Sure, you want reviews on Google+, Yelp, Facebook, and elsewhere. But where else can you get reviews?
What other review sites might local customers see on their way to deciding between you and your competitors? Which ones have you overlooked – or never even knew about – and can use to your advantage?
You need to figure that out if you want to rank better, get more customers, and maybe develop a few non-Google sources of visibility. (Among many other benefits of diversifying your reviews.)
That’s why I’ve put together a list of all the placesI know of where customers can write you a review. 399 sites and counting. The list includes sections the list review sites in the US, UK, Canada, Australia, and France, as well as an “international” and industry-specific list.
Here’s the spreadsheet:
Here’s the Google Sheets doc (shown above): goo.gl/0SgM6e
Some notes:
“Review site” column
A quick word about the sites I included on the spreadsheet:
The starting point was my Definitive List of Local Search Citations – a giant list of 300+ sites where you can list your business. It’s a list I’ve built up over the past 6 years, and try to keep to-to-date. My assistant, Danielle, and I went through the whole bloody thing and checked which sites let users write reviews.
Of course, I also included the sites on my list of industry-specific review sites.
You may be wondering why I didn’t include Apple Maps and Bing Places. Well, that’s because those search engines get their reviews mostly from Yelp and sometimes from TripAdvisor, CitySearch, and a couple others. (This is also true of a few well-known local directories, like MapQuest, which get their reviews from Yelp.)
So generally if you want to appeal to Apple Maps and Bing Places users, you’ll get a long way if you just get some good reviews on Yelp.
“Also sourced from” column
This concept of some review sites feeding reviews to other sites is an important one, and it explains column B on the spreadsheet.
As you know, I didn’t include sites that only grab reviews from other sites. But some sites feature two types of reviews: reviews written directly on the site (“native” reviews), and reviews originally written on some other site.
YellowPages is a great example. Customers can write reviews on YellowPages, but your YellowPages listing will probably also include any reviews written on your CitySearch listing. They’re partners.
Yelp, CityGrid sites (CitySearch + InsiderPages + JudysBook), and TripAdvisor feed reviews to the most other review sites.
Here’s a graphic I did back in 2012 that should give you a rough idea of how many “feeding” relationships there are (and even more have sprung up since then):
Might help you whittle down that long list of review sites and figure out which ones to concentrate on.
“Ratings only” column
Some of these only let you leave a “rating.” Customer can give a business 1-5 stars, but can’t include a paragraph or two to go into detail. Kind of lame. I included them anyway, just in case you have a use for them.
Further reading
How should you work those review sites into your strategy? These posts of mine might help:
How to Execute the Perfect Local Reviews Strategy
60+ Questions to Troubleshoot and Fix Your Local Reviews Strategy
Comparison of Local Review Sites: Where Should You Focus Now?
How to Pick the Best Barnacle SEO Sites: a Checklist
Which Local Review Sites Are on Your Side?
Ultimate List of Review Widgets and Badges for Your Local Business Website
Help me improve this list
I’d like to keep developing this list over time. There must be some review sites I don’t yet know about.
Also, I’d like to add more columns that you can use to identify the highest-payoff sites. For example, many of the sites don’t have “review stars” in the search results. We’ll have to run through the list again to see which review sites stick out like giraffes.
If there’s popular demand, I can even include a column that shows which sites I’d say have the highest payoff for the most business owners. (Let me know if that’s something you want.)
Please email me if you know of review sites I’m missing, or can think of ways to improve the spreadsheet, or have other feedback
(Oh, and consider booking a Mastermind session with me if you’d like help on your review strategy.)
P.S. Thanks to Alex Deckard and to Jean-Marie Chauvel for telling me about some sites I hadn’t run across.