Very simply, an online review is a written sentiment left directly by a customer.

Reviews represent an ongoing conversation your customers are having about your business on the web.

Although it can feel a little worrisome, at first, realizing that you don’t control this discussion of your business, you can take significant action to both influence and contribute to building the lasting, positive reputation your business wants to earn, thanks to the Google My Business 

Reviews help to build trust and give your brand credibility!

Trust and Credibility = Conversions (Calls, Clicks Leads)

Reviews are primarily accessed from either the business’s Google My Business listing in search results (aka knowledge panel), or in Google Maps.

Reviews in typical search results looks like this:

Reviews in Google Maps look like this…

Not only do reviews help with conversions, Google also uses them to help rank websites in the search results and maps.