How many Google reviews does a home service business need?

Owners type "how many google reviews do i need" because they want a finish line. There is no finish line from Google. There is a number for your market, and you can find it in about five minutes.

Why there is no single number

Google's own page on local ranking says results are based mainly on three things: relevance, distance and prominence. Prominence is how well known your business is, and Google says it is based in part on how many reviews you have and your rating. The same page says more reviews and positive ratings can help your local ranking.

That page gives no target count. It also says there is no way to request or pay for a better local ranking on Google.

So the count that matters is relative. A plumber in a small town with two competitors may do fine with 25 reviews. A roofer in a large metro area may be up against companies with several hundred. The homeowner sees your count next to theirs on the same screen and compares.

How many Google reviews you need in your own market

This check tells you the number to beat. Do it on your phone, signed out of your business account if you can, so you see what a homeowner sees.

1. 1Open Google Maps.
2. 2Search your main service and your town, for example "water heater repair" plus the town name.
3. 3Write down the first three businesses that show up, other than yours.
4. 4Write down each one's review count and star rating.
5. 5Open each one and note the date of their most recent review.
6. 6Repeat with a second search for another service you sell.

Now you have a target. Take the highest review count in that top three. That is the number to work toward. If the leaders got new reviews this month, recent reviews count as part of the target too, because a homeowner reading reviews can see the dates.

How to set a weekly pace you can keep

A big total is less useful than a steady flow. A profile with 80 reviews and none in the last six months tells a homeowner less than one with 40 and a new one last week.

1. 1Count how many jobs your crews finish in a normal week.
2. 2Pick a share of those customers you will ask, starting with every job you would be glad to see reviewed.
3. 3Ask on the day the job is done, while the customer is still happy with the work.
4. 4Check your review count every Monday and write it down.
5. 5Compare the weekly gain to the gap between you and the market leader.

If the gap is 60 reviews and you gain 3 a week, you are about 20 weeks behind. That number gives you a plain answer on whether to ask more often.

A review request text you can copy

Send this from the business phone the same day as the job. Replace the parts in capitals. Get your review link from your Google Business Profile, where Google offers a link and a QR code to share with customers.

Send it to every customer you finished a job for, not only the ones who seemed happiest. Mentioning the job and the town in your message gives the customer something to write about.

What Google does not allow

Google's own help page on getting reviews says offering incentives in exchange for reviews is prohibited. That includes free or discounted goods or services in exchange for posting a review, changing a review or removing a negative one. Google treats it as fake and misleading content.

• Do not offer a discount, gift card or entry into a drawing for a review.
• Do not write reviews for your own business or ask staff or family to.
• Do not pay a service that promises a set number of reviews.

Breaking these rules puts the reviews you already earned at risk.

What this will not fix

• ×More reviews will not move you up in a town far from where Google places your business, because distance is one of the three ranking factors.
• ×Reviews will not help much if your profile has the wrong main category for your trade.
• ×A high count does not cancel recent bad reviews. Homeowners read the newest ones first.
• ×No number of reviews guarantees a spot in the top three on Maps.

Common questions

Root's free check looks at this on your own business.