Have you had difficulty getting your clients’ law firm reviews posted on Google?

Google is very effective at fighting spam and if they decide to look at reviews based on IP address and find that the majority of your reviews are from the same address, this may look like spam. Suddenly all your reviews are gone.

Because of this very real risk, we do not recommend using the same IP address to post your law firm reviews. This has some immediate implications. For example, setting up a kiosk or tablet at your office for reviews should be avoided. We also strongly recommend against having reviews left on the same Web browsing device. A few factors that matter to the review filter seem to be whether customers try to post reviews at an unnatural pace, how many reviews a particular person has written before, the wording of the review and the user’s location (IP address).

If you must ask for a review on-site at your office, then one strategy is to offer an instructional handout to your clients on how to post a review at home. These can even be found online at no cost. You can also ask them to use their mobile phone or tablet and the Google+ Local app to search for your business and leave a review from there.

Google does not reveal exactly what factors their filters consider or which factors are the most important. That being said, we do know that Google has information on your business’s review gathering activity as well as each review-poster’s activity. Google can take all these factors into account when deciding whether a single review will be tossed out or when deciding whether to keep or remove a series of reviews.

Google constantly refines its reviews process. A good idea might be to ask a client during the intake process about their Google+ usage. If they are not active, encourage them to start using it. Once they receive their settlement or award, which may take months and sometimes years, they should have a solid Google+ account established – and that means they are in a perfect position to post a positive review of your firm.

Something to consider with reviews is which platforms you are using. Instead of focusing solely on Google, get reviews from other third-party sites that have been shown to affect rankings. Consider using Yelp, Foursquare, Citysearch and other major review sites.

Does your law firm use other creative strategies to boost your law firm review count?