Perhaps one of the most empowering elements of the Internet is the ability to give every single consumer a voice. Consumers now have the ability to have their voice heard by millions, with little to no effort. Ever since the introduction of Yelp in 2004, there has been an increasing importance for online reputation management in virtually every industry.

It’s now common practice for consumers to seek out reviews online before ever purchasing a product or service. This holds particularly true when it comes to the apartment rental market. According to SearchEngineLand.com,apartments are the second most impacted industry by online reviews. Now more than ever, renters are seeking out online reviews when deciding where to live. Consider some of the statistics below:

• 92% of consumers read online reviews.
• 87% of consumers would not consider using a business with an average rating of 1 or 2 stars. – Search Engine Land
• 46% of renters look at ratings and reviews when searching for an apartment – Satisfacts
• 88% of people trust online reviews more than personal recommendations – Appfolio
   

Consumers are putting a lot of trust into online reviews, which is making it increasingly important for student housing providers to have an online reputation management plan in place. This is especially true when it comes to managing an online presence on Google.

More often than not, students will use Google as their primary search engine; it’s often where they’ll search for student housing information. This is important because Google shows online reviews directly in search results.

As an illustration, let’s search for student housing in Austin, Texas.

When entering ‘Austin student housing’ in the search bar on Google, the first page result shows a Google Map at the top and in the preview section, three student housing communities are listed, along with their online reviews. The top three communities have a total of 148 reviews combined.
 

When going one step further into Google Maps, even more results and greater details are provided. The page below shows that all of the student housing communities have reviews next to them, except one. Most communities have somewhere in the range of 30-60 reviews. Student renters will take these reviews into account. If a property has a lot of bad ratings, potential tenants will be less inclined to inquire about the community or visit it.

On this page, the top ranked property is Callaway House Austin, averaging a 4.6 star rating (only from a total of 5 reviews). This is important to note though, as the next step is where students can actually narrow their search results down according to online review scores. In the top left corner, students can select only 4.0+ star properties. Then the results shrink dramatically! There are only 3 properties that have a 4.0+ star rating; only one of them is an actual off-campus housing property (one is on-campus housing and the other is a real estate agency).


 

In this case, student renters would need to broaden their search criteria to include 3.0+ star properties, in order to provide more results. 

The point of this illustration is to demonstrate that Google (and other search engines) put a fair deal of importance on online reviews and they truly cannot be avoided.

Students searching for off-campus housing are going to seek reviews and this will likely impact their judgments. Student housing communities should strive to maintain a good online presence and minimize the amount of negative feedback found. Even one negative review can have a very serious impact on leasing. Consider that a survey conducted by Convergys found that one negative review online can cost a property as many as 20 potential resident visits or tours. Dealing with each potential negative issue or complaint in the most proactive manner is the best philosophy to have!