Google My Business

[ched999uk]

Only thing I can suggest is to contact who ever does your website and ask if they can help.

 

[Poles Apart]

Only thing I can suggest is to contact who ever does your website and ask if they can help.

Gav on here does my website he can't help either.

 

[ched999uk]

Maybe message @Andy's PPC as he has advertised he has experience in Google Adwords he might offer a service to sort out your Google My Business problem?

 

[Iron Giant]

I am paying £40 per month for a website and I can't ask customers to leave reviews as I can't reply to them

Not getting the connection at all between you having a website and customers not being able to leave a review on your Google business profile, your website is entirely separate form Google

 

[Andy's PPC]

Maybe message @Andy's PPC as he has advertised he has experience in Google Adwords he might offer a service to sort out your Google My Business problem?

Thanks for the recommendation ched999uk

Poles Apart, it looks like you are not verified. Google will send you a verification code through the post. Edit: yes you're verified just seen your other image

 

[Andy's PPC]

So the issue is you cant respond to the reviews left by customers? Send me a pm if you like and you can add me as a manager of the account and i can take a look for you if you want. Will have to be tomorrow though...

 

[mikesolton]

Thanks for this interesting information!

 

[Poles Apart]

Sure your signed into Google? If you are search your name then go to reviews and you are able to respond that way also.

No I am not able to.

 

[Andy's PPC]

Go to google, type in google my business. Sign in and you should be able to reply to customer reviews. They do also send you a notification when you get a new review and there is a option there to reply to customer.

 

[JEM]

I never thought about it, not being professional to not reply I have a few and never replied I doubt the customers care if I did or didn't reply

 

[ched999uk]

I never thought about it, not being professional to not reply I have a few and never replied I doubt the customers care if I did or didn't reply

Replying is always a good thing. To prospective customers, who are the ones looking at the reviews it shows the business cares about their customers. It is also good as you wouldn't want to be seen to just reply if it was a negative comment. So I would replay to all, even if it's just a 'thanks for your review' type of thing - ideally not same reply to all ?
Plus I have an idea Google likes you replying to the reviews as it shows customer interaction.

 

[JEM]

Replying is always a good thing. To prospective customers, who are the ones looking at the reviews it shows the business cares about their customers. It is also good as you wouldn't want to be seen to just reply if it was a negative comment. So I would replay to all, even if it's just a 'thanks for your review' type of thing - ideally not same reply to all ?
Plus I have an idea Google likes you replying to the reviews as it shows customer interaction.

It's just a bit cringy to say thanks, much appreciated, etc etc, as long as I have some reviews that's the main thing, maybe not replying makes it look more natural,
perhaps they have an emoji thumbs-up I can post!

 

[ched999uk]

It's just a bit cringy to say thanks, much appreciated, etc etc, as long as I have some reviews that's the main thing, maybe not replying makes it look more natural,
perhaps they have an emoji thumbs-up I can post!

I know what you mean but when ever I look at google reviews and see replies, no matter how cheesy, I still think that they bothered to reply and they are actively keeping an eye on their public perception but that's just my opinion.

Obviously everyone interprets things differently and it can be dangerous to reply to some negative comments as it winds up a customer who, for what ever reason felt it necessary to post a negative comment.

 

[Iron Giant]

It's just a bit cringy to say thanks, much appreciated, etc etc, as long as I have some reviews that's the main thing, maybe not replying makes it look more natural,
perhaps they have an emoji thumbs-up I can post!

I'd disagree imho it makes it look like you don't appreciate their custom or their review and looks like a business owner doesn't care when they don't reply,

I reply to every review as I appreciate that a customer has taken the time to leave a review and to show that they are very happy with my service

 

[Poles Apart]

I never thought about it, not being professional to not reply I have a few and never replied I doubt the customers care if I did or didn't reply

So what if a customer falsely leaves a bad review?

 

[Pjj]

So what if a customer falsely leaves a bad review?

There is very little you can do about it I had a person who we have never done work for leave a very poor review ,he did the same on many other people’s reviews , I repeatedly informed Google and there reply was as it’s not abusive or rude or discriminatory they wouldn’t do anything about it , it’s still there now years later .

 

[Iron Giant]

There is very little you can do about it I had a person who we have never done work for leave a very poor review ,he did the same on many other people’s reviews , I repeatedly informed Google and there reply was as it’s not abusive or rude or discriminatory they wouldn’t do anything about it , it’s still there now years later .

What's funny about this is, Google states that they do check reviews before they are allowed to go live yet you and I and no doubt many people have had false reviews or one star rating ?

 

[K in Kent]

Replying is always a good thing. To prospective customers, who are the ones looking at the reviews it shows the business cares about their customers. It is also good as you wouldn't want to be seen to just reply if it was a negative comment. So I would replay to all, even if it's just a 'thanks for your review' type of thing - ideally not same reply to all ?
Plus I have an idea Google likes you replying to the reviews as it shows customer interaction.

Google definitely expects a business to respond to ALL reviews - good or bad. It's also just good manners to thank people for a good review and can be a way of dealing with bad ones. If they have a valid point apologise and if they don't you can politely point out what they've got wrong.
Don't fet into a prolonged debate on the subject but if they're unreasonab;e people can read between the lines and make their own mind up.

And as a point of interest, a 5 star review without some text to go with it is virtually worthless as far as improving SEO/ ranking. Reviews also need "positive sentiment" attached from Google's perspective and customers prefer it too.

 

[K in Kent]

But which one do you have the verification code for? The code is linked to one of the accounts you need to apply it to the correct one.
You need to claim the google MyBusiness listing that has the Upper case and get the verification code for that to be able to reply.

Not sure how there ended up being 2 listings, one with caps, the other without, but as an ideal you need to claim them both then shut down 1 of them. One thing to keep in mind is that for best Google results your business name, address, and contact details must always be exactly the same on everything, i.e. if you have a website, FaceBook, Instagram, Twitter, YouTube etc all the same spelling and case.

Computers generally see an uppercase word as a completely different word to one all in lower case.

@ched999uk is absolutely right and whatever format you use for representing your business MUST be consistent everywhere for Google to recognise it as the same business. In this case that means using caps all the time unless you change it.
The reaon for 2 listings may be cos 1 was automatically generated by Google before you created one. Google collates business info from multiple sources and generates listings based on that info in an effort to have the most comprehensive business directory.
But whatever the reason for it you need it removed so go to the duplicate in search results, click suggest edit and then remove it as a duplicate

 

[K in Kent]

So what if a customer falsely leaves a bad review?

challenge it

 

[Pjj]

challenge it

I did and Google wouldn’t do anything about it they said it wasn’t racist , or discrimination so weren’t interested it’s been on there for years now ,the annoying thing is it’s a deliberate false review as we have never done work for the guy he also left bad reviews on several other peoples sights but again google would not do anything he called himself bud blood !,,,,,