I don’t mean this to sound flippant, but it’s actually that simple. And this simple effort is the single most effective thing you can do to improve your Google local listings position in search results and on the map. So the question is, how to ask? Here are a few ideas.

1. Share the link — Google provides you with a link that you can send to people via text or email. To find the link, search for your business on Google and look for your result to the right. If you’ve claimed your business it should say “You Manage this Business Profile” (if you haven’t give us a call at 904-744-8877 and we’ll walk you through it).  Scroll down to where your reviews are highlighted and you’ll see a button that says Get More Reviews. Click on it and you’ll see a link that you can cut and paste, as well as buttons for sharing the link on Facebook, Whats App and email.

2. Put a review link on your website — If you haven’t done so already, it can be a very effective local SEO tactic to plug your Google reviews into a page on your website (WordPress in particular has some excellent and easy-to-use plugins for doing this). In that same section, create a button using your Google review link for people to leave their own review. This is a perfect dynamic as people love to check out what other people are saying.

3. Conduct email followups or a followup survey — It’s always a good idea to follow up with a customer after an interaction to gauge their experience, see if they need anything else or ask if there was anything you could’ve done better. You can include the link in your communications and on a more formal or group basis, you can create a simple customer satisfaction survey (SurveyMonkey has a free version that does just fine for small surveys). I would also encourage you to not be shy about asking for feedback because you’re afraid of a negative reaction. There’s always value in what you learn and the more responses the better.

4. Create collateral with a QR code link — If you’re a brick and mortar facility, you can create a card with a “How Did We Do?” headline asking them to share their opinion on Google and display it where customers will see it. The customer can then conveniently scan the code with their phone that will take them right to the place where they can leave their review.

There are other ways you can ask too — ping your social media followers, insert the request into conversations, include the link in your email signature — and more. But by all means, just ask.