Reviews Engine
Google reads the words inside your reviews.
Most owners ignore this. It's a free ranking lever.
What Google does with review text
Review content is one of the few places outside your own website where keywords influence ranking.
A review that says "great tree removal in Sanford" tells Google you do tree removal in Sanford. Stars alone don't carry that signal. Words do. And you can nudge customers toward the right words.
How to nudge without coaching
Subtle prompts. Customer still writes their own review.
- 01
Mention the service and city in your text
"Thanks for letting us out for the tree removal in Sanford today" plants the words in their head.
- 02
Ask a leading question
"What did we do for you, and how was it?" Customers often repeat the service back."
- 03
Send the ask from a job-specific tool
Auto-fill the service type if your CRM allows it. Customers see the prompt and naturally include it.
- 04
Don't write the review for them
Never. Google detects template reviews and strips them. The customer's own words are the whole point.
What this looks like at scale
Across 100 reviews, you want every service and every city mentioned at least a few times.
Tree removal, stump grinding, emergency service, Sanford, Pittsboro, Apex. Each one repeated across reviews builds the keyword signal. Most owners have 80 reviews that all say "great service, would hire again." Useless for ranking.
The takeaway
Nudge the conversation. Let the customer write the review.
Words inside the review are SEO most owners don't even know they're leaving on the table.