Yes, reviews will become more important over the next year while at the same time possibly being diluted in value by the increased volume and noise.

Google is working hard to get traction in the space. In restaurants they don’t have a chance but everywhere else they can compete on more than even ground… I am trying to assemble numbers in the restaurant area to see their review rate is increasing due to hotpot…

You will enjoy the next few Loci 2010 posts.

Here is a follow up on the review anecdote. On Monday I had lunch at the restaurant/bar/neighborhood joint. The owner was there. I referenced to him I had mentioned on an unnamed web source the impact of a Yelp review that brought in a new customer this past Saturday.

He knew the customer and that she arrived because of the Yelp reviews. He told me about a couple staying at a local hotel that visited his place this weekend. The guy stopped by twice. They came the first time because of Yelp reviews.

I took a look at some of his local information. He has a claimed Google lisitng. He has not claimed the yelp listing. The business has over 50 yelp reviews; most good, some mediocre or bad.

He has some recent Yelp reviews. Two google reviews. One from me. No recent reviews.

All in all interesting. An smb operator is typically not web smart enough or active enough to follow all the stuff on the web. He could easily be bombarded by a slew of calls from web businesses, sales people etc. This guy gets calls. He considers most of them to be a pain in the neck.

He has made some money off of Yelp. Its that simple. He isn’t advertising on Yelp. He is obviously aware of the power of reviews.

Mike: You have been at the forefront of the review issue. I give you credit. Its an enormous issue. It can have a significant and profound result. I’ve run into other owners, all very aware of the impact of reviews, and the existence of negative reviews.

We are very aware that our customers read reviews. These reviews impact sales.

All in all, I see it as a significant issue and one which will continue to impact smbs….and have monitization issues that surround it.

I think you will find in the subsequent posters both of your suggestions reflected from the SMB, the SEM and the review generation standpoint.

Two things I might add:

A). the change in the Google UI for Local. Google still maintains an incredible monopoly on search and buying activity via search. The UI change means that the ad businesses working in Local have to deal with it, as do the SMB’s. By the way, my anecdotal evidence for a number of businesses is that when it comes to mobile search Google absolutely crushes Bing and Yahoo by even a greater amount than they do off of PC’s. At least that is the way I see it off of my analytics.

B). Reviews are dramatically important. Yelp invented the vibrant review environment. It surges forward with a huge volume of reviews. Google is muscleing its way in with its change in the UI for local searches, highlighting volume of reviews, and creating a vibrant world for reviews.

Reviews are big, they are dramatic, smb owners get crazed about them….and lastly, this past Saturday, after a long day of work I stopped at my small local neighboring watering hole in the DC region to catch the Seattle/New Orleans game. One ardent Seahawk fan and Seattle native was there rooting on the Seahawks.

Why did she show up there? Yelp reviews….straight from her mouth!!!