Google Review Snippets: Everything Small Businesses Need to Know

Reviews are a crucial part of any small business’s marketing and reputation management strategy. But what about review snippets or Google review summaries?

What Are Review Snippets?

Review snippets, also called review summaries, are short excerpts from a review. Google creates these summaries, which typically include the average rating of a business. It can also include summary information from various reviews and ratings. This is usually in the form of a short excerpt from one specific review. Some rich review snippets will also include the price of an item.

These rich summaries appear on the Google results page, along with the page title, brief description, and URL.

Benefits of Review Rich Snippets

Having these Google review summaries is incredibly beneficial for your company. Rich snippets as a whole, including those that aren’t reviews, grab viewers’ attention, make product pages stand out, and provide additional information.

Review snippets are especially important because they come with all of the benefits of reviews, such as building confidence in your brand and encouraging purchases.

Gives Users More Info

One of the biggest advantages of a Google review summary is that it gives users more information in a way that is quick and easy to view. Remember that rich snippets grab the attention of viewers and stand out from the rest of the information in your search engine listing.

Combine this with the way reviews build your social proof. The combination of information and social proof means that after viewing a review summary, people are more likely to buy from your business.

Helps You Stand Out Among Competitors in Search

Having rich review snippets will also help you stand out in the search results. If competitors use rich snippets and you don’t, your business profile will not be as noticeable as theirs. When you don’t maximize your business profile, it hurts your click-through rate. On the other hand, if competitors aren’t using rich snippets, you can stand out by using them. So, whether or not your competitors have rich snippets of reviews, you will benefit from having them.

Improves Your Visibility

The big reason rich review snippets help you stand out from competitors is the additional visibility they provide. Simply put, when you have rich snippets, your listing on the Google search results takes up more space on the page, increasing visibility.

Boosts Your SEO

Google review summaries can also boost your SEO by improving your website traffic. Remember that website traffic is one of many factors that go into your SEO ranking. Rich snippets bring more attention to your website, so more people are likely to choose your link and click on it. That high click-through rate tells Google that your website is useful and relevant, boosting your search engine ranking.

Builds Trust in Your Brand

As mentioned, reviews do wonders for building trust in your brand. As such, review summaries do the same thing. They are a simple way to show potential customers that your brand is legitimate and trustworthy.

Provides Social Proof

The way review summaries build trust in your brand comes down to social proof, which refers to testimonials and reviews that show potential clients that others like your products and services. Social proof is part of why you want to get as many reviews as possible.

How to Monitor Your Review Snippets

Review snippets will show up with your Google business listing in the search results if you have relevant reviews. You will need to have reviews and ratings structured data set up. But because Google automatically creates the snippets from your reviews, you don’t have control over what they say. Instead, you need to work to get as many positive reviews as you can.

However, Google recognizes this and gives you tools to monitor your snippets and reviews overall.

Review Snippet Report

The best way to monitor your review summaries is via your Google account and the Search Console. You can navigate to the review snippet report.

This report will show you valid pages, errors, and warnings for markup implementation on your website. And if you fix something, you can go back to the report to confirm that you correctly fixed the issue.

Rich Results Test

If you add review summaries’ structured data to your website, you can use the Rich Results Test to assess them. To use this tool, submit a URL or code. The test will check for errors and make suggestions.

Review Snippets in Performance Reports

You can also find information on review summaries in your Performance report in the Search Console. This report lets you see how your marked-up pages perform with some help from the “Review snippet” search filter for appearance.

Use this to look at the CTR, clicks, and impressions of review snippet pages. Looking at their performance helps you understand trends.

Bonus: 5 Tips for Getting More Reviews

To get the most from Google review summaries, you want to have a lot of reviews. Having more reviews will also help your business in general, as the vast majority of customers look at reviews before buying from a new-to-them business.

The following are some tips to help you get more reviews.

Ask for Reviews Via Text

In many cases, getting reviews is all about asking. When you ask, your customers will make time and are likely to leave reviews.

Texting is particularly helpful, as texts have a 98% open rate. So, your customer is very likely to see your review request. And if you make the process simple with just a link in the text, you further increase the chances of getting reviews.

Ask for Reviews Via Email

While most customers prefer text, some are still more likely to respond to review requests via email. Ask via this channel in addition to text to increase your response rate.

Automate Reviews When Possible

Take advantage of tools like Podium to automate the process of asking for reviews. For example, Podium can automate text messages for requesting reviews, saving you time.

Ask for Reviews in Person

You should also encourage your employees to ask for reviews after face-to-face interactions with customers. Include this in their training so they don’t forget to ask for reviews. Asking customers directly for online reviews adds a personal touch, further encouraging them to leave reviews.

Create Signages Asking for Reviews

You should also consider using signages asking for reviews, including both a physical signage in stores and a digital signage on your website. For digital signages, include a link directly to the reviews. For digital signages, consider using a QR code that will take customers right to the review site. Remember that you must make leaving reviews as simple as possible.

Final Thoughts on Review Snippets

Google rich snippets, including those for Google reviews, help your company stand out. Having a Google review summary also provides customers with additional information and builds trust in your brands. Google offers various tools to help you monitor your Google review summary and your online reviews in general. You should also do your best to encourage online reviews via tools like Podium. More Google reviews will increase your social proof and brand visibility, resulting in more customers and sales.