Consumers are no longer restricted to making decisions based on marketing material alone. If they want to purchase a product or use a service they know they are only a click away from unbiased, authentic reviews. Reviews are good for any business, but what Google reviews number should you be aiming for? Is there a magic number and can you rest easy once you hit that target?
While there is no single magic number, consider this. Your business is being judged against the competition according to your reviews. So it might be wise to decide that a good rule of thumb is having twice as many reviews and a better score than your top competitors. That gives you a very safe margin setting yourself apart from the competition as the market leader according to consumer reviews.
If you have put a good review-gathering strategy in place, you should have no problem attracting 5 reviews and more. The more good reviews you receive the less chance you have of your website taking a big hit if a customer leaves a one-star review.
What Does The Star Rating Mean?
It goes without saying that receiving a 5-star rating is much better than receiving 3 or 4 stars. However, even the best businesses find it difficult to maintain a 100% clean streak of 5-star reviews. It’s also important to note that the more 3 or 4-star ratings you receive, the harder it will become to achieve a 5-star rating. If you are aiming for your business to be listed on the “Best (Hairdresser, Hotel, Bakery)” results pages, you will usually need to strive for a consistent four-star rating at the very least.
Google Reviews Matter
The take away here is that you should be paying attention to your Google rating and Google reviews and you should strive to receive as many good reviews as possible. It’s important to note that prospects are more likely to pay attention to newer reviews than older ones, so don’t worry if you have a short run of poor reviews. Many businesses go through a bumpy patch now and then which can result in some poor reviews. It’s okay, nobody’s perfect. It’s best to look at those moments as an opportunity to learn from those reviews and educate your staff on how to avoid them moving forward.