To fully comprehend the true role that reviews play in your search strategy, you need to understand the different types of answers your consumers see in search results — objective versus subjective answers.
Often, people are asking questions that have objective answers, like the address of a practice or what kinds of insurance you accept. When it comes to these essential facts about your services, people, and places, you are the expert. You can and should be in control of these facts everywhere they appear, delivering accurate answers at every stage of the consumer search experience.
But sometimes, patients want to hear other patients' feedback — which means they're looking for subjective answers. These subjective answers can include opinions, reviews, and recommendations.
Google reports an 80% increase in mobile searches including the phrase "should I" over a two year period. So when users make searches like "should I try Dr. Smith's practice" or "best primary care physician near me," search engines draw on your ratings and reviews to help you rank in those local search results.
This is because Google uses something called "local justifications" in the local map pack. This includes website justifications – your first-party information found on your healthcare website – as well as review justifications. Review justifications are usually pulled from third-party sites like Google reviews and Yelp, but they could also be patient reviews you feature on your website. Google uses keywords pulled from the review content that match keywords used in a search query. (Learn more on local SEO here.)