Why Google Reviews Matter for Your Local Business

When someone searches for a restaurant, a plumber or a hair salon near them, Google shows a short list of businesses on a map, each with a star rating and a review count. Most people decide from that list. They rarely scroll to the fifth page. Your reviews are the first thing they see about you, and often the only thing.

Reviews help people find you

Google has said that local results are ranked using relevance, distance and prominence, and that review count and review score are part of prominence. In plain terms, a business with many recent, good reviews is more likely to be shown than one with few or none, all else being equal. Reviews that mention what you do and where, in the customer's own words, also give Google more to match against what people type.

Reviews help people choose you

Two businesses can be the same distance away and offer the same thing. The one with 4.7 stars and 300 reviews usually beats the one with 4.1 stars and 12. People also read the text. A review that says 'arrived exactly when they said they would' does more work than a star rating, because it answers the worry the customer had in their head.

Reviews tell you what to fix

Your own reviews are free customer feedback. If three people in a month mention slow service, that is not three opinions, it is a pattern. Read them regularly and write down what comes up.

Your competitors' reviews matter too

Most owners only look at their own reviews. The bigger opportunity is in the reviews of the businesses around you. They show you what customers in your area care about, what your competitors are praised for and, most usefully, what they are criticized for. A complaint that shows up across several competitors is a gap you can fill.

Reading all of that by hand takes hours. That is the problem LocalGap was built for: it reads nearby competitors' Google reviews and summarizes what they are praised for, what customers complain about and what you can change. You can also follow our step-by-step guide to analyzing competitors using Google reviews.

What to do next

• Claim and complete your Google Business Profile if you have not already
• Ask happy customers for a review, every time, in the same simple way (see how to get more Google reviews)
• Reply to reviews, good and bad (see how to respond to negative reviews)
• Read your competitors' reviews and note the themes