A high volume of positive reviews effectively benefits both the business and the consumer. Emerging as the titans of this arena, Google and Trustpilot reviews have occupied the digital market rapidly, where businesses are notably expanding their reliability graph.
Due to a fiercely competitive market, people often compare Trustpilot vs. Google Reviews to identify the most suitable one for their businesses.
However, defining which is better in a single statement can be challenging; instead, it is imperative to understand each platform thoroughly to analyze neutrally and find the appropriate one. So, Tick, Tock, and Start!
Understanding Trustpilot Reviews
What Is Trustpilot?
The customer experience management solution—Trustpilot, founded in 2007, allows users to leave reviews and businesses to send review invitations, share reviews, manage ratings, track feedback, etc.
The platform aims to build trust between businesses and consumers universally, disclosing all the feedback of the customers.
Through different widgets, this platform allows employees to share customer reviews on webpages, email signatures, and newsletters, that assist in generating more leads and increase conversion rates.
How Trustpilot Reviews Work?
- Trustpilot allows users to give feedback with a 1 to 5-star rating and a descriptive commentary option.
- Trustpilot aggregates individual reviews to determine a business’s TrustScore. A ‘5’ rating signifies an ‘Excellent’ experience, while a ‘1’ indicates a ‘Bad’ one.
- Trustpilot gives a wider space for new reviews than for older ones, which is why newer reviews are shown at the top.
- Trustpilot values the input of its users and prioritizes frequent reviews to maintain a consistent ‘TrustScore’.
- Trustpilot uses the Bayesian average, where lesser-reviewed companies get seven reviews with a 3.5-star rating for a balanced TrustScore. Later, when the business gets more reviews, these reviews become ineffective.
Pros of Trustpilot Reviews
- Showcase Positive Image: Trustpilot reviews can be integrated into a business website or social media through its review template. It helps showcase positive feedback that boosts the brand image for potential customers.
- Multiple Ways of Review Collection: Trustpilot offers multiple ways of reviewing collections, from widgets to mail, which boasts the chances of gathering reviews.
- Dominance and Effectiveness: Despite similar platforms in the market, Trustpilot dominates the space with its robust management. It offers the accessibility to send review requests to users in bulk. Furthermore, the provided analytical tools are highly effective in measuring the results.
- Helpful for Reviewers and Companies: Trustpilot fosters trust between companies and consumers by satisfying both reviewers and companies regarding features and effectiveness.
- Malicious Review Elimination: Fake and malicious reviews are common in review-based platforms, which need special treatment to achieve transparency. So, Trustpilot helps remove all those anonymous and fake reviews if it finds them damaging to your business.
Cons of Trustpilot Reviews
- Limited Access to Free Version: Every platform or application that offers a paid version as the free one limits the use of all features in the free version. Since Trustpilot has both, the free version prevents you from getting fair reviews if you do not pay for it.
- Automatic Renewal of the Subscription: Trustpilot automatically renews the existing plan when it expires, and the user must keep paying the next month’s charges until they cancel it.
- Expensive Fees: Trustpilot is a costly platform that requires you to pay $250+ per month to send more than 100 review invites monthly.
Understanding Google Reviews
While comparing Trustpilot vs Google Reviews, you should also know all the aspects of Google Reviews to make an informed decision.
What Are Google Reviews?
Google provides a dedicated review section for business listings, allowing users to share their opinions through detailed comments or a 5-star rating. These reviews significantly influence potential customers’ purchasing decisions, as they can learn from past customers’ experiences with a product or service before buying.
How Does Google Review Work?
- Google Reviews is integrated with Google Maps, where users get an easy navigation option.
- A user must have a Google account and must log in to it before reviewing a business listing.
- A business should first create a Google Business profile to gather users’ reviews on the Google Reviews program.
- Google reviews are available publicly, and users can go through comments minutely to make better decisions.
- Users can hit the “Like” option to show their agreement with a particular review, which increases their credibility.
- Users can complain about an unfamiliar review using the “Report Review” option.
Pros of Google Reviews
- Impactful Positive Impression: Having ample Google Reviews enhances the business’ credibility and leaves a positive impression on users who are looking for your business, product, or service.
- Easy to Use: Google Reviews offers a user-friendly environment for both businesses and consumers. If the business already has a Google Business profile, then it would be easier to start receiving Google Reviews.
- Free Service: Google does not charge to start a review section, and it is a free service where both users and companies can use the feature without paying a single penny.
- SEO Benefit and Conversion Rate: The more reviews the business receives, the more enhanced its Search Engine Ranking will be. If the business appears on the first page, the lead generation and conversion rate will also increase.
Cons of Google Reviews
- Difficulty in Removing Fake Reviews: Businesses often receive fake or irrelevant reviews that can harm their brand image. Unfortunately, Google does not allow businesses to remove these reviews directly. Instead, businesses must use the ‘Report’ option, after which Google takes the necessary steps to decide whether to remove and keep the reported review.
- Google Account Requirement: Customers must have a Google account to post a review on Google. If they do not have a Google Account, they must create one before leaving a review.
- Quantity Over Quality: Google Reviews promotes “Local Guides” based on the number of reviews they post. This practice can lead to the retention of fake, paid, or irrelevant reviews from these guides.
Trustpilot vs Google Reviews
User Base Comparison
Trustpilot is a platform that caters more to e-commerce, tech, and service-based businesses, especially those with a larger international user base. In contrast, Google Reviews is suitable for all types of businesses internationally, primarily focusing on local SEO and engagement. Therefore, businesses must consider their user base when comparing Trustpilot vs Google Reviews.
Review Authenticity
Trustpilot effectively delivers authentic reviews with its strong fake review policy. It actively removes malicious reviews after receiving complaints.
Google Reviews only allows users and the company to “Report” a review and fails to take effective action against it. So, if you have a business where quality matters more than quantity, you should choose Trustpilot.
Community Engagement
Trustpilot offers a business community that actively engages all platform users, maximizing benefits. In contrast, Google Reviews provides an open forum for responding to reviews and encourages engagement via the Local Guides Program. Opt for Google Reviews if minimal interaction suffices; choose Trustpilot for enhanced engagement opportunities.
Other comparison between Trustpilot and Google reviews:
- Market Share: Trustpilot’s market share dominance is significant, with up to 1 million sites, representing 2.009%, preferring Trustpilot over Google Reviews, which only managed to secure 0.31%.
- Uses in Different Websites: Trustpilot stands above in terms of uses in different categorical websites like Lifestyle, Finance, Computers Electronics and Technology, Home and Garden, and 20 more. However, Google Reviews fails to lead any of the domain-based websites.
- Global Market Presence: Trustpilot’s market presence is truly global, with a significant share in the United Kingdom, the United States, France, Italy, and 155 other countries. In contrast, Google Reviews leads in only two countries: Brazil and Argentina.
- Pricing: Google Reviews is free to use and does not offer a paid plan, while Trustpilot offers both a free and paid plan with limited and premium features, respectively.
Wrapping Up
When it comes to analyzing or checking reviews, we must be aware of every trustworthy platform that works effectively as an alternative. Comparing Trustpilot vs. Google Reviews depends on the business or user’s needs, which encompass factors like user base, engagement, authenticity, etc.
Discovering the above-mentioned facts can help you determine which platform best aligns with your specific objectives, whether that be detailed, business-focused insights from Trustpilot or broad, widely accessible reviews from Google Reviews.
FAQs
What is Trustpilot?
Trustpilot is a review platform where customers leave feedback about a certain business or service. Businesses can also send review invitations, share reviews, manage ratings, track feedback, and more to analyze the current image graph.
What are Google reviews?
Google Reviews, offered by Google, gets a separate section on a Google business listing where users can leave their opinions about a product or service. Google Reviews also features a “Like” button through which other users can show their agreement.
What is the difference between Trustpilot and Google reviews?
- Trustpilot has a higher market share than Google Reviews across the web, including domain-based websites.
- Google Reviews leads the market in Brazil and Argentina, while Trustpilot has a larger market in the United Kingdom, the United States, France, Italy, and 155 other countries.
- Google Reviews are free to use and do not offer paid service. However, Trustpilot has paid and free services, and the free version limits access to all features.
Is it better to leave a review on Google or Trustpilot?
Google and Trustpilot, both are good for leaving your opinion about a certain product or business. However, you must consider the following factors before selecting any of them:
- Trustpilot has a stronger policy against fake reviews and takes adequate steps against that activity.
- If you prefer to share your opinion on Google Reviews, you should have a Google Account and log in to that account.
- Trustpilot is more into international business, while Google Reviews works more on local SEO and businesses.
Are Trustpilot reviews to be trusted?
Yes, you can rely on Trustpilot reviews. The platform handles authentic reviews and aims to build trust between companies and consumers.
Do Trustpilot reviews appear on Google?
Yes, if the reviews meet the requirements, they will be shown on Google Shopping automatically, where no more action is required.
Are Trustpilot reviews more reliable than Google reviews?
Both are reliable platforms for review. Trustpilot effectively filters out fake reviews, making it a reliable platform for evaluating credibility. In contrast, Google Reviews excels at providing detailed and descriptive feedback rather than just numerical ratings.