Home Services
A majority of survey respondents (68%) say they find online reviews to be “extremely” or “very valuable” when evaluating residential service providers.
Fragmented Industry Craves Reviews
New from Google
Businesses in the Home Service categories are the first to carry the “Google Guaranteed”. Providers are background-checked to meet relevant insurance and licensing requirements.
INDUSTRY RESEARCH
Software Advice
How Customers Use Online Reviews to Select Residential Service Providers
Google is Moving to the Forefront
Google is aggressively investing the Home Services industry in an effort to disrupt the entire consumer purchase path. A search for “plumbers near me” returns a SERP with three Google Guaranteed companies in zero position.
Google collects and presents for local service companies the standard knowledge panel details plus: Background checks, License checks, Insurance checks, Advanced verification (by specialty, such as Locksmiths), and Reputation assessments.
Google is even more explicit in the language they use regarding Local Service companies and local search ranking by stating “serious or repeatedly negative customer feedback may result in lower rankings (including not showing at all).”