Can you trade reviews for your business?

One of the questions we discussed in this week’s Office Hours is whether or not you can trade reviews for your business?

While Google does not like it when you trade links between websites, can you trade reviews for your business? We discuss the pros and cons of trading reviews- especially on local listings like Google MyBusiness or other services.

Transcript:

Best Way to write Reviews For your business-Meeting at 18:07 on Jun 16 2021

I’m trying to start my business. And so the person is trying to start your business. We got to do work for each other. Okay? So but we want to start looking for you. Give like a review for each other. A referral fee know like oh review. Yes. Oh How can we do that? So Google won’t like penalize us. So could I? So like one of us will just have to mention that person and maybe put their site on there, but don’t link to it. Is that help? That’s the only way it works. Yeah. So it’s only a violation. If you’re linking to each other in that sense, it’s a traded link and that’s against the rules. If you simply put a review on her site and his site, and Person. That’s just you’re both talking about each other. That’s totally fine. You could theoretically do this like reviews on trade reviews on Google my business. Yeah, but I do that. So for Google my business one thing is kind of don’t don’t look at it as trade reviews because Google doesn’t like that. So I wouldn’t go on and say today we’re doing a review and just immediately do one for each other. I would just pick a good time that you want to leave a review and you do it and then the other person do the same, it shouldn’t be right. Immediately after one another, the other thing is in review, I would just not imply that you work together. I know you got two separate businesses, but don’t have make sure the wording doesn’t imply that like you’re working for them like as an employee. I know that you’re not but just make sure your terminology doesn’t imply that just say, you know, something that you you know, work together on projects or however you’re going to word it. But try to be careful because Does Google doesn’t allow employees to reveal. The way we doing it is like they’re going to add. They asking me to do something for them that they don’t want to do. But I do it. And then then I’m asking them for a type of service also, and they’re helping me. Yeah, so that’s fine. Yeah, I just want to make sure because because the way Google works is they don’t allow employees to to, to leave reviews. And I just even though we know that you’re not and well, when other we want to, make sure that your the terminology used doesn’t make Google think that. Oh okay. That’s that’s the main thing. We know it. But we want to make sure that Google doesn’t look at some of your wording and think, oh, this is an employee. This shouldn’t be, this isn’t a valid review. So that’s the main thing, okay? But the review, the worried I would have is really limited to Links from each website. Site lavanya, right? So let’s just have a review but no link. Yeah, exactly. Because if you trading links, that is It’s Google’s guidelines so be magnanimous in your review. And showcase how awesome they are. By all means on your website. And if they would like to put one, reviewing you on their website, just be careful about trading links or linking to them vice versa and you know that’s the only real worries where its trading links otherwise by all means share reviews. In fact, one of the things I do is just if I’m fishing for reviews, right? Because yeah. Reviews need to be organic course, we don’t want to buy reviews, we don’t want to treat or write reviews or someone else. But so sometimes the best way to get reviews is by giving a review and then, so, so the kind of people feel a norm of reciprocity, say, oh, I’m going to give them a review back. And so, I’ve done this on many different platforms. I just go through people. I know who know me and review them And lo and behold, not too long after that, a lot of them will review me as well. Okay, it’s a, you know, I’m not expecting a review back and I’m Not In. Cahoots to get reviews back. I’m not really manipulating anything. Their views are completely organic. I’m just kind of giving people the idea that they might want to give me a review by reviewing that Okay. So that might be another way to get viewers because even though the review doesn’t have a link is still can help you. Oh yeah, yeah, yeah. And one thing you could do is you could look at so, part of the Branded link building process, In the Curious ants, plan

shows you how to look for people reviewing your website. In it. The idea here is when someone’s trying to decide whether or not to work for you, there they are going to put your business through the wringer and try to figure out. If anybody else says that, you’re as good as you say, you are so Google will even suggest in the, in the manual review, guidelines, which we’ve talked about before, how to search for people? Who think talk about your business? You can approach this kind of same way and go through third-party websites in start saying okay. Bad example here Yelp. I’ve see that Yelp shows up pretty frequently for your business or for my business and so I’m going to review you on Yelp with the hopes that you review me on Yelp. So that in a way, you can do the same. Process. But on third-party websites. I don’t know if I’m being clear but the idea is it’s one thing to have a review on your website. That’s great, right? I have a section of testimonials on my site but that’s also kind of not objective, right? Because obviously I can only put into good testimonials on the website but if I go and have a third party website Like super Pages or there’s a bunch of others, Google, obviously Google, but I’m trying to think of something sighs now I know. So what I can do is like one of us can do Google, my business and the other one have a review on the actual website that’s true. Or but, I guess what I’m suggesting is, follow the process for Brendan link building and see what other websites list your business and see if there’s an opportunity to have a review from them on that. So when someone searches your Business that other website. Maybe it’s Angie’s List, shows up. How about it has their review on Angie’s List. Okay. So then it’s not just you saying, hey, I’m awesome. Look at my friend says I’m good, it’s Angie’s List. Someone has reviewed be on Angie’s List or the Better Business Bureau or super Pages or whatever. You know, obviously Google my business Yelp is, you know, we know Yelp is kind of corrupt and we’ll kind of. Yeah. And aren’t they? Kind of Du Pont a little bit as far as like other people. Not other places, trusting them kind of going down a little bit. I was heard something that he remembers something used to use being Reviews and they don’t use it anymore. I can’t remember what what that is. But I know at one point, last time we spoke, we spoke about Alexa. Yeah, it was Alexa been Alexa’s not using Yelp anymore and I can’t remember who, what’s you? What y’all, what Alexis is using. Yeah, I mean, my experiments Alexis using big. That was it, that was it? Because I think Guides that Alexa was using Yelp, but I think they changed, they used to and they changed to being I believe is what