Reputation Score is in an indicator of how customers see you online.

The Reputation Score calculates your business’s performance across a variety of important online areas in visibility, engagement, and sentiment. The higher your Reputation Score is, the greater the likelihood you stand out among search engine, map results, and on review sites—and are doing the right things to be seen and chosen by new consumers.

You can view results by location, date range, and other custom filters.

The Reputation Score also takes into account the market and industry. These factors allow you to benchmark your business and see how your business stacks up to other businesses with regard to industry standard () and best in class ().

The Reputation Score is calculated on a 1,000-point scale, where 1,000 is the highest possible rating on the scale and 100 is the lowest possible score.

Thermometers

The Reputation Score is based on 30-day averages of the following key dimensions. For each component, you can compare your score against industry standard () and best in class ().

The most important factors are weighted left to right, top to bottom.

1. Star Average – What’s the first thing you see when you search for a local business online? Star average! This metric measures overall star rating, with weights assigned to the popularity of the review site and the position of the review. (Google and Facebook have the highest weights across most markets and industries.) Surveys are not included.

Deliver a great experience! People who write reviews are generally very dissatisfied or very satisfied. If the service is average, people are unlikely to write reviews. You must earn a positive review.

2. Review Volume – The next thing you might look for after searching for a business is the number of reviews that went into that star average. You’ll trust a star average with 1,000 reviews over 5 reviews. This metric measures the total number of reviews across important online review sites. A location needs to have a minimum quantity of reviews on each relevant review site to score highly on volume.

Actively request reviews from customers using tools like Reputation Live. Explain that you are striving to deliver the best service and that you feel proud and motivated when you hear positive feedback from customers.

3. Review Spread – Google and Facebook are most important, but you must also have review presence on a variety of sites. Businesses with reviews across a variety of popular review sites score more favorably than those with reviews concentrated on just one or two sites.

Our request templates take into account review spread, which is why we recommend using Reputation.com inserted links as opposed to manual to ensure you’re asking across the sites that have the most impact on your score.

4. Review Recency – Next, look to see the date of the reviews. If no reviews were left in the last few months, you might wonder if the business is no longer open or relevant (best practice is to have reviews newer than 3 months).

Request reviews regularly. Using an integration, you can even automate review requests after each customer transaction. Reviews posted most recently are weighted more heavily in calculating Star Average.

5. Search Impression – When you search for a local business (name and zip or city/state), what are the first few search results? If your location’s web page is near the top of the search results (top 10 blue links on page 1) and the GMB Knowledge Panel appears, you’ll get a high score here. Additionally, when you search for the category/near me, if your location shows up in the top 10 search results or Local Pack, the score increases.

Using a widget to generate your own star rating on your website can lift your page higher in search results. Additionally, ensure that your GMB profile is complete and that your business category is correct in your location profile.

6. Review Response – Consumers need to see responses that are courteous and that offer direct methods of contacting them. Even a negative review is often looked at more favorably if the business responded.

Best practice is to respond to 100% of negative reviews and 20% of positive reviews. Increasing your response rate is something you can do immediately to improve your online reputation. (Let us help you with managed responses!) If you’re managing responses on your own, use the macros as a starting point so you can respond quickly while still adding variety.

7. Listing Accuracy – Does the location information of the business match what actually shows up on Google? What about other sites (e.g., Facebook, YP, etc.)?

The accuracy of this information is especially important when consumers are performing “near me” searches. Correcting business listing information is an easy, immediate action you can take to improve reputation. If you’re not currently auditing your business listings through the platform, ask your CSM how. Your accuracy thermometer will not be as precise if you don’t have connections/source of truth loaded in the platform.

8. Social Engagement – Does the business have a social presence and are the posts getting engagement? Businesses that are active on social media tend to convert more researchers into customers.

Regularly post content on social channels, and respond to comments within 24-48 hours. This metric currently measures engagement on Facebook based on views, fans, likes, and engaged users. Note: Only locations with a connected Facebook account will be counted in this metric. If you have no data in this thermometer, it will not impact the overall score.

9. Review Length – Which review has more impact to you: “It was great.” -OR- “Tim was amazing and explained all of my financing options. He made me feel like family!”

Although a reviewer’s length is not something you can necessarily control, it influences a potential consumer’s perception of your business and their likelihood of trusting the review. Try asking customers to leave two or more sentences if requesting face-to-face.

Thermometer Options

To download the thermometer data in CSV, click the Download button in the top, right corner of the Thermometers. Options include: Summary – Monthly, All-time and Detail – Daily, Last 12 Months.

Operations that take time to process large amounts of data may invoke a pop-up window that allows you to either wait for the operation to continue as a download (must stay on the same screen) or to be notified via email with a link to the download (can move to other screens).

Trend

The trend option allows you to view total score over time, using the date range selected.

Trend Options

To access additional options, click the ellipses in the top, right corner of the Trend graph. .

Options include: Download PDF, Download CSV, Schedule, or Forward. Any filters that are currently applied to the data set will persist to all review options.

Operations that take time to process large amounts of data may invoke a pop-up window that allows you to either wait for the operation to continue as a download (must stay on the same screen) or to be notified via email with a link to the download (can move to other screens).

Download PDF

Export the current data set into a PDF report. The Title Page of the report includes your account logo, name of the report (Reputation Score Trend), time period selected, and locations selected.

Download CSV

Export the current data set into a CSV format.

Schedule

Create a scheduled report to automatically send an email with the current data set as a PDF or CSV attachment to other users within the platform (individual or role) or email addresses outside the account. Specify a report Name, Frequency (Daily, Weekly, Monthly, Quarterly, Yearly), Subject, and Message to include in the body of the email. Emails include a link to download the report as well as a link to launch the report within the platform in order to interact with the data and add customizations (available to users with account credentials).

You can edit scheduled reports from the Reports tab.

Forward

Send the current data set via email with a PDF or CSV attachment to other users within the platform (individual or role) or email addresses outside the account. Specify a Subject and Message to include in the body of the email. Emails include a link to download the report as well as a link to launch the report within the platform in order to interact with the data and add customizations (available to users with account credentials).