Three green apples on a light wood surfacePhoto by Holly Mindrup on Unsplash

How Apple Set The Stage To Defeat Google’s Online Advertising Empire

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It might seem like the digital landscape has always been dominated by big companies with big names. Google. Apple. Facebook. Twitter. But the landscape can change, and can do so rapidly. Recently, Apple has begun to take a bite out of Google’s supremacy in the online advertising arena.

Online advertising has been Google’s driving force, funding all of its other ventures for nearly 2 decades. As it turns out, this is both a strength and a weakness, and one which Apple will soon be in a position to exploit.

How Apple Set The Stage To Defeat Google’s Online Advertising Empire

Apple’s Safari Defaults To Google Searchstocksnap_ivy2vg1mad

It’s recently been discovered that Apple has a deal with Google to help bolster Google’s online advertising business. It’s estimated that Google pays Apple around $1 billion each year to be the default search option on Safari, Apple’s browser which is native to every iPhone sold.

In 2014, Goldman Sachs estimated more than 75% of mobile online advertising revenue for Google came from iPhones, which, based on public information, is estimated at $8.85 billion annually, about half of which is estimated to come from Safari searches, putting the value of Google being the default search option for Safari at about $4.4 billion annually. Online advertising revenue has only increased since 2014.

In 2014, Google reported more than $66 billion in total annual revenue, so Apple supplies/controls about 6% of Google’s annual revenue. This is a powerful bargaining chip.

Apple’s CEO Positions The Company As A Champion Of Privacy

Apple’s CEO, Tim Cook, says on Apple’s privacy page: “We sell great products. We don’t build a profile based on your email content or web browsing habits to sell to advertisers. We don’t “monetize” the information you store on your iPhone or in iCloud. And we don’t read your email or your messages to get information to market to you. Our software and services are designed to make our devices better. Plain and simple.”

This is in direct opposition to the purpose and mission of online advertising companies like Google and Facebook. Apple is a hugely influential brand with hundreds of millions of devotees, and when they say online advertising companies don’t care about privacy, it holds weight.

Apple tries to remind users often that by using Apple products – which process commands locally on the machine and not in the cloud like Google – they’re making themselves and their data more private, safe and secure.

Apple’s Siri Stands As A Gateway To Vertical Searchstocksnap_53zhdxtl23

Siri isn’t open to the developer community . . . yet.

Currently, Siri can handle basic queries (along with other functions, but we’ll stick with search for now). Queries like “What movies are playing near me” will return a result of films at local cinemas, but displayed natively and not in a browser.

This is an example of a vertical search – using a particular service to get a particular result, bypassing Google’s online advertising. While Siri itself is not a vertical search tool, it can be used in the future to access them. Current examples of vertical search engines include Amazon, where the number of product searches have overtaken the total number of product searches on Google.

When Siri opens up, users will be able to search vertically much easier than they can now. For instance, instead of using Safari:

  • iPhone users can use Siri to search Facebook, LinkedIn or their Contacts Book for a person
  • Users can search through Siri for places and be taken to Yelp or Apple Maps directly, cutting out Google
  • Searches for news can be sent straight to Apple News
  • Searches for products sent to Amazon
  • Searches for travel sent to Expedia, Orbitz or Priceline directly.

The more vertical searches Siri can handle, the fewer searches Google gets on Apple devices, which directly cuts into their online advertising profits and brand recognition.

The stage is set, but it will be a long, slow, drawn out process. Should Apple continue to move in these directions – being a go-to source of Google’s online advertising revenue, championing privacy and opening up vertical search – this will limit Google’s online advertising growth and lower the company’s margins.

At Cohlab Digital Marketing, we’re passionate about online advertising. If you’d like to learn more about how to grow your business through Google’s AdWords tool, reach out and we’ll walk you through the process.

How Apple Set The Stage To Defeat Google’s Online Advertising Empire

/in ,

It might seem like the digital landscape has always been dominated by big companies with big names. Google. Apple. Facebook. Twitter. But the landscape can change, and can do so rapidly. Recently, Apple has begun to take a bite out of Google’s supremacy in the online advertising arena.

Online advertising has been Google’s driving force, funding all of its other ventures for nearly 2 decades. As it turns out, this is both a strength and a weakness, and one which Apple will soon be in a position to exploit.

How Apple Set The Stage To Defeat Google’s Online Advertising Empire

Apple’s Safari Defaults To Google Searchstocksnap_ivy2vg1mad

It’s recently been discovered that Apple has a deal with Google to help bolster Google’s online advertising business. It’s estimated that Google pays Apple around $1 billion each year to be the default search option on Safari, Apple’s browser which is native to every iPhone sold.

In 2014, Goldman Sachs estimated more than 75% of mobile online advertising revenue for Google came from iPhones, which, based on public information, is estimated at $8.85 billion annually, about half of which is estimated to come from Safari searches, putting the value of Google being the default search option for Safari at about $4.4 billion annually. Online advertising revenue has only increased since 2014.

In 2014, Google reported more than $66 billion in total annual revenue, so Apple supplies/controls about 6% of Google’s annual revenue. This is a powerful bargaining chip.

Apple’s CEO Positions The Company As A Champion Of Privacy

Apple’s CEO, Tim Cook, says on Apple’s privacy page: “We sell great products. We don’t build a profile based on your email content or web browsing habits to sell to advertisers. We don’t “monetize” the information you store on your iPhone or in iCloud. And we don’t read your email or your messages to get information to market to you. Our software and services are designed to make our devices better. Plain and simple.”

This is in direct opposition to the purpose and mission of online advertising companies like Google and Facebook. Apple is a hugely influential brand with hundreds of millions of devotees, and when they say online advertising companies don’t care about privacy, it holds weight.

Apple tries to remind users often that by using Apple products – which process commands locally on the machine and not in the cloud like Google – they’re making themselves and their data more private, safe and secure.

Apple’s Siri Stands As A Gateway To Vertical Searchstocksnap_53zhdxtl23

Siri isn’t open to the developer community . . . yet.

Currently, Siri can handle basic queries (along with other functions, but we’ll stick with search for now). Queries like “What movies are playing near me” will return a result of films at local cinemas, but displayed natively and not in a browser.

This is an example of a vertical search – using a particular service to get a particular result, bypassing Google’s online advertising. While Siri itself is not a vertical search tool, it can be used in the future to access them. Current examples of vertical search engines include Amazon, where the number of product searches have overtaken the total number of product searches on Google.

When Siri opens up, users will be able to search vertically much easier than they can now. For instance, instead of using Safari:

  • iPhone users can use Siri to search Facebook, LinkedIn or their Contacts Book for a person
  • Users can search through Siri for places and be taken to Yelp or Apple Maps directly, cutting out Google
  • Searches for news can be sent straight to Apple News
  • Searches for products sent to Amazon
  • Searches for travel sent to Expedia, Orbitz or Priceline directly.

The more vertical searches Siri can handle, the fewer searches Google gets on Apple devices, which directly cuts into their online advertising profits and brand recognition.

The stage is set, but it will be a long, slow, drawn out process. Should Apple continue to move in these directions – being a go-to source of Google’s online advertising revenue, championing privacy and opening up vertical search – this will limit Google’s online advertising growth and lower the company’s margins.

At Cohlab Digital Marketing, we’re passionate about online advertising. If you’d like to learn more about how to grow your business through Google’s AdWords tool, reach out and we’ll walk you through the process.

Three green mailboxes against a brick wall in low lightPhoto by Muukii on Unsplash

How To Get The Most Out Of Email Marketing Services

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Email marketing services like HubSpot and MailChimp help you organize your mailing lists and send templated messages to many users at once. But not many people are using email marketing services to their fullest.

At Cohlab, we have some best practices we utilize for our clients’ email marketing services which we’re happy to share with you. For additional help, contact us anytime and we’ll be happy to assist you.

Get The Most Out Of Your Email Marketing Services

Get PermissionEmail Marketing Services

No matter how you are getting these email addresses (a sign-up at your brick-and-mortar, a form on your website, a giveaway or contest) people need to know what they are signing up for. Before you ever use email marketing services or gather a single address, be sure people are aware that:

  • They will receive X number of emails per month
  • They will get (discounts, coupons, product information, first chance at new products, e-books, etc.)
  • You will not spam them or sell their email address to another company

Set Expectations

After a user agrees to be on your email list, send a follow-up email immediately to thank them, introduce yourself or your company, and remind them again what type of emails you will be sending to them. Most email marketing services like MailChimp and HubSpot have an option to set up an autoresponder when someone signs up for your email list.

Segment

Segmenting your email list is an extremely important aspect of email marketing services.

Someone who is on your list because they are a customer is going to be interested in different things than someone who signed up for an e-book. Similarly, your particular industry will have different segments, whether this is based on gender, age, job title, company, etc.

Each segment will likely be interested in a different aspect of your business. If you’re a restaurant, you probably won’t want to send info about your Senior Specials to the under 50 crowd, while information about Kids Meals should probably go to the 25-45 age group.

Most email marketing services will allow you to manually place email addresses into various segmented groups which you design. It isn’t rocket science, but it does take time to setup at the start.

Optimize

When preparing for email marketing services, be sure to optimize the actual content of them. For instance, subject lines of emails have been shown to be extremely effective at <50 characters and >70 characters. Between 50-70 characters, emails tend to be opened less often.

More specifically, emails with subject lines of <50 characters tend to be opened more often than any other length, while emails with subject lines of >70 characters see the best click through rates (on a link or deal within the email).

Overall, emails should be short on content. If you have a lot of content to deliver, put short summaries and link out to a blog post on the topic. In general, emails shouldn’t have more than about 200 words in the body.

Remember, for additional email marketing services help, contact us anytime!

Man and woman looking and pointing at computer screenPhoto by NESA by Makers on Unsplash

3 Tips For Hiring The Right SEO Marketing Services Firm For You

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If you’re here, you’re likely in need of a search engine optimization, or SEO marketing services firm, to help your company with its Google search rankings.

If you do a search for “SEO Firms” on Google, you’ll probably come back with dozens or even hundreds of results, depending on the size of the city you’re in. But how can you know which SEO marketing services company is the best fit for you?

Let’s take a look at some tips for hiring the right SEO marketing services firm for you, and of course, be sure to check us out to find out if we would be a good fit for you as well.

3 Tips For Hiring The Right SEO Marketing Services Firm For You

1. Set Goals/Examine Your Needspeople-office-group-team

What are you hoping to get out of a relationship with an SEO marketing services firm: reputation management, an SEO audit, ongoing SEO, local SEO, link building, PPC management, retargeting, content, or some other services SEO firms tend to offer?

If you’re unsure of what you need, it’s time to take a hard look at your business. Do you want to grow your sales by 10% over the next 6 months, or leads by 40% over the same time period? Is your goal an increased rank on Google searches for specific keywords, or do you just need help with generating consistent content?

Have a goal in mind so you can measure the success of your relationship with the SEO marketing services firm, and make that goal the center of your relationship with them.

2. Get References

When you look for an auto body shop, you look for good reviews, either online or in recommendations from people you know. You want to see success stories. The same goes for an SEO marketing services firm.

Ask them to show you work they have done so you understand their process, their metrics for success, as well as the companies they typically work with. If you’re a restaurant (B2C) and the firm has only ever worked with IT services companies (B2B), they might not be the right fit for you.

3. Make The SEO Marketing Services Firm Tell You Stories

When you hire a new employee, you don’t simply look at their resume and take their word for it. You ask them follow up questions and ask them for the stories behind some of their accomplishments. The same should go for hiring an SEO marketing services firm.

You want them to be able to tell you stories about their background, experience, successes and failures. It’s important to know how they react to different situations, because no business is exactly the same.

Setting clear goals, examining an SEO marketing services firm’s body of work, and having them tell you stories will help you hire the right SEO firm for your business.

For more information on what we do at Cohlab Digital Marketing and how we can help your SEO, contact us today.

3 Tips For Hiring The Right SEO Marketing Services Firm For You

/in

If you’re here, you’re likely in need of a search engine optimization, or SEO marketing services firm, to help your company with its Google search rankings.

If you do a search for “SEO Firms” on Google, you’ll probably come back with dozens or even hundreds of results, depending on the size of the city you’re in. But how can you know which SEO marketing services company is the best fit for you?

Let’s take a look at some tips for hiring the right SEO marketing services firm for you, and of course, be sure to check us out to find out if we would be a good fit for you as well.

3 Tips For Hiring The Right SEO Marketing Services Firm For You

1. Set Goals/Examine Your Needspeople-office-group-team

What are you hoping to get out of a relationship with an SEO marketing services firm: reputation management, an SEO audit, ongoing SEO, local SEO, link building, PPC management, retargeting, content, or some other services SEO firms tend to offer?

If you’re unsure of what you need, it’s time to take a hard look at your business. Do you want to grow your sales by 10% over the next 6 months, or leads by 40% over the same time period? Is your goal an increased rank on Google searches for specific keywords, or do you just need help with generating consistent content?

Have a goal in mind so you can measure the success of your relationship with the SEO marketing services firm, and make that goal the center of your relationship with them.

2. Get References

When you look for an auto body shop, you look for good reviews, either online or in recommendations from people you know. You want to see success stories. The same goes for an SEO marketing services firm.

Ask them to show you work they have done so you understand their process, their metrics for success, as well as the companies they typically work with. If you’re a restaurant (B2C) and the firm has only ever worked with IT services companies (B2B), they might not be the right fit for you.

3. Make The SEO Marketing Services Firm Tell You Stories

When you hire a new employee, you don’t simply look at their resume and take their word for it. You ask them follow up questions and ask them for the stories behind some of their accomplishments. The same should go for hiring an SEO marketing services firm.

You want them to be able to tell you stories about their background, experience, successes and failures. It’s important to know how they react to different situations, because no business is exactly the same.

Setting clear goals, examining an SEO marketing services firm’s body of work, and having them tell you stories will help you hire the right SEO firm for your business.

For more information on what we do at Cohlab Digital Marketing and how we can help your SEO, contact us today.

Man using credit card to buy items off Ebay

4 Traits To Look For In An eCommerce Web Development Firm

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Web development is a complex process, and with eCommerce web development there are many more factors to take into account.

Instead of users coming to a website to learn about a service, then calling or emailing for more information or an appointment, an eCommerce site contains the entire sales process, and needs the requisite abilities and security to make sure the transaction goes through smoothly, quickly and safely.

eCommerce web development isn’t something you want to trust to just any web developer. A firm like ours can help you build a responsive, secure eCommerce website, so contact us for more information!

Let’s go over 4 traits you’ll want to look for in an eCommerce web development firm.

4 Traits To Look For In An eCommerce Web Development Firm

1. Responsive Web Designmoney-card-business-credit-card-50987

When browsing the internet on your phone, you’ve likely searched for a product, clicked on a search result and been taken to a hard to navigate website. It might even take you to the home page instead of the product you were looking for!

These problems arise when a website isn’t designed to be responsive. An eCommerce web development firm will make one website which will react to whichever kind of device it is being viewed on rather than build a mobile and a desktop site.

2. Site Optimization

Statistics show that 40% of users will abandon a website which takes more than 3 seconds to load. This is especially true for mobile users, who make up nearly ¼ of all eCommerce sales.

In order to keep those customers on your site you’ll want to optimize it to run as quickly as possible by using an eCommerce web development firm. This is not only on the ‘back-end’, but also in the way information, pages and menus are organized and displayed.

3. Search

It’s important to make sure your eCommerce web development firm knows the importance of having a search function on your website. 30% of visitors to eCommerce sites use the search function to find the products they need.

The firm should also be able to employ ‘faceted search’, where users can sort results by color, size, price, manufacturer, etc.

4. Security

All eCommerce web development firms should make sure the sites they build support SSL to encrypt information. This is true not only for credit card and other payment information but also personal information like addresses, phone numbers, emails, etc.

After internalizing these 4 traits, you’ll be able to find a great eCommerce web development firm to work with. Be sure to contact us if you’d like more information about eCommerce websites, or are ready to create or reimagine yours!

Search Engine Optimization

5 Ways To Get Better PPC Services By Having A Google Partner

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A big part of search engine marketing (SEM) is the pay-per-click, or PPC services a digital marketing firm can provide.

PPC services allow you to pay per click for good positioning on Google search results for certain keywords. PPC services can give your advertising a quick boost to get to the next level, whether you’re looking for sales, leads, or an increase in views/visits.

One recent study found that many small businesses waste 25% of their PPC budgets due to misunderstanding of keywords and other search engine marketing issues. That’s why it’s important to work with a certified Google Partner like Cohlab.

Being a Google Partner means we are trained in various Google advertising methods, including PPC services, and have access to expert help from Google employees anytime we need it, to make sure we deliver the results you’re looking for. Having a Google Partner can greatly impact the effectiveness of your SEM, saving you money in the long term.

5 Ways To Get Better PPC Services By Having A Google PartnerCohlab is a Google Partner

1. Certified Analysts And Account Managers

In order to achieve Google Partner status, a digital marketing firm needs to have employees who are Google certified actively managing clients PPC services. Google keeps track of these certifications on their Google Partner website, and ensures they are up-to-date and that the firm meets Google’s standards.

2. Masters Of AdWords Featuresstocksnap_xbk2jsafg9

All Google Partner companies must manage a PPC services ad spend of at least $10,000 every 90 days.

Also, Google Partners need to be masters of AdWords and use them in a way which is profitable for their client. Some of the needed skills include:

  • Use of keywords/negative keywords
  • Proper links
  • Ad extensions
  • Phrase matching
  • Split testing
  • Broad match modified keywords
  • Proper ad scheduling

3. Google-Quality Services

Google reviews a Google Partner’s client accounts to make sure they are giving clients the best PPC services through their quality score ranking. Google also looks at how long clients stay active with digital marketing firms to measure the quality of a Partner.

4. Quick Response

Many Google Partners, including Cohlab, have Google Representatives they can contact at any time a client has an issue without waiting in line.

If your AdWords campaigns are shut down, you’ll continue to lose out on sales until those campaigns are reactivated. Usually, it could take 3 days to address this issue, but with a Google Representative, it can be addressed nearly immediately.

5. Testing And Innovation

PPC services include split testing ads, or running to different versions of ads for the same purpose. Google Partners are required to split test ads to attract the greatest volume of customers to a client’s site.

5 Ways To Get Better PPC Services By Having A Google Partner

/in ,

A big part of search engine marketing (SEM) is the pay-per-click, or PPC services a digital marketing firm can provide.

PPC services allow you to pay per click for good positioning on Google search results for certain keywords. PPC services can give your advertising a quick boost to get to the next level, whether you’re looking for sales, leads, or an increase in views/visits.

One recent study found that many small businesses waste 25% of their PPC budgets due to misunderstanding of keywords and other search engine marketing issues. That’s why it’s important to work with a certified Google Partner like Cohlab.

Being a Google Partner means we are trained in various Google advertising methods, including PPC services, and have access to expert help from Google employees anytime we need it, to make sure we deliver the results you’re looking for. Having a Google Partner can greatly impact the effectiveness of your SEM, saving you money in the long term.

5 Ways To Get Better PPC Services By Having A Google PartnerCohlab is a Google Partner

1. Certified Analysts And Account Managers

In order to achieve Google Partner status, a digital marketing firm needs to have employees who are Google certified actively managing clients PPC services. Google keeps track of these certifications on their Google Partner website, and ensures they are up-to-date and that the firm meets Google’s standards.

2. Masters Of AdWords Featuresstocksnap_xbk2jsafg9

All Google Partner companies must manage a PPC services ad spend of at least $10,000 every 90 days.

Also, Google Partners need to be masters of AdWords and use them in a way which is profitable for their client. Some of the needed skills include:

  • Use of keywords/negative keywords
  • Proper links
  • Ad extensions
  • Phrase matching
  • Split testing
  • Broad match modified keywords
  • Proper ad scheduling

3. Google-Quality Services

Google reviews a Google Partner’s client accounts to make sure they are giving clients the best PPC services through their quality score ranking. Google also looks at how long clients stay active with digital marketing firms to measure the quality of a Partner.

4. Quick Response

Many Google Partners, including Cohlab, have Google Representatives they can contact at any time a client has an issue without waiting in line.

If your AdWords campaigns are shut down, you’ll continue to lose out on sales until those campaigns are reactivated. Usually, it could take 3 days to address this issue, but with a Google Representative, it can be addressed nearly immediately.

5. Testing And Innovation

PPC services include split testing ads, or running to different versions of ads for the same purpose. Google Partners are required to split test ads to attract the greatest volume of customers to a client’s site.

Women using MacBook Air to view Google Browser

Online Reviews And Listings: 5 Ways To Improve Local Search Ranking

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Local search ranking is a huge opportunity for any business. Google is emphasizing local answers in search, so it’s important for you to be visible so you can be found by local searchers. There are a few different ways to become more visible, like getting more online reviews and claiming your Google business listing.

Before we get into the ‘how’ of improving local search ranking, it’s important to truly understand the ‘why.’

95% of searchers do not go beyond the first page of Google results, and 60% of clicks occur in the top three individual search results, making local search ranking one of the most important factors in traffic flow to your website. And online reviews are one of the top ranking factors for local search ranking.

1. Claim Your Google Business ListingCohlab Google Business Listing

One of the most important things you can do is claim your Google business listing. You can see here how we have claimed ours. This means anyone who directly searches the name of our company gets a complete and full look at our address, phone number, photos of the business, a map, as well as online reviews and other things we might choose to put in there, depending on our type of business.

The business listings are highly important, as they can also show up when people search for your industry locally, like ‘web design in St. Cloud, MN’ or something like this. The listing won’t show up in full immediately, but will be truncated with simply your address, phone number and star rating. The searcher can then click on you to be given the full listing as well as a larger map.

2. Claim Your Online Reviews Site Listings

There are a lot of online review websites out there: Yelp, TripAdvisor, Fandango, Houzz, Google, Yellow Pages, Facebook, Amazon and so many more. These sites all have listings for businesses. You might have a listing already and not even know it!

Go to one of these websites and do a search for your business name. If you find an unclaimed listing for your business, it’s in your best interested to claim it and start to control it and the online reviews. If you don’t have one, you can create one to collect future reviews with.

3. Ensure Data Is Consistent On All Listings

Once you’ve claimed all of your online reviews site listings and Google business listing, make sure your address, phone number, photos and all relevant information are consistent across all of them. Google will be looking at this information when it is considering where to rank you in local search results, and inconsistent information will lower your ranking.

4. Add Online Reviews To Your WebsiteCohlab Reviews

Next, make sure you add your online reviews to your website.

Hosting online reviews on your website can boost your conversions: visitors who read and interact with online reviews are 58% more likely to convert than those who don’t.

No, don’t copy and paste the reviews on there. Many plugins or widgets exist which you can utilize with some research to get your online reviews onto your website for customers to see.

Another option would be utilizing our proprietery Cohlab.Reviews software. Cohlab.Reviews, as can be seen here, gathers all of your online reviews from across the web and displays them chronologically (while also filtering out bad reviews.) With Cohlab.Reviews, you are also able to solicit customers who you know are happy to provide you with extra reviews on the site of their choosing.

5. Share Online Reviews On Social Media

While social media is not the biggest ranking factor for local search listings, it doesn’t hurt, and it may help grow your business through word-of-mouth, or person-to-person influence.

Online reviews play a huge role in building trust, and are viewed as more trustworthy than other types of promotional posts on social media. So when you get a new 5-star review, post a link to the review on social media and write a thank you to the person.

Online Reviews And Listings: 5 Ways To Improve Local Search Ranking

/in ,

Local search ranking is a huge opportunity for any business. Google is emphasizing local answers in search, so it’s important for you to be visible so you can be found by local searchers. There are a few different ways to become more visible, like getting more online reviews and claiming your Google business listing.

Before we get into the ‘how’ of improving local search ranking, it’s important to truly understand the ‘why.’

95% of searchers do not go beyond the first page of Google results, and 60% of clicks occur in the top three individual search results, making local search ranking one of the most important factors in traffic flow to your website. And online reviews are one of the top ranking factors for local search ranking.

1. Claim Your Google Business ListingCohlab Google Business Listing

One of the most important things you can do is claim your Google business listing. You can see here how we have claimed ours. This means anyone who directly searches the name of our company gets a complete and full look at our address, phone number, photos of the business, a map, as well as online reviews and other things we might choose to put in there, depending on our type of business.

The business listings are highly important, as they can also show up when people search for your industry locally, like ‘web design in St. Cloud, MN’ or something like this. The listing won’t show up in full immediately, but will be truncated with simply your address, phone number and star rating. The searcher can then click on you to be given the full listing as well as a larger map.

2. Claim Your Online Reviews Site Listings

There are a lot of online review websites out there: Yelp, TripAdvisor, Fandango, Houzz, Google, Yellow Pages, Facebook, Amazon and so many more. These sites all have listings for businesses. You might have a listing already and not even know it!

Go to one of these websites and do a search for your business name. If you find an unclaimed listing for your business, it’s in your best interested to claim it and start to control it and the online reviews. If you don’t have one, you can create one to collect future reviews with.

3. Ensure Data Is Consistent On All Listings

Once you’ve claimed all of your online reviews site listings and Google business listing, make sure your address, phone number, photos and all relevant information are consistent across all of them. Google will be looking at this information when it is considering where to rank you in local search results, and inconsistent information will lower your ranking.

4. Add Online Reviews To Your WebsiteCohlab Reviews

Next, make sure you add your online reviews to your website.

Hosting online reviews on your website can boost your conversions: visitors who read and interact with online reviews are 58% more likely to convert than those who don’t.

No, don’t copy and paste the reviews on there. Many plugins or widgets exist which you can utilize with some research to get your online reviews onto your website for customers to see.

Another option would be utilizing our proprietery Cohlab.Reviews software. Cohlab.Reviews, as can be seen here, gathers all of your online reviews from across the web and displays them chronologically (while also filtering out bad reviews.) With Cohlab.Reviews, you are also able to solicit customers who you know are happy to provide you with extra reviews on the site of their choosing.

5. Share Online Reviews On Social Media

While social media is not the biggest ranking factor for local search listings, it doesn’t hurt, and it may help grow your business through word-of-mouth, or person-to-person influence.

Online reviews play a huge role in building trust, and are viewed as more trustworthy than other types of promotional posts on social media. So when you get a new 5-star review, post a link to the review on social media and write a thank you to the person.