Man opening door and saying Welcome
 
Why should you read this article?
If you want to do google reputation management for yourself or your clients, this article would be the definitive guide for 2023.
 
First, we will figure out if you actually need reputation management on Google and then suggest an easy 5-step process on how to do it.
 
We will cover the following topics:
If you have limited time, I would suggest jumping directly to the 5-step process. Otherwise, I would suggest reading through the blog, it will just take 9 minutes and it'll be worth your time.
 

Do you need google reputation management?

Google reviews.
 
Before we dive into how to do reputation management on google, I believe it's important to understand if and why you need it:
 
Google reputation management in Local SEO
 
Importance of various factors in Local SEO.
 
Local SEO is a big part of the marketing for any local business, but for many, it can be a confusing and challenging task.
 
Once you set up your Google Profile correctly, how do you optimize it?
  • Getting detailed reviews will boost your ranking not just on Google but also on Yelp, Facebook, and other review sites.
  • Google reviews are more important for your Google Business Profile than links and citations according to a recent study done by Whitespark.
I've been blogging about the intersection of SEO and reputation management lately, and I think you might find it interesting. If you have a minute, take a look at my SEO reputation management blog.
 
Protect your reputation online
 
A quote by Benjamin Franklin showing the importance of protecting your reputation.
 
Are you worried about the damage bad reviews can do? If so, you’re not alone.

97% of businesses say online reputation management is important on sites like Google and Yelp. And with good reason: A single bad review can cost you up to $15,000 in lost annual revenue.

If you're proactively monitoring your online reputation, you're ahead of 90% of businesses. And protecting is easier than trying to fix your reputation.
 
Understand your customer's sentiment
 
“If you think about it, a lot of times the customer is more important than the product. You have to listen to your customers and understand what they want.” ― Dan Schawbel, author of Promote Yourself: The New Rules for Career Success
If you're not actively monitoring your Google reviews, you're missing out on valuable feedback from people who use your products and services.

By actively monitoring your Google reviews, you can respond to any negative ones and give your customers the peace of mind that their feedback has been heard and taken into account (and hopefully acted upon).

Also, customer sentiment analysis can quickly tell you what you need to improve upon.
 
Get more sales
 
Usage of google reviews in marketing.
 
Google reviews can be a great marketing tool for your business. Reputation marketing is critical for local businesses.

A recent survey by Google revealed that 84% of people trust online reviews from strangers as much as personal recommendations from friends or family.

Displaying your reviews on your website and sharing them on social media will build trust and goodwill for your business, helping you gain new customers.
 

Do you need a Google reputation management tool or a google reputation manager?

 
You need a google reputation management tool if...
  • You own a local business and want a do-it-yourself system for reputation management.
  • You own a marketing agency and want to do review management for your clients.
  • You want to provide a whitelabel reputation management platform to your clients.
 
If you're new to offering review management
Need a 5-step rep management pitch guide?

You need a google reputation manager if...
  • You want reputation management and optimization done for you.
  • You don't have the time to do review management on your own.
  • You're willing to spend a little more on marketing agencies.
 
Now if you're sure you want a google reputation management tool, let's see how you can do it in just 5 easy steps and less than 10 minutes per week.

How to check your Google reputation for FREE?

Before you dive into boosting your rep, you got to know where you stand, right? So, here's a totally FREE and easy 3-step guide:
 
  • Start your free trial of ReviewGain: Just sign up using your email, no need for your credit card or phone number.
  •  
  • Link your profile: It's a breeze; link your Google profile to ReviewGain in like 5 seconds flat.
  •  
  • Your reputation at a glance: Once you're in, ReviewGain has all sorts of nifty dashboards. You can see the good stuff folks are saying about you, the not-so-great stuff too. Plus, you can look at how your rep has been changing over time, customer sentiment analysis, and a whole lot more. Here's a sneak peek:
  •  
ReviewGain's customer feedback wordcloud.
 
ReviewGain's stats dashboard.
 
If you run an agency, you can quickly export these reports and share them with your clients. Or just have them log in and check out the dashboard themselves – it's all white-labeled.
 
Still not sure how to boost your rep? No worries! Let's dive into these 5 steps below where I'll walk you through everything you need to start improving it.
 

5 easy steps to do google online reputation management for yourself or your clients

 
I'll show you how to do google review management on your own using our tool ReviewGain.
It's a reputation management tool built for small-medium businesses and agencies serving local businesses.
 
Step #1 - Signup for a trial
Arrow pointing to a button on ReviewGain's landing page to start free trial.
 
  • Head over to ReviewGain and start your trial as shown in the image above. Or you can just click here to start your trial.
  • You just need to enter your name and email, no credit card is required. Once you sign up, you get full access to all review management features.
  • You can follow along with the next steps once you get access.
 
Step #2 - Connect your Google profile
Arrow showing how to connect your Google Business profile to ReviewGain.
 
  • Get your Google Place ID, you can figure it out using this link or inside the platform too.
  • Enter your Google Place ID into the platform.
  • Now, ReviewGain will start tracking your Google profile, you will get review alerts and also be able to respond to all your reviews inside the platform.
 
Step #3 - Look at how your google reputation is doing
ReviewGain's dashboard showing customer feedback analysis in an attractive tag cloud format.
 
  • You first need to understand how your google online reputation is doing currently.
  • ReviewGain shows your customer sentiment analysis in an easy-to-understand word cloud format.
  • You can see what your customers are saying about you, the good and the bad. It shows you what customers like about you and what they don't.
 
Step #4 - Start a Google review campaign
Start a Google review campaign to get more reviews using ReviewGain.
 
  • Create an SMS/Email review campaign to start asking your clients for reviews.
  • Once you've created a campaign, you'll need to add a list of customers to ask for reviews.
  • Add 2-3 steps (messages) to your campaign to ask your clients for Google reviews.
  • ReviewGain also gives you a template review request which gets you at least 1 review for every 3 customers you ask.
  • ReviewGain automatically generates a short review link to include in your messages, so you don't need to worry about that.
 
Step #5 - Quickly reply to all your new reviews
ReviewGain's reply to review and share reviews dashboard.
 
  • Once you start getting more reviews, you need to quickly respond to the new reviews.
  • You will get review alerts for all new reviews if you choose ReviewGain for your google reputation management.
  • ReviewGain also suggests auto-suggested responses to all the reviews.
  • Respond to all new Google reviews directly from the dashboard.
 
I haven't covered how to do reputation marketing here because I just want to provide a good starting point for your review management journey.
 
Once you have an awesome online reputation, it's also important to market it. ReviewGain also helps with reputation marketing, but we'll talk about that in some other blog post.
 

How to Handle Negative Google Reviews?

Stats showing why businesses should respond to reviews.
 
Handling negative Google reviews can be tough, but with the right reputation management tools, you can turn those frowns upside down. Here's how:
 
  • Respond pronto: Quick responses show you care and boost your chances of turning a negative review into a positive one. ReviewGain sends review alerts ASAP and suggests automated human-like responses to help you reply lightning fast within 5 minutes!
  •  
  • Be a compassionate problem-solver: Put yourself in the customer's shoes and respond with kindness and understanding. It's like giving their worries a big warm hug!
  •  
  • Show off your superhero skills: Offer a solution publicly in the comments, so everyone can see that you're a problem-solving hero in action!
  •  
  • Take it offline: Encourage offline communication by providing a phone number or email, so they can reach out to you directly.
  •  
  • Turn lemons into lemonade: Learn from the feedback! Negative feedback will help you improve in the long run. ReviewGain creates easy-to-understand sentiment word clouds, so you can see what your customers like about you and where you can do better.
Remember, handling negative reviews is an opportunity to showcase my commitment to customer satisfaction. With the correct reputation management tools, you can turn unhappy customers into loyal fans!

Cost of Google Review Management tools

 
By now, you know how to become your own google reputation manager. (Either for yourself or your clients)

The question we will answer in this section is, "What is the cost of google review management?".
 
For small single-location businesses: The cost of a good tool starts at 50$/month and goes up to 300$/month.

For multi-location businesses: Tools cost anywhere from 60$/month to upwards of 500$/month based on the number of locations you have.

For marketing agencies serving local businesses: The per-client cost varies from 30$/month to more than 500$/month based on whether you want to create a white-label
or a done-for-you system for your clients.
 
Next, I talk about the top 7 google review management tools and cover their trial, Pricing info, and top features so you can decide which tool would work best for you.
 

Top 7 tools for google reputation management

 
Let's talk about the top 7 tools for local businesses or agencies serving small-medium businesses.
 
#1 - ReviewGain
ReviewGain's website.
 
Free trial: ReviewGain offers a full-access 14-day trial, with no credit card required. You just need your email address to sign up and get started.
 
👉 Pricing:
ReviewGain pricing and plans.
 
  • ReviewGain offers a low-cost option for small businesses at just 49$/month.
  • ReviewGain has a 79$/month plan for businesses having up to 20 locations.
  • ReviewGain offers custom quotes and volume pricing for marketing agencies. (starting at just 29$/month for each seat)
  • ReviewGain's features are tailored for local businesses so you only pay for what you need.
  • ReviewGain's whitelabel pricing starts at just $49/month and goes upto $299/month for 10 clients. All plans include FREE whitelabel setup.
 
👉 Top 3 Features:
Review Generation: ReviewGain helps you send out personalized automated review requests, via SMS and Email. It will get you at least 1 review for every 3 customers you ask.
 
Protect your Google reputation: ReviewGain tracks your online reputation 24/7 and notifies you as soon as you get a new review. It also helps you reply to your reviews in 1 click using AI-suggested responses.
 
Budget-friendly whitelabel: ReviewGain's whitelabel platform is tailor-made for small-medium agencies. It's affordable and totally customizable! You can slap on your own logo, rock your own domain, and set your own pricing. And guess what? The whitelabel setup is absolutely FREE! As a cherry on top, marketing agencies also get a partner dashboard and a client login.
 
 
#2 - Birdeye
Birdeye website.
 
Free trial: Birdye offers a trial that lasts 15 days, but to get started, you'll need to provide both your phone number and email address.
 
👉 Pricing:
Birdeye pricing plans.
 
  • The Standard plan costing 299$/month is meant for single-location businesses and will give you reviews and listings management features.
  • The Professional plan priced at 399$/month is meant for multi-location businesses which also gives you insights into how people are interacting with your website.
  • The Premium plan is a custom plan for enterprises.
  • Psst! Want to know the juicy deets on Birdeye pricing? Lucky for you, I spilled all the tea in my Birdeye pricing 101 article. Check it out!
 
👉 Top 3 Features:
Manage 100s of listings: Birdeye helps you manage your business listings across 100s of online directories. You would benefit from this feature if you want to automatically list yourself on lots of local directories.
 
All-in-one inbox: Do you have lots of inquiries coming in through multiple channels? Birdeye's all-in-one inbox makes brings all your conversations to one place.
 
Team chat: Birdeye's team chat tool is very useful for enterprise companies having multiple big departments.
 
If you are a fan of Birdeye but can't justify the high cost, check out the blog I wrote on top 7 better Birdeye alternatives.
 
 
#3 - Podium
Podium website.
 
Free trial: Podium offers a 14-day trial, no strings attached.
 
👉 Pricing:
Podium pricing plans.
 
  • The Essentials plan is $289 per month, and the Standard plan costs $449 per month.
  • The Professional plan may not be worth the cost for most small businesses.
  • If you want to dive deep into the pricing, you can check out my Podium pricing for 2023 blog.
 
👉 Top 3 Features:
Generating reviews: Podium runs automated review campaigns on both SMS and Email. It's a good tool for generating more reviews for your business.
 
Podium webchat: Do you wish to contact your customers and website visitors through SMS? Then you would like Podium Webchat.
 
Analytics: Podium provides enterprise analytics features like NPS and traffic reporting. This is mostly useful for mid-market or enterprise businesses.
 
If the cost of Podium is a concern for you, I recently wrote a blog exploring Podium alternatives with similar features but a more affordable price tag.
 
 
#4 - NiceJob
NiceJob website.
 
Free trial: They offer a 14-day trial, but you'll need to provide your email and phone number to start the trial. However, during the trial, they don't allow access to all of their features.
 
👉 Pricing:
NiceJob pricing and plans.
 
  • The Standard plan costs 75$/month giving you access to NiceJob's google review management features.
  • The Convert plan costs 399$ one-time fee + 99$/month, this plan also helps you redesign your website.
  • The combined plan costs 399$ fee + 174$/month.
 
👉 Top 2 Features:
✅ Omnichannel review request campaigns via SMS & Email.
✅ They also provide reputation marketing features to get you more sales using your reviews.
 
 
#5 - GradeUs
GradeUs website.
 
Free trial: They offer a 14-day trial, you'll need to provide your work email to sign up.
 
👉 Pricing:
GradeUs pricing and plans.
 
  • The Solo plan costs 110$/month and is meant for single-location businesses.
  • For marketing agencies, GradeUs plans start at 180$/month for 3 seats.
 
👉 Top 2 Features:
Good review generation features with review request templates and omnichannel review campaigns through SMS and Email.
Review marketing features that help you market your reviews and get more customers.
 
 
#6 - Brightlocal
Brightlocal's website.
 
Free trial: They offer a 14-day trial, and you just need your email to get started.
 
👉 Pricing:
Brightlocal pricing and plans.
 
  • The Starter plan is 29$/month. This plan is meant for single-location businesses and gives you access to local SEO tools and review management features. But beware, the plan is very limited. You need to run review reports, Brightlocal wouldn't monitor your Google Profile and you can get just 3 review reports per month.
  •  
  • The Multi Business plan is 49$/month which gives you double the credits compared to the Starter Plan.
  •  
  • The SEO pro plan is 79$/month and it's mostly meant for marketing agencies.
 
👉 Top 2 Features:
Citation Building: Brightlocal helps you list your websites on all local directories using their Citation Burst Feature. Although they charge extra for each site.
 
Local Rank Tracker: Brightlocal tracks your rank on Local Search and suggests ways to improve your rank.
 
Do you feel Brightlocal is right for you? Before you make a decision, read this article about an in-depth analysis of Brightlocal vs Yext vs ReviewGain.
 
 
#7 - Yext
Yext's website.
 
Free trial: It's not clear, to be honest, they do offer a trial for their enterprise features. For local businesses, they offer a free business health scan but couldn't find anything about a full-access trial.
 
👉 Pricing:
Yext pricing and plans.
 
  • The Essential annual plan costs 449$/year which helps list your business on 10 local directories. This plan is meant for small businesses but isn't too useful. You can list yourself on these 10 websites for free in less than 2 hours.
  •  
  • The Complete plan is 499$/year which will list your business on all major local directories. Yext's Powerlisting feature will also help you publish data to all your listings at once. This will be helpful for you if you're managing 100s of business listings.
  •  
  • The Premium plan is 999$/year, this plan gives you access to review management features. Way too overpriced for local businesses.
 
👉 Top 3 Features:
Managing business listings: If you're managing 100s of listings and want to publish accurate data to all of them, Yext might be for you.
 
Yext Search: This is most popular among enterprise businesses who want to build a search widget on their website.
 
Yext Analytics: Yext presents your CTR, CVR, and traffic data in a central dashboard. Again this would be most useful for big corporates.
 
Do you want to look at Yext alternatives built for local businesses? You might be interested in reading about the top 7 Yext alternatives.
 
If you're considering Yext, I recently did an in-depth analysis of Yext pricing for 2023.
 
 

Ready to start your google reputation management journey?

 
Man nodding yes.
 
Here's a quick recap of what we talked about:
💥 The need for google review management - Its role in Local SEO, protecting your reputation, and getting more sales.
 
💥 5 steps to do it on your own - Understanding your current google reputation, starting a google review campaign, and replying to all your reviews.
 
💥 Top 7 tools for review management - I showed you the top 7 tools covering Trial, Pricing, and Features info.
 
Are you ready to start your journey? If you own a local business or want to provide reputation management services to your clients, your best bet is to start with ReviewGain.
Click here to find out more about it, or, just click here to start a free trial of ReviewGain.
You just need your email, no credit card or phone number, get started in 30 seconds :)
 
About the Author
Hugh Kumar, Co-founder of ReviewGain.
Hugh Kumar

Hi! I'm the co-founder of ReviewGain, I like helping small businesses get an awesome online reputation!
Before starting ReviewGain, I used to write a SaaS newsletter, that's where the writing bug bit me ✍️
When I'm not working, you can find me chatting with people on LinkedIn 😊
I'm a big foodie but I burn all the calories on treks!