A written testimonial is one of the most powerful and important parts of your business. Potential customers look for testimonials on your website, google my business and on facebook to help them form an opinion on your business/services/products.

Let's be honest, we can all be cynical at times and sceptical to promises made by advertisements, but we do believe what real people have to say. The most powerful persuader in the market is the opinion of someone you trust. 

A business with recent and quality testimonials from a diverse group of customers is more appealing to potential customers than one without. Testimonials help boost business credibility in extraordinary ways.

On your website

Testimonials help facilitate word of mouth promotion by increasing trust and incentive. Not only do testimonials boost your reputation, but they also help your organic SEO. There is no defined “algorithm” on how to rank number 1 in google. However, the more time people spend reading your testimonials on your website, and the more you website is updated with new testimonials, the more google will “trust” your site.

Under E-Commerce Products

Having testimonials about products on an eCommerce store is extremely important. Positive and honest testimonials instantly boost the sales of your product or service by influencing customers. Statistics show that 90% of respondents who read online reviews claim that they influenced their buying decisions. 

 Google My Business & Facebook

According to the **2017 Local Search Ranking Factors Survey conducted by Moz, quality, quantity and diversity of reviews make up 13 percent of Google's total ranking factors in local search results. Therefore, The more testimonials on your google my business account, the higher it will rank on google. Also, your google my business listing is often the first thing people see when they google your business name. Therefore, positive testimonials will lead to more powerful first impressions, especially if you are a local business. 

Testimonials are a great free marketing tool that will give you business a huge competitive advantage. If you provide good service or products, you should be able to ask people for some kind words to use as a testimonial.

**https://moz.com/local-search-ranking-factors