Thank you for visiting our page. This page wiull be updated and refreshed as we continue to learn and gather resources to help support our clients in strategic decision making. PLease check back regularly

Your online reputation has a direct impact on your bottom line.
Even a small improvement in your star rating can lead to a noticeable increase in revenue. Positive reviews not only build trust but also influence how often customers choose your business over competitors.
Actively managing reviews — asking for feedback, responding professionally, and addressing concerns — isn’t just about looking good online. It’s about growing your business.

Original Source:
Harvard Business Review Study
(Study: “How Much Is a Better Review Worth?” by Michael Luca)

Related Articles:

• Reputation Management: Turn Reviews into Revenue

• Hotel Review Response Services: Are They Worth It?

• From Replies to Results: A Modern Approach to Reputation Marketing

• Online Reviews: Why Businesses Are Missing the Golden Ticket

• How to Improve Your TripAdvisor Ranking: Reputation Marketing Strategies That Work

Ignoring negative reviews is a missed opportunity.
Most customers expect timely responses when they leave feedback — especially when it’s critical. Responding to reviews shows you care about customer experience and are willing to make things right.
When businesses stay silent, it sends a signal of indifference that can hurt trust, damage reputation, and ultimately drive potential customers to competitors who engage more actively.

Timely, thoughtful responses to negative reviews can turn unhappy customers into loyal advocates — and show future customers that you take service seriously.

Original Source:
ReviewTrackers Online Reviews Research
(Online Reviews Survey Report)

Related Articles:

• Reputation Management: Turn Reviews into Revenue

• Hotel Review Response Services: Are They Worth It?

• From Replies to Results: A Modern Approach to Reputation Marketing

• Online Reviews: Why Businesses Are Missing the Golden Ticket

• How to Improve Your TripAdvisor Ranking: Reputation Marketing Strategies That Work

First impressions happen fast — and they happen online.
Consumers don’t need to read dozens of reviews to make a decision about your business. Just a handful of positive (or negative) reviews can heavily influence whether someone chooses to trust and engage with your brand.

If your most recent reviews are outdated, negative, or missing altogether, you could lose potential customers before you even realize they were considering you. Actively gathering fresh, authentic reviews helps ensure that the first few opinions people see build confidence instead of doubt.

Original Source:
BrightLocal Local Consumer Review Survey
(BrightLocal, Annual Review Survey)

https://wisernotify.com/blog/online-review-stats/#top-online-review-statistics 

Why It Matters:
Reviews are a powerful factor in the decision-making process for potential customers. Most people are looking for a solid middle ground: not too few reviews, but not a perfect 5-star rating either. This suggests that businesses should focus on gathering a consistent number of positive reviews (3–5 stars) to build trust with new customers.

If your business lacks reviews or only has extreme ratings (either very high or very low), you may be missing out on opportunities to attract the majority of consumers who seek balanced feedback.

Original Source:
BrightLocal Local Consumer Review Survey
(BrightLocal, Annual Review Survey)

Related Articles:

Optional Quick Tip Add-on:

⭐ Quick Tip: Don’t be afraid to ask satisfied customers for reviews. A consistent stream of 3–5-star feedback can significantly boost your business’s credibility and rankings.

Why It Matters:
Reviews do more than just build trust — they directly influence sales. When a product has a few reviews, it signals to potential customers that others have bought and liked it. A minimum of 5 reviews provides a strong level of social proof that can significantly increase the likelihood of conversion, making it crucial for businesses to encourage customers to leave feedback.

If your product listings lack reviews, you’re missing out on potential sales. Even a small number of positive reviews can dramatically improve your product’s chance of being purchased.

Original Source:
BigCommerce Study
(BigCommerce, Consumer Behavior Report)

Related Articles:

Optional Quick Tip Add-on:

💬 Quick Tip: Actively encourage reviews for your top-selling products — just 5 reviews can be the difference between a lost sale and a conversion!

Reviews directly influence purchasing decisions. Customers trust reviews because they provide social proof that a product or business is reliable and high-quality. When your products have excellent reviews, customers are not only more likely to buy from you, but they’re also willing to spend more — up to 31% more in some cases.

Conversely, negative reviews can have a huge deterrent effect. Almost 9 out of 10 customers will hesitate or completely avoid purchasing from businesses with poor reviews, making it crucial to manage and respond to negative feedback.

Original Source:
Zendesk Consumer Research
(Zendesk, Customer Service & Experience Report)

Related Articles:

Optional Quick Tip Add-on:

⭐ Quick Tip: A steady stream of positive reviews not only improves trust but can increase customer spending. Encourage happy customers to share their experiences to maximize your revenue potential!

Content in this section is updated regularly and expanded and we idenifty and share relevant statistics and resources of value to our partners. Book mark page and check back often for updates.

Anchor text is the clickable, visible text in a hyperlink. It usually appears as underlined or colored text that users can click to move to another page or website.

Example:
In the sentence Learn more about page speed optimization, the words “page speed optimization” are the anchor text.

Why It Matters:
Anchor text helps both users and search engines understand the context of the linked page.
When used thoughtfully, it can improve SEO by signaling what the linked page is about.
Over-optimized or irrelevant anchor text, however, can look spammy and harm SEO performance.

✅ Best Practices for Anchor Text

• Keep it descriptive: Use natural, relevant words that describe the linked content.

• Avoid keyword stuffing: Don’t overload anchor text with exact-match keywords unnaturally.

• Be specific: Instead of vague text like “click here,” use text that clearly tells users what they’ll find.

• Keep it natural: Make sure the anchor text fits naturally within the sentence.

📈 Good vs. Bad Anchor Text

Quick Tip:
Good anchor text is natural, relevant, and helpful — it tells users and search engines what to expect on the linked page.

The percentage of visitors who leave your website after viewing only one page. A high bounce rate can indicate poor user experience or slow page speed.

A Content Management System (CMS) is a software application or platform that allows users to create, manage, and modify digital content on a website without needing to code.
It provides an intuitive interface for organizing content, publishing updates, and making changes to a website’s structure and layout.

Why It Matters:
A CMS makes website management accessible to non-technical users. It empowers business owners, marketers, and content creators to easily manage their site, update information, and maintain a consistent online presence.

📈 Popular CMS Examples:

• WordPress: The most widely used CMS, known for its ease of use and flexibility.

• Shopify: A CMS tailored for eCommerce websites.

• Wix: A user-friendly drag-and-drop platform for smaller websites.

• Drupal: A CMS ideal for more complex, customizable sites.

✅ Best Practices for Using a CMS

• Regularly update your CMS and plugins for security and performance.

• Keep your content organized with categories, tags, and an intuitive navigation structure.

• Make sure your CMS is mobile-friendly and optimized for SEO.

Quick Tip:

🛠 Choose a CMS that matches your needs: If you’re running an eCommerce store, Shopify might be better; if you need lots of customization, WordPress or Drupal might be the way to go.

Related Articles:
Choosing CMS Options: WordPress vs. Squarespace vs. Wix

Conversion optimization (also called Conversion Rate Optimization or CRO) is the process of improving a website, landing page, or marketing campaign to increase the percentage of visitors who take a desired action.

These actions — known as conversions — can include:

• Making a purchase

• Filling out a contact form

• Signing up for a newsletter

• Downloading a resource

• Booking a consultation

Why It Matters:
Driving traffic to your site is only half the battle. Conversion optimization ensures that once visitors arrive, they’re guided smoothly toward taking meaningful actions that support your business goals.
Small improvements — like faster load times, clearer calls-to-action (CTAs), or simplified forms — can significantly boost results without needing more traffic.

✅ Best Practices for Conversion Optimization

• Simplify user journeys: Make it easy and intuitive for visitors to take the next step.

• Use strong CTAs: Clear, action-driven language encourages engagement.

• Test and refine: Use A/B testing to compare versions of pages and see what performs best.

• Optimize page speed: A faster site improves user experience and reduces drop-offs.

• Build trust: Display testimonials, reviews, and trust badges to reassure visitors.

📈 Conversion Optimization vs. Traffic Growth

Quick Tip:

Traffic without conversion is like filling a leaky bucket.
First optimize for conversions — then pour on more traffic.

“Doubling your conversion rate is often cheaper and faster than doubling your traffic”

Core Web Vitals are a set of user-focused metrics developed by Google that measure key aspects of a website’s performance related to user experience. These metrics focus on three critical areas: loading speed, interactivity, and visual stability.

Why It Matters:
Google uses Core Web Vitals as part of its ranking factors. A site that loads quickly, responds smoothly, and maintains visual stability creates a better experience for visitors — and can achieve higher placement in search engine results. Poor performance in these areas can frustrate users and hurt both SEO and conversion rates.

📈 The Three Core Web Vitals

✅ Quick Best Practices for Core Web Vitals

• Optimize images and videos to load faster.

• Minimize third-party scripts that can delay interactivity.

• Reserve space for ads, images, and embeds to prevent layout shifts.

• Regularly test your site using Google PageSpeed Insights or Lighthouse.

🚀 Quick Tip: Core Web Vitals aren’t just for developers. Even small improvements like compressing images or choosing faster hosting can make a big difference in how users (and Google) experience your site.

Crawling is the process where search engines like Google systematically browse the internet, discovering and indexing content from websites.
Search engine bots (often called spiders or crawlers) follow links from page to page, gathering information about site structure, content, and updates to include in the search engine’s database.

Why It Matters:
If a search engine can’t crawl your site easily, it may miss important pages — meaning your content won’t appear in search results. Crawling is the first step to being visible online.

Crawlability refers to how easily a search engine bot can access and navigate the pages on your website.
Good crawlability means search engines can efficiently find and index all important content without hitting roadblocks like broken links, restricted pages, or poor site structure.

Why It Matters:
Poor crawlability can prevent your pages from being indexed and ranked.
Optimizing crawlability helps ensure that all your valuable content gets seen by search engines — and ultimately, by users.

✅ Quick Best Practices for Crawlability

• Create a clear and simple site structure with logical internal links.

• Use an XML sitemap and submit it through Google Search Console.

• Fix broken links and avoid orphaned pages (pages with no internal links pointing to them).

• Use robots.txt wisely — don’t accidentally block important pages.

• Make sure important content isn’t hidden behind complex scripts or requiring logins.

Quick Tip:

🕷️ A beautiful page doesn’t matter if search engines can’t find it. Make sure your content is accessible to both users and bots.

Link building is the process of acquiring hyperlinks from other websites to your own. A hyperlink (or simply “link”) allows users to navigate between different pages on the internet.

In SEO, link building is important because search engines like Google use links to:

• Discover new web pages

• Determine how well a page should rank in search results

Why It Matters:
High-quality backlinks from trusted, relevant websites act like “votes of confidence” for your content. They signal to search engines that your site is credible and valuable, which can improve your rankings and visibility.
Poor-quality or spammy links, on the other hand, can harm your site’s reputation and performance.

✅ Best Practices for Link Building

• Focus on quality, not quantity: A few links from high-authority, relevant sites are better than dozens from random sources.

• Create valuable content: Publish articles, guides, or resources that others naturally want to reference and link to.

• Earn links organically: Outreach and relationship building with reputable sites is more effective than buying or trading links.

• Diversify your links: Build a mix of backlinks from blogs, news sites, directories, and industry resources.

• Monitor your backlink profile: Regularly audit your links to disavow any low-quality or spammy links that could harm your SEO.

📈 Good vs. Bad Links

Quick Tip:
When it comes to link building, earning a link is far more powerful than chasing a link. Focus on providing value first!

Related Articles:

Backlinks: The Secret Sauce of SEO

Boost Your SEO with Simple Internal Linking: A Guide for DIY Website Owners

Local SEO (Local Search Engine Optimization) is the process of optimizing your online presence to attract more business from relevant local searches. These searches take place on Google and other search engines and often include location-based keywords like “near me” or the name of a city or neighborhood.

Local SEO focuses on strategies like:

• Optimizing your Google Business Profile (formerly Google My Business)

• Earning local backlinks

• Managing online reviews and reputation

• Ensuring consistent business information (Name, Address, Phone Number) across directories

• Creating location-specific content

Why It Matters:
Local SEO helps businesses get found by nearby customers at the exact moment they’re searching for your product or service, making it essential for brick-and-mortar businesses, service providers, restaurants, and more.

Local citations are any online mentions of a business’s name, address, and phone number (often called NAP). They can appear in local business directories, websites, apps, and social platforms.

Common places for local citations include:

• Online directories like Yelp, Yellow Pages, and TripAdvisor

• Local chambers of commerce websites

• Industry-specific listing sites

• Maps and navigation apps

Why They Matter:
Consistent and accurate local citations help search engines verify your business’s legitimacy and location, which can improve local search rankings. Inconsistent or incorrect citations can confuse customers and hurt your SEO performance.

A website or app that acts as a digital marketplace for travelers to research and book travel products and services (like hotels, flights, and car rentals) directly from various suppliers. When a booking is made through their platform, they take a percentage of the total cost from the supplier. Some may also use other models like advertising.

Examples of popular OTAs include:

• Booking.com
• Expedia
• Airbnb
• Vrbo
• Agoda
• Hotels.com
• TripAdvisor
• Kayak (often considered a metasearch engine but also offers booking)
• Skyscanner (primarily for flights, but also hotels and cars)

Related Articles:

Beyond the Booking Engine: Redefining Revenue Management for Digital Age

Comp Set Tunnel Vision: The Hidden Threat to Hotel Marketing Success

Hotel Review Response Services: Are They Worth It?

How to Improve Your TripAdvisor Ranking: Reputation Marketing Strategies That Work

Use Expedia TravelAds…Yes, TravelAds…to Drive Direct Bookings

Reduce OTA Dependency & Boost Direct Bookings

Profitable Packages: How Hotel Packages Drive Direct Bookings…Even if they “Don’t Sell”

Is Your Hotel Leaving Money on the Table? Find Out with This Quick Check-Up

From Traffic to Bookings – Conversion Optimization Tips

Use Embedded FAQS to Address User Needs – Hospitality SEO (Pt 3)

Beyond the Reply: Why Reputation Marketing is More Than Just Responses

Hospitality SEO: Common Pitfalls & How to Avoid Them

SEO is the process of optimizing your website and content to rank higher in organic (unpaid) search engine results.
It focuses on improving factors like page speed, keywords, site structure, content quality, backlinks, and user experience to earn visibility over time.

SEM refers to paid marketing efforts to appear in search engine results, typically through paid ads like Google Ads (formerly AdWords).
It includes strategies like keyword bidding, ad creation, and campaign management to drive immediate traffic by paying for placement.

see also: digital marketing, paid marketing, ppc

Crawl Index generally refers to the collection of web pages that a search engine has successfully crawled, analyzed, and stored in its database (also called an index).
It’s the organized system search engines use to quickly retrieve and display relevant pages in response to a user’s query.

Why It Matters:
Just because a page exists doesn’t mean it will show up in search results.
A page must first be crawled and then indexed to become searchable. If your page isn’t in a search engine’s crawl index, it’s invisible to users.

SEM vs. SEO

SEO (Search Engine Optimization)
SEO is the process of optimizing your website and content to rank higher in organic (unpaid) search engine results.
It focuses on improving factors like page speed, keywords, site structure, content quality, backlinks, and user experience to earn visibility over time.

SEM (Search Engine Marketing)
SEM refers to paid marketing efforts to appear in search engine results, typically through paid ads like Google Ads (formerly AdWords).
It includes strategies like keyword bidding, ad creation, and campaign management to drive immediate traffic by paying for placement.

📈 SEM vs. SEO Comparison Table

Quick Tip:
Think of SEO as earning your place in search results, while SEM is about buying your way there.

SEO is a long-term strategy, not an instant fix.
In most cases, you can expect to start seeing noticeable improvements within 3 to 6 months, but the exact timeline depends on several factors, including:

• The current state of your website (technical health, content quality, backlinks)

• The competitiveness of your industry and target keywords

• How consistent and strategic your SEO efforts are

• How often search engines crawl and re-index your site

Even after you optimize your site, search engines need time to detect those changes. Websites are crawled at different rates depending on their authority, update frequency, and overall site structure. That’s why improvements may not be reflected immediately in search results.

Some small wins, like improving page speed or optimizing meta titles, can lead to quicker boosts. However, building strong organic rankings — especially in competitive markets — takes time, patience, and ongoing effort.

Quick Tip:

🚀 SEO success compounds over time. The more consistently you invest in it, the stronger and more sustainable your results will be.

Related Resource:
SEO Basics Every Small Business Owner Should Know

Your content goes here. Edit or remove this text inline or in the module Content settings. You can also style every aspect of this content in the module Design settings and even apply custom CSS to this text in the module Advanced settings.

Reviews play a major role in local SEO and directly impact how well your business ranks in local search results.
Google considers review quantity, quality, and frequency as strong local ranking factors. Businesses with a steady stream of positive reviews often rank higher in map packs (local 3-packs) and local organic search results.

Here’s why reviews matter for local SEO:

• Trust Signals: Positive reviews build trust with potential customers and search engines alike.

• Local Relevance: Reviews often contain keywords and location mentions that help boost local relevance.

• Engagement: Responding to reviews shows Google (and customers) that your business is active and engaged.

• Click-Through Rates: Businesses with higher ratings and strong review profiles tend to attract more clicks from search results.

Nearly 95% of consumers read online reviews before making a purchase, and 68% form an opinion after reading just 1–6 reviews — making your online reputation crucial for both visibility and conversions.

Quick Tip:

⭐ Keeping your reviews fresh matters. Businesses that consistently earn new reviews are seen as more active and trustworthy, both by search engines and by potential customers.

Related Resource:

• L is for Local SEO: Dominate Your Local Search Results
• Reputation Management: Turn Reviews into Revenue
• Importance of Local SEO for Hospitality Businesses

Mobile-first indexing means that Google primarily uses the mobile version of your website for indexing and ranking in search results.
In the past, Google’s crawlers focused on desktop versions of sites. Now, because most users search on mobile devices, Google evaluates your mobile site first to determine where and how you should rank.

Here’s what mobile-first indexing means for your site:

• Mobile Content Matters Most: If content is missing from your mobile site, Google won’t see it — and it won’t help your rankings.

• Performance Counts: Mobile page speed, mobile-friendliness, and usability directly impact SEO performance.

• Responsive Design is Key: Sites that adjust well across different screen sizes are better positioned to perform in mobile-first indexing.

If your website isn’t mobile-optimized — with fast loading times, easy navigation, and fully accessible content — you could lose visibility, traffic, and leads.

Quick Tip:

📱 If you’re designing or updating your site, always think mobile first — not mobile as an afterthought. Test how your site performs on real mobile devices, not just a desktop preview.

Related Resource:

M is for Mobile Optimization: A Cornerstone of Modern SEO
Mobile Site Performance: Why Speed Matters for Holiday Shoppers

Mobile Speed Matters: Holiday Shopping Must-Have

You should aim to update your website content regularly — ideally at least every few months — to keep your site fresh, relevant, and competitive.
How often you update depends on your site’s purpose, industry, and the type of content you offer, but general best practices suggest:

• Blog Content: Add new blog posts at least once or twice a month to signal activity to search engines and keep visitors engaged.

• Core Pages (Home, Services, About): Review and refresh these pages every 6–12 months to ensure information stays accurate, aligns with current services, and reflects any changes in your business.

• SEO and Technical Updates: Audit your site at least twice a year to check for broken links, outdated information, slow page speeds, or SEO opportunities.

• Event- or Offer-Driven Content: Update landing pages, promotions, or seasonal content as needed to keep offerings timely and relevant.

Google favors websites that stay active and provide up-to-date information. Regular updates can boost your SEO performance, build trust with visitors, and give you more opportunities to rank for new keywords.

Quick Tip:

🛠 Small updates — like refreshing outdated stats, adding internal links, or improving headlines — can be just as powerful as creating brand-new content.

Related Resource:
SEO Basics Every Small Business Owner Should Know →

✅ Best Practices to Ensure Indexing

• Submit an updated XML sitemap to Google Search Console.

• Fix crawl errors (404 pages, redirects, blocked content).

• Publish high-quality, valuable content that search engines want to index.

• Avoid duplicate or thin content, which might cause a page to be crawled but not indexed.

Quick Tip:

🔎 If you’re unsure whether a page is indexed, search for site:yourdomain.com/page-url in Google. If nothing shows up, the page likely isn’t indexed yet.