Just one review on your Google My Business page nearly doubles the number of Google searches your business appears in, compared to those with no reviews. It’s a piece of data uncovered in a new study from real estate search platform Homesnap and Google: “One review nets an agent a 71% increase in profile views and a 122% lift in actions. It goes without saying, the more reviews, generally the better the performance.”
After considering many factors, the report concludes that having reviews on a Google My Business page is the No. 1 thing an agent can do to increase the number of searches they appear in.
That said, review ratings count, too. Agents with an average review rating of 4.0 or better appear in 350% more searches than agents with an average review rating of 0–3. In addition, 4.0 agents received 300% more actions than those with a review rating of 0–3.
The Homesnap study points to a correlation between review timing and high search visibility because Google’s algorithm looks for freshness. “If you don’t have a review in the past 90 days, you’ll receive roughly half the number of indirect searches as agents who do have a recent review,” the report says.
