Score a Quadruple Local SEO Win - Appointments, Citations, More Reviews + Backlinks

[Linda Buquet]

NOTE: This post is from 5/13 but was bumped to ask if good option or other opinions.

Just discovered and researched a cool solution that could be really valuable for small businesses.

Most Local Search Consultants know about DemandForce and it's power for building reviews. BUT their core service is really more of an appointment reminder service that helps build revenue by re-activating patients and minimizing missed appointments. The review feature is just a free value-add. DemandForce last I checked was $300 a month, which makes the service I highlight below very enticing.

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GenBook - Verified customer reviews (auto emails asking for reviews after appts, like DF does)
Online appointment scheduling (including appointment reminders via email and SMS)
PLUS Full citations marked up in schema AND do-follow backlinks on every page!
All for $19.95 - $39.95 a month!

I'd seen Genbook before but didn't realize it's power. I discovered it's power while searching for an Acupuncture clinic locally to help my neck pain. Hardly anyone in Escondido has Google reviews so it's been hard to know who is good. One I found that had no reviews on Google but looked good based on a couple 3rd party review sites, but only had a couple reviews on each one. So I look at their site. Can't find the hours. So I click on the Genbook link to book an appointment, just to try to find hours and what do I see? 139 VERIFIED REVIEWS! Meaning only clients who have actually been there and booked, can leave a review. I think "hmmm, zero on Google, 139 here - this feels like DemandForce!" So I explore further.

The 1st thing I checked to see is whether Genbook reviews show up as 3rd party links on G+ Local pages. Map Search for Genbook. Yep, plenty do...

So here's one example to focus on:Perfect Ten Smile - Google+

Note they have ZERO reviews on Google. See Genbook 3rd party review link where you'll find 139 reviews.

On the review page - Full citations marked up in schema with do-follow backlinks.

Note that there are multiple review pages all showing up in Google with the citations and backlinks.

Google: They rank #1 for Teeth Whitening Plano Tx. Note: They are #1 ABOVE all the actual Dentists in Plano and this is not a Dental office. They are #1 with ZERO Google reviews. #2 is a Dentist with 19 Google reviews and 334 DemandForce reviews!

Perfect Ten Smile is #1 even though their title tag does not include city and is not that well optimized. (Correlation is not causation and I'm not saying at all, that their high ranking is due to Genbook, just making an observation. However, I have found other sites that utilize Genbook that also rank #1.)

Search Google for Perfect Ten Smile Reviews. Their Genbook reviews rank #1, above their own site and above Yelp. And shows the rich snippet review stars. And shows 139 reviews vs only 4 on Yelp.

Check out the Perfect Ten Smile website. Note the review widget showing all their reviews. (DF offers something similar.) Note the "Book Now" real-time appointment button and the Genbook reviews button.

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BONUS - Oh and one more thing, if reviews, citations, appointments and backlinks weren't enough. Check out how this smart business is also using Genbook to promote special offers. Where most companies would have different services in the make an appointment screen, they feature different offers on their "Schedule an appointment" page. How smart is that?

Oh and did I mention the Facebook widget, so customers can book appointments or read your reviews right on your FB page?

So for your clients that are salons, spas, massage, Dentists, Chiros, etc., Genbook could be a way to help book more appointments, get more citations, links AND automatically get lots of 3rd party reviews that Google seems to count and like.

Does anyone have clients using Genbook? Did you know about Genbook?
What do you think?

 

[Daniel C Berman]

Re: Score a Quadruple Local SEO Win - Reviews, Citations, More Appointments + Backlin

Sounds like an amazing service for the price. With the intense competition for the online citation space though, I would almost prefer to design a solution to host reviews on the client's site directly. Has anybody found a WordPress plugin that provides similar functionality to what's been listed above?

 

[Eric Rohrback]

Re: Score a Quadruple Local SEO Win - Reviews, Citations, More Appointments + Backlin

So is this just for service type buisness (dentist, spas, etc...) or can it be used for any type of business? Lets say its a restaurant booking reservations, or a real estate agent trying to book appointments, would this program work for any type of industry?

I know a good amount of info about demand force and I know they're more in the medical industry.

 

[Linda Buquet]

Re: Score a Quadruple Local SEO Win - Reviews, Citations, More Appointments + Backlin

Actually DemandForce although most well known in Dental, also does auto repair shops, legal, accounting, spa, salons all kinds of businesses that set appointments.

But yes any type of business that makes appointments could use it I would think.

They have a free trial so you could check it out.

 

[Chris Ratchford]

Re: Score a Quadruple Local SEO Win - Reviews, Citations, More Appointments + Backlin

@Daniel- Check out this article about Author hReview's new functionality:
WordPress Reviews Plugin Sneak Peek

 

[Daniel C Berman]

Re: Score a Quadruple Local SEO Win - Reviews, Citations, More Appointments + Backlin

Looks interesting, I will be curious to see how things look when they finally launch.

 

[TonyIsSocial]

Re: Score a Quadruple Local SEO Win - Reviews, Citations, More Appointments + Backlin

Can I bump this?

If the requirement is "get more reviews via appointment scheduler", is GenBook still the clear winner over DemandForce?

 

[Linda Buquet]

Re: Score a Quadruple Local SEO Win - Reviews, Citations, More Appointments + Backlin

Sure Tony, thanks for bumping.

You know I have not looked at Genbook in detail again since I wrote this post.

But FYI one of the HUGE reasons DF was boosting rankings was not just the reviews but all the citations. If a practice had 100 DF reviews they would usually have about 120 DF citations and citations could more in the algo than # of reviews does.

So I don't know if the way Genbook is set up creates citations as much as DF did. I assume so but it's been a long time since I've looked at either.

I was mainly making the point that using a service like either of these is not just about the the reviews, but citations too. And DF reviews I would think would weight heavier for Dentists as an example because they focus on Dentists so the DF site would be more industry targeted.

Not sure about others in this space because I have not checked.

Anyone else have thoughts on this?

 

[RobinOctane]

Awesome, I am going to see if our Dentist, who finally got his first website through us, has an email platform in place yet!

 

[billbean]

Linda,

You said you hadn't looked at Genbook again since you originally posted. Before I spend any time looking at in detail, is there a reason you didn't look at it again?

 

[Linda Buquet]

Linda,

You said you hadn't looked at Genbook again since you originally posted. Before I spend any time looking at in detail, is there a reason you didn't look at it again?

Cuz I just discover, share, post. Discover, share, post. Discover, share, post.

I don't work with clients any more so have no reason to look at stuff in detail or test.

Just share what I find that may be of interest and move on. Plus am way to swamped to follow up on everything I post about. So that's all. Nothing negative - just time constraints.

 

[TonyIsSocial]

Bill, I just signed up as an affiliate. While I try not to venture outside of Local SEO for services I provide, I see this (GenBook) as a cheap valuable resource that compliments what I do for at least 3 of my current customers.

I'll update this whenever I experience something related.

 

[billbean]

I completely understand, and thank you. That was helpful.

I will say that after spending a little time looking at the website from your original example I'm unimpressed with their performance. I didn't find the Genbook link in their backlink profile, but I did see other low quality stuff. So, just in case anyone reads this and is wondering about the link benefit, my recommendation is to ignore that possibility.

I was also surprised that they (perfecttensmiles) still had no Google reviews.

 

[Linda Buquet]

Here's another, I just grabbed at random.

Zero G reviews, looks like an unclaimed G+ L.
Yet 99 customer reviews on their site from Genbook.
And yes, the Genbook reviews show on their G+ L 3rd party reviews.

https://plus.google.com/109882011092868958895/about?hl=en

 

[Linda Buquet]

And actually I just remembered, awhile back at my Naturopath, when I told them I work with Google Local, they asked me this...

"Is Google better for reviews than Genbook? We use Genbook."

(I just about fell over at that question.)

But it's integrated into their appointment system, which is the core of their business, so it's seamless.

They are wonderful, but again have no G reviews, only Genbook reviews.

 

[TonyIsSocial]

Linda, from the link you shared to their G+, I see "people talk about" with no G reviews and one of them is "luxury massage". That seems like a good phrase to rank for, so I opened an incognito browser real quick and tried it out: "luxury massage sulphur, OK".

Sure enough, top 2 results from GenBook:
https://www.google.com/search?q=luxury+massage+sulphur,+ok

 

[billbean]

@Tony glad you brought up the "people talking about" factor. i think that's a definite benefit

Aria is clearly kicking butt in Sulphur. I'm curious to see if the Genbook page would do well in a more competitive scenario.

I'm still dumbfounded that a business would have so many reviews on Genbook and not a single one in G.

I'm not seeing Genbook in backlink profiles, so that's interesting.

 

[Linda Buquet]

Even if they no longer provide backlinks, if the business sets up their Genbook page right it could provide lots of citations - or at least partial citations. Every appt page and every review page has name and address.

 

[billbean]

I agree.

As I said, would be interesting to see its impact in a more competitive scenario (niche and location). That would be a long term test, as it seems the biggest benefit would be these UGC citations.

I've advised a friend with a counseling business to look at it and to make the decision soley on the value of the online scheduling features. Consider all the other possible benefits as icing on the cake. Hoping he'll try it. He's not doing anything else (reviews, social...anything), so it could turn out to be an interesting test case.