The world has changed… for a while now.

With over 3 billion Internet users, marketing and reaching out to people who are looking to relocate is no longer about broadcasting the same message to a mass of people and hoping that something sticks.

How do you rise above all that noise on the Internet and be where your potential customers are looking?

Other than paid advertorials, the most logical solution would be to show up on search engines, especially in relation to local searches for moving and relocation services.

Search engine optimization (SEO) or Search Optimization is important to businesses of any size. With a limited budget and a need to climb up the search rankings within local markets, businesses need to re-think their SEO strategy.

Brand reputation management can be a quick and cost effective way to help a business show up in searches online, shout out their brand message and boost their reach.

One example of an effective brand management tool is third party review sites.

Businesses need to embrace the idea that conversion rates for traffic coming from third party review sites can be just as much or even higher than the direct traffic from their own business site.

So how can a business improve its local search rankings, extend their brand message and reach through online reviews and reputation management?

Build trust and credibility

Research has shown that now more than ever before, people are reading peer testimonies on review sites before they make their purchase decisions.

If a potential customer found the business through an organic search or a recommendation from a friend, there’s always the possibility that he will seek out other peer reviews and testimonies before making his purchase decision.

A strong online brand reputation will boost the credibility of the business when potential customers are checking it out. It will also provide the customers with information that would not be available otherwise.

Getting the SEO on third party sites to work for the business

Search engines likes Google favor content rich sites and this can be tricky for businesses with sites that are basic in nature and design, serving more like a business listing and directory of services.

These sites tend to provide very limited signals to search robots, making it very difficult for them to ever show up on the first page of keyword searches other than their business name. Without a significant investment of time and money, search optimization efforts on these sites would prove futile.

By leveraging on the SEO efforts of third party review sites, the business profile can get the SEO strength it needs to overcome this challenge. Riding on the strength of the renewable content of a review site is always helpful and this should always form part of a sound SEO strategy for the business.

Increase engagement

A third party review site also provides a neutral platform for a business to engage with their customers and potential customers. Connecting with them through review responses provides an opportunity for you to demonstrate your commitment and build trust.

Reviews are Keyword-Rich

Reviews provide a good way to enhance the keyword relevance of your business. Each time a customer posts a review, they are adding keyword strings that are specific to the business and directly associated with its profile.

Imagine this content renewing and refreshing itself day after day. The more reviews the business accumulates, the more this increases the chances of them getting found when potential customers conduct searches with long-tail keywords.

It’s no longer about the stars or the perfect scores when it comes to reviews. The text that customers write becomes invaluable when people are searching for a business that meets their needs.

With these points in mind, moving companies should always include online reviews and reputation management as part of their SEO strategy. A sound implementation of a variety of review management (including responding to and generating new reviews) is guaranteed to provide businesses added online relevance that often results in incremental business opportunities.