The Ultimate Guide to Using UGC for SEO and Marketing Success

UGC, or user-generated content, is content created by users. UGC includes posts on social networks and blogs, comments, videos, customer reviews and product and service reviews, forum posts, etc.

According to research for 2023, 86% of companies use UGC for promotion.

UGC ranks well in Google, because content such as customer reviews, overviews, and product comparisons are what users are looking for and willing to read. UGC sites have good behavioral indicators.

SEO experts note the growing influence of user-generated content in Google:

And according to statistics, user-generated content also influences commercial success on the Internet:

• 70% of buyers trust UGC more than branded advertising;

• 79% of people confirm the influence of user-generated content on the decision to purchase a product or service;

• 72% perceive customer reviews as if they were personal recommendations;

• photos from social networks can increase the conversion of an individual product by 6 times;

• when a product receives more than one review, traffic increases by 108%, conversion by 65% ​​and sales by 92%.

According to Google documentation, UGC includes:

Customer reviews are the most accessible and popular option for commercial sites, users can leave them through a special form.

Overviews are real stories of use and the most powerful UGC tool for business. A quality review can increase sales many times over. It is customary to offer a reward for reviews - then real users are willing to write them.

Forum messages - on thematic forums, people can ask for advice or share their opinions, users are willing to write such messages.

Comments - demonstrate interest in the topic or product.

Images are posts on social networks and on review sites with photos of the product, as well as photos in reviews and comments on the site.

Videos are content that is more suitable for social networks, but it is difficult to obtain - additional stimulation of users is needed, since its creation requires effort.

Votes, likes, hearts - reactions convince visitors of the value of information and increase trust.

The most common types of user-generated content are related to social networks and are generated there, but there are also those that can be successfully applied on a website: these are reviews, overviews, photos and videos, as well as your own forum.

This refers to the placement of crowds. These are links from thematic resources where a product or service is discussed. They are used to increase the link mass and improve the link profile of the site, making it more diverse, as a result of which it is better ranked by search engines, its visibility increases. In addition, such promotion looks native and increases user trust.

Crowd links can lead to the site from review sites, thematic forums, social networks, directories, blogs, question-and-answer sites.

It is difficult to do crowd marketing on your own, it requires a lot of labor and time, so the service is often ordered from specialists

UGC cannot be generated independently, but you can encourage customers and website visitors to create it. You can influence the audience both directly (offer rewards for feedback) and indirectly - for example, create informational reasons for discussion, surveys, use gamification (for example, give achievements and levels for the number of comments). It is important to consider that such stimulation methods can also play a significant role in SEO promotion, improving the visibility of the site and its position in search engines.

As a first example, let's look at a successful advertising campaign from Tiffany, which painted the city in its signature color and collected several hundred photos with hashtags. Not everyone has that kind of budget, so if you just decorate your space in an interesting way and offer the right hash and geotag, you'll already get your share of real feedback.

Spam. Appears everywhere where you can leave comments. Negatively affects conversion and website metrics that are important for SEO. Spam messages must be deleted by moderators or special plugins must be installed.

Negative. Customer reviews and mentions form a brand's reputation. Each negative review must be responded to promptly, honestly and openly. This way, you can turn negative content into positive, showing the brand in its best light.

Increased server load. Due to the large amount of activity on the site, the server load increases and, as a result, the page loading speed and stability of the resource decrease. It is necessary to take into account the hosting capabilities, and if they are not enough, you will have to change the tariff plan and increase the capacity.