Why a site needs a review nobody has to believe
Everyone knows a company's website shows only the good reviews. So a review on your site does not work as proof. It works as a pointer: it shows that real clients exist and gives the reader a reason to check somewhere else.
The main rule follows from that. A review should be built so it can be verified. Everything else is presentation.
A name and a role against "Anna, client"
A review with no name weighs little, because anyone could have written it. A review with a name, a job title and a company can at least be looked up. Add the project it refers to, with a link, and the reader can connect the words to actual work.
A good attribution runs in this order: name, role, company, project. A photograph helps only if it is real and given with consent.
If a client does not want the company named because of an NDA, agree a signature by role and industry. It is weaker, but honest, and better than anonymous.
An outside platform as the check
You control the reviews on your site. You do not control the reviews on a Google Maps listing. So the stronger setup is a few quotes on the page and, next to them, a link to read all reviews on Google Maps. A sceptical reader does not have to trust you; they can check.
There is a practical side as well. Stars on the map are visible right in search. You cannot get that on your own site, which leads to the next section.
How to ask so people write
We wrote a short request for clients, and a few of its choices are worth copying.
One request, one message. Nobody finishes a long email that explains SEO.
Say why you need it. People help more readily when the reason is clear: the Maps listing is what new clients find us by.
Name the time. "Three minutes" removes the fear of having to write an essay.
Leave a way out. "If not, no problem, I will not bring it up again" removes the awkwardness and, oddly, raises the response rate: people answer rather than stay silent.
Give a direct link. The fewer steps to the form, the likelier the review gets written. Google has no address for the review form itself, so we link to the listing, where the "Write a review" button sits right under the name.
Ask people whose work ended well and recently. After a year, details fade and the review turns generic.
What not to do
Do not pay for reviews, do not promise a discount, and do not write the text for the client. Google removes such reviews and can downgrade the listing. A suggested text also shows in identical wording, and readers notice. Ask for their own words, or do not ask.
Why you cannot mark up reviews about yourself
This is the most common technical misunderstanding. A developer adds structured data with a rating, expecting stars in search results. Google does not show stars for reviews of the organisation itself when they sit on its own site: under Google's guidelines, those are self-serving reviews and are not allowed. At best the markup is ignored and the time was wasted.
For an agency that sells services, the right route is different: collect reviews on an external platform. For structured data in general, see our JSON-LD explainer.
One at a time or a wall
A wall of reviews looks convincing from a distance, but nobody reads it. The eye slides over a field of text and no single quote sticks. A slider with one review at a time forces a single idea to be read, but hides the others behind a click.
We recently moved the reviews on our Georgia pages from a wall to a slider. We cannot yet say how it performs; we have no numbers. The reasoning: there are not many reviews, each says something specific, so let people read them one by one.
The rules for a slider are simple. Do not auto-advance, or people will not finish a quote. Show that there are several. Let people move with buttons that can be reached from the keyboard. And keep the text as real text in the page, not an image.
What to check on your own site
- Does each review have a name, a role and a company?
- Can that person or project be found independently?
- Is there a link to an outside platform next to the quotes?
- Is there any rating markup on the page about your own company?
- Was any text written by someone other than the client?
If any of these fails, start there. If you want help with the review block and the page around it, see our website service.
