Online reviews have a big impact on local search rankings and on purchasing (and church visitation) decisions.
According to a recent survey by BrightLocal…
84% of shoppers said they trusted online business reviews as much as a personal recommendation from friends or family. -BrightLocal
This is true not only for local businesses but also for local churches.
People search for churches on local search engines like Google Maps, and both the number of online reviews and content of those reviews influence whether those people will visit your church on a Sunday.
Quick Question
With that in mind, would you take 60 seconds to search for your church in Google Maps. Note how many reviews your church has on its Google Maps / Google My Business listing. Then post a comment and share how many reviews your church has.
One thing you can do to improve your search rankings and increase the likelihood people will visit your church is to ask the people of your congregation to post reviews.
If you need help with your church SEO, click and request a free consultation.
6 Comments
34!
For the past year and a half, we’ve been asking 1 person every week if they would leave us an honest review on Google. Thankfully they are all 5 stars!
That’s awesome, Tim! Way to be proactive in asking for reviews!
When our church holds an event such as dedicating a baby, wedding, New Year celebration, Easter, etc. we ask the happy people to leave a comment for our church on the website. We actually send them an email saying “Did you like celebrating Easter with us? Could you share your joy with others and leave a comment?”.
That’s a cool idea. What church are you a part of? Can you share a link to an example where people have commented about a specific event? I’m curious to see how you facilitate that.
Good read! reviews really are key when it comes to GMB listings. I would recommend minimum 10 reviews with at-least 4+ stars
Hi George, I wouldn’t put a minimum or a maximum on the number of reviews. The more the better. So, what organization are you with and how many reviews do you have?