GETTING FOUND, LAYER 4
Reviews, YouTube, Yelp and the group chat: what other people say about you, and how to earn it
The fourth layer is what other people say about you, in places you do not control. It is the layer machines trust most, because you cannot write it yourself. For a contractor it is six places, and one of them moves faster than everything else on the map. Here is each one, and what to do this month.
A note on what this is. Nothing here buys reviews or pays for placement. It asks, it shows up, and it answers. That is all the machines can tell apart anyway.
Reviews: the layer you can move fastest
One request after every finished job. In the customer's language. The day the house is cool again, the day the water runs, the day the inspection passes. One reminder three days later if nothing came in. Everyone gets asked, not just the happy ones; picking who to ask is against Google's rules, and it shows in the pattern.
Reply to every review, in the language it was written in. Short and calm. A calm reply to a bad review is read by every future customer, and it does more for you than the bad review does against you.
The listings: Google, Yelp, and the ones that match
Your Google Business Profile is the listing that matters most. Claim it, fill every field, add the photos, and post the hours you actually keep. Then Yelp, because it is one of the places AI answers cite for contractors. Then whatever else your customers use. The rule for all of them is the same: the same name, phone, address and services as your site. A listing that disagrees with your site costs more than no listing.
THE DIRECTORY TEST
YouTube: one phone, one job, no script
YouTube is one of the two places AI answers most often cite when someone asks about a contractor. You do not need a channel or an editor. You need one real job, filmed on a phone, start to finish, with you saying what you are doing. A changeout. A water heater swap. A charger install. A tarp going on after a storm. Title it the way a customer would search it. Put the phone number in the description.
One video answers the question a page cannot: what it looks like when you do the work. It also gives the machine a second source that agrees with your site.
Reddit and the neighborhood group
Reddit is the other place AI answers cite for this category. Local subreddits, trade subreddits, and the Facebook and WhatsApp groups for your neighborhoods. The rule there is the opposite of advertising: answer questions, do not sell. Someone asks why their breaker trips; the electrician who explains it plainly is the one who gets named in the next thread, by someone else.
- Answer the question that was asked, fully, with no pitch.
- Use your real name and your company name, once, in your profile, not in every post.
- Never post about your own company; let a customer do it.
- Read the group's rules first. Most trade groups ban promotion and remember who broke the rule.
The counter and the association
For a contractor, LinkedIn is not the room. The supply house counter is. So is the trade association and the Chamber. The people who send you jobs are the ones who see you there. Machines cannot read a counter, but the reviews and the referrals that come out of it are what they read.
What this layer is for
Layer four is the proof. Your site says what you do; this layer is other people agreeing. When the review, the listing, the video and the group thread all say the same name and the same trade, layer five follows on its own. And every one of those sources ends the same way: someone calls, and the next sixty seconds decide whether the proof was worth anything.
Questions we get asked about this
Can I pick which customers I ask for a review?
No. Asking only the happy ones is called review gating and it is against Google's rules. Ask everyone after every finished job. The pattern is what machines and customers trust.
Do I really need YouTube?
One video, yes. Not a channel. YouTube and Reddit are where AI answers most often point for this category, and a single real job on video is a source that agrees with your site in a way a page cannot.
What about paid directories and lead sites?
Different thing. A listing is a place that states who you are; it should match your site. A lead site sells you calls. Nothing here is about buying calls.
Related
Want to see the review request go out?
Bring your Google profile to a 30-minute call. We will send the request to your own phone, in both languages, and show you the reply that waits for your okay.