There really hasn’t been much debate about the value of reviews on your Google Business Profile (GBP). They’re user-generated content that people have trusted as an independent source, particularly when the Google review was recently posted.
In fact, Google’s inclination to build relevance for consumers even has a system that surfaces Profiles when a review contains the exact keywords as a search conducted, called review justification.
There is, however, a more compelling and holistic benefit to reviews: position in the local pack.
Local Pack Results: Position #1 vs. Position #10
Right now, you may be working with an agency that is clamoring only about ChatGPT, while ignoring other, more practical, tried-and-true tactics that build your dealership’s local visibility. That’s why we conducted the world’s most extensive automotive Google Business Profile study, and we discovered several intriguing facts about reviews.
This may be the most compelling:
Dealership GBPs in the #1 position have TWICE as many reviews as the #10 position.
Not investing in “rank tracking” ChatGPT, which isn’t a thing.
Not ad spend.
The experience you provide at your dealership and the processes in place to acquire more reviews have a demonstrably powerful impact on how Google perceives and orders who they want to show to car shoppers in the local market.
That means if you’re not actively collecting reviews, and quickly responding to them, you’re losing leads.
There is no magical number; however, when was the last time you or your agency partner looked in your market and assessed where you fall in comparison to review count and review score?
(FYI: Our study found that dealerships had an average of 2,195 reviews with a 4.3 rating)
245,203 Reasons to Ramp Up Your GBP Reviews
What does it actually mean for your dealership when you leverage reviews to help achieve that first position versus tenth position?
Based on various factors, such as cost-per-click for keywords, the average number of keywords that a dealership ranks for, etc., there is a way to calculate a more concrete valuation of the importance of this difference in position.
Dealerships ranked #10 would need to spend $245,203 per month in PPC advertising to get the same level of traffic that dealerships ranked #1 have earned.
Reviews Among Many Factors Influencing Position
A little caveat: There are many elements of Google Business Profiles that you must have correctly in place. Reviews are part of a primary ranking signal, and the data is clear about the connection between the number of reviews and the position a dealership maintains and, thus, the visibility they’ll have with local car shoppers.
If you have questions or concerns about whether or not your dealership’s Google Business Profile is in line with best practices, I encourage you to reach out to us here at SearchLab. We conduct free audits to give you some tactical feedback on where there may be opportunities for improvement. We can specifically review your market’s review count and score, and your consistency and approach to responses.
