential customer – they may be willing to give you a try because they assume you’re at least decent.
Ratings Score Matters for Click-Through, and that Matters for Rank
The average number of stars you have on your listing affects the click-through rate. A 4.8-star rating with 90 reviews receives more clicks than a 3.9-star rating with 150 reviews, even though the latter technically has more reviews. The more people who click on your listing, the more Google knows your listing is relevant and useful to searchers, which helps your ranking. It’s a virtuous circle: more reviews, more clicks, better ranking and more visibility, which leads to more reviews, and so on.
Create a Sustainable System for Reviews
There’s no magic to the electricians who consistently get reviews. They established a simple system and followed it. Text a follow-up message later on the same day as the job to a link to your Google reviews. The shorter and cleaner the link, the better – a Google review link shortener or a QR code on the invoice both make it easier. Other companies send out a simple text message two hours after a job is complete in their scheduling application. It’s short, personable and includes the link. That’s the whole system.
The timing matters. Ask too early and the job hasn’t been completed. Ask too late and the experience is over. Midday or the next day is ideal for most trades. A customer who has just woken up to the power on after the emergency callout last night is feeling good and is likely to say something nice – if you make it easy for them to do so quickly.
