Today, we’re going to explore the relationship between online reviews and SEO (search engine optimization). 

First, let’s put SEO on Google into perspective. 

Imagine if you earned $1 each time someone searched for something on Google. 

If this were real, you’d be a multi-millionaire in less than a minute. 

There are 5.9 million searches conducted every 60 seconds on Google, which is why SEO is such a massive marketing channel.  

Since all these searches are made by real people looking for information online, websites have the opportunity to catch their attention with content catered to their search needs. 

Yet, once they arrive at your website, you’ll need to convince them that your products and services are worth their hard-earned money. 

The best way to do this is to provide social proof through online reviews. 

Consider that 57% of consumers will only buy from businesses that have a 4+ average rating. 

So, it’s clear that online reviews play a significant role in improving conversion rates.

But, did you know that online reviews also matter to Google’s search algorithm, especially for local businesses?

In this guide, we’ll teach you all the ways online reviews impact your SEO and user experience, so stay tuned. 

Why Reviews Matter for Your SEO Strategy 

Many marketers assume online reviews are most important for beefing up their conversion rates, but they’re also a major ranking factor on Google. 

This makes a lot of sense if you think about it. 

If you were Google, would you want to recommend crappy businesses to your search users?

Of course not! 

That’s why Google’s algorithm pays close attention to review signals coming from:

  1. Google Business Profile (GBP) reviews 
  2. Reviews on third-party sites like Yelp and TripAdvisor
  3. Reviews on your official website 
  4. Niche review websites that apply to your business 

This ensures that Google always recommends top-rated businesses for its user’s searches, regardless of industry. 

How important are review ranking signals in the grand scheme of local SEO?

As you can see in this breakdown, review signals have a 15.44% impact on your search rankings, so they aren’t something you can afford to ignore. 

Besides backlinks and GBP signals, reviews have the most significant impact on your search performance. 

Google values online reviews when building trust with websites because:

  1. They prove the legitimacy of your business. Google doesn’t want to reward fake businesses with high rankings, and reviews are a way for them to verify the legitimacy of your business. 
  2. They allow Google to gauge user trust. Your reviews help Google gauge how much your customers trust your business. 
  3. They help determine the relevance of your content (in relation to search keywords). Relevancy is one of the most important ranking factors. Positive reviews reinforce to Google that your products and services are indeed relevant to specific keywords. 

As you can see, Google is able to infer a lot from your online reviews, making them a vital SEO resource. 

Online Reviews for SEO: Key Statistics 

There’s been a ton of research into the impact online reviews have on SEO and conversion rates. 

Here are some of the most eye-opening statistics:

  • 90% of customers read online reviews before making purchases
  • 44% of search users will click on a local 3-pack whenever it’s present (WebFX)
  • 56% of people will choose brands that respond to reviews
  • A one-star increase on Yelp can boost your business revenue by 5 – 9% (Harvard Business School) 
  • 83% of customers use Google to find business reviews (Bright Local Consumer Review Survey from 2025) 

What’s the local 3-pack?

It’s a special search feature that highlights 3 local businesses and shows their location on Google Maps. It appears at the very top of the search results for queries that have local intent. 

For example, here’s what shows up when we search for ‘best pizza st. petersburg’ on Google:

Each business features a photo, its average rating out of five stars, its address, and hours of operation (among other things). 

Since this feature is so prominent, it’s no wonder that it hogs the majority of clicks whenever it shows up. 

If your brand doesn’t have a complete Google Business Profile, you won’t qualify to appear in local pack results. 

Do you want your business to appear in the local 3-pack and on Google Maps? Check out our Google Business Profile optimization services! 

The Quantity and Quality of Your Online Reviews Matter 

Next, let’s explore how the quantity and quality of your reviews impact your SEO and the way customers perceive your brand. 

Which matters more?

It turns out that both are equally important for maintaining high search rankings and conversion rates. 

Let’s learn why. 

Quantity: Proving that you’ve been around the block a few times 

Imagine seeing a brand that has a perfect 5-star rating on Google, only to realize that they only have two reviews.

To most customers, this would be a red flag. 

After all, if your website is legitimate and trustworthy, you’d likely have more than just two reviews, even if your business is still in its infancy. 

Because of this, some users may suspect that your business isn’t real or are deleting negative reviews to mislead audiences. 

Now imagine that there’s a competing business on the SERPs that has an average rating of 4.6, but there are over 200 reviews. 

If you’re like most customers, you would immediately opt for the company with more reviews, even though their average star rating is lower than the company with only a handful. 

So, what’s the sweet spot?

According to research, users won’t trust your average rating until you have at least 40 reviews that are visible online. 

Google wants you to have a decent amount of reviews before its algorithm starts taking you seriously, too. 

An experiment by BrightLocal found that the websites ranking in the top 3 positions on Google have an average of 47 reviews, which aligns almost perfectly with the number customers want you to have.  

TLDR?

Try to generate 40 – 50 reviews for your business! 

Quality: Proving that you’re worth the investment 

The quality of your reviews also matters as customers don’t want to waste their time on businesses with mostly negative reviews. 

A study by Invesp found that 86% of customers will think twice about buying from a company that has more negative reviews than positive, and you can’t really blame them. 

Conversely, more customers will want to buy from your brand if you have mostly positive reviews. 

In fact, it’s been shown that customers will spend up to 31% more on brands that have excellent reviews. 

The customer’s point of view here is clear: they don’t want to waste their money on subpar products and services, so they seek out brands with positive reputations.

Here are some quick pointers for generating positive reviews:

  • Follow up with buyers who have had positive experiences. Do you have regular clients who you know appreciate your products and services? Reach out to them to politely request a review! 
  • Ask for reviews at strategic times. You should ask all your customers to leave reviews, but you need to be strategic about it. By that, we mean you should only ask your customers for reviews when they’re satisfied. Asking a customer for a review right after showing them a positive ROI from your efforts? Perfect. Asking a client to leave a review while they’re in the middle of an extended wait for your product to ship? Not so great! 
  • Make leaving reviews as easy as possible. Whenever you ask a customer for a review via email or Slack, include a hyperlink to your review page (or your Google Business Profile). Also, ensure your business is included on key review sites like Yelp and TripAdvisor. 

These tips will help you start accruing enough positive reviews to get noticed by customers and Google. 

The Impact of Online Reviews on Third-Party Websites

The reviews you display on your official website are only one piece of the puzzle. 

You’ll also need plenty of positive reviews on third-party websites. 

The most important of these is obviously Google Business Profile, as it’s:

  1. Most popular with users 
  2. The first place Google’s algorithm will check for reviews 

After all, the quickest and easiest way to check a business’s reviews is to just Google it. 

However, many customers also check other platforms for reviews, such as:

  1. Facebook 
  2. Yelp 
  3. TripAdvisor
  4. Capterra
  5. Angi 
  6. Amazon Reviews
  7. Trustpilot 

That means it’s important for your brand to have a strong presence on these sites as well:

The big question is, does Google also check third-party reviews when determining your search rankings?

The answer is yes, but it values the reviews on some sites more than others. 

Niche-specific review sites and their impact on SEO

In particular, Google gives the most clout to the review platforms that your audience trusts the most, which will vary from industry to industry. 

This is because there are many niche-specific review sites. Some examples include:

Google trusts the reviews on these websites for the specific industries they cover. For example, if you’re a practicing attorney, Google would value your reviews on FindLaw more than your reviews on a general platform like Yelp. 

It’s also common for Google to cite these types of review sites in your Google Business Profile. 

Here’s an example:

The ‘reviews from the web’ section includes this attorney’s average five-star rating on Facebook, FindLaw, and Avvo. 

Note that you can also see the number of reviews listed (Avvo has the most). 

These additional reviews give users the chance to gauge how the entire internet perceives your business, not just Google or your official website. 

That’s why it’s worth getting set up on review platforms specific to your niche. 

Lastly, positive reviews contribute to your website’s E-E-A-T (experience, expertise, authoritativeness, and trustworthiness) signals. 

Specifically, online reviews boost trustworthiness, which is the most important part of the equation! 

Without trust, it’ll be impossible to achieve top search rankings, so generating consistent reviews is paramount for E-E-A-T. 

Reviews on Your Official Website 

Including social proof on your official website is extremely important for improving your user experience. 

Reviews build trust and convey that your products and services come as advertised, which will put your organic visitors at ease. 

How important are first-party reviews for your search rankings?

Admittedly, they aren’t nearly as important for your SEO as your third-party reviews are. 

Also, a common mistake is to duplicate your most positive reviews from Google and other third-party sites. 

This won’t impact your search rankings at all since Google’s algorithm is savvy enough to identify duplicate content (which it then devalues). 

That means the reviews listed on your website are primarily for your target audience, and not search engine algorithms. 

Does this mean your first-party reviews won’t help your search rankings at all?

Not entirely. 

Since including reviews boosts your user experience, and user experience is an SEO ranking factor, your first-party reviews can indirectly help your SEO, which is a plus. 

Here are some metrics to pay attention to when determining the quality of your website’s user experience:

  • Bounce rate. This metric conveys how many users left your website without clicking through to another page. Your bounce rate matters most for pages that contain links to landing pages. If your content and call to action are both strong, you should see a low bounce rate. If your content quality is poor, users may leave before visiting one of your product or service pages. 
  • Dwell time. Your dwell time shows you how long users spend on a page before clicking away. Short dwell times are acceptable for pages that don’t have a lot of content. Long-form blog posts, however, should ideally have longer dwell times. 

These metrics will help you gauge the quality of your user experience, which is important for SEO. 

Also, you want to publish a steady pipeline of original, keyword-rich content on your website to generate the most traffic. 

Online Reviews and SEO Keyword Targeting 

Did you know that your user-generated reviews assist with keyword targeting?

This is because your reviewers will likely use the SEO keywords you target in your content in their review. 

For example, let’s say you run a massage parlor, and ‘swedish massage st. petersburg’ is a major money keyword for your business.

Well, your reviewers will likely say things like, “I was looking for the best Swedish massage in St. Petersburg when my friend recommended this place.”

Since Google’s algorithm uses advanced natural language processing (NLP), it’s able to pick up on these keywords and infer their meaning. 

Thus, you’ll be more likely to appear for searches containing the keywords ‘swedish massage’ and ‘st. petersburg.’

What Should You Do About Negative Reviews? 

Customer feedback won’t always be positive, which is something that’s inevitable. 

The good news?

The occasional negative review won’t tank your business, as long as you react to it the right way. 

Here’s a pop quiz. 

If you receive a negative review, should you:

  1. Delete it and pretend it never happened 
  2. Respond immediately with a sincere apology and a way to recover their business 

If you guessed B, you’re correct! 

Responding to negative reviews is the best thing you can do. 

In fact, research shows that 83% of customers foster more loyalty to brands that respond to and resolve all their complaints. 

Of course, generating a ton of negative reviews will spell disaster for your business, but one or two is no big deal! Just remember to respond as soon as possible. 

Oh, and respond to all your positive reviews, too! 

It’s equally as important to show your appreciation for your happy customers. 

Wrapping Up: Boosting SEO with Online Reviews 

To summarize, online reviews are extremely important for your search performance and user experience. 

Without them, Google won’t be able to build trust with your business, and achieving your SEO goals will become far more difficult than it needs to be. 

With them, you’ll build trust with Google and loyalty from your target audience. 

To keep track of things, it’s smart to use reputation management software like Brand24 or Reputation – both of which let you manage and respond to your reviews in one location. 

Are you ready to boost your local SEO to gain more customers?

Our GBP management service is your ticket to more positive reviews, stellar reputation management, and customer loyalty. Also, book a free strategy call anytime so that we can develop a custom solution based on your SEO needs!