Everything we've learned about Google reviews

Data, playbooks, and the mistakes we made so you don't have to.

Four things about Google reviews we learned the expensive way. If you have a Google profile, one of them pays for itself.

What a fake review actually costs a small business — and 3 ways to fight it

Fake reviews aren't rare, they aren't hypothetical, and they aren't easy to remove. Here's what one costs, and what actually works.

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How many Google reviews do you actually need? Real numbers for salons, restaurants, and dental

The generic answer is 'more.' The real answer depends on your industry, your competitors, and what problem you're actually trying to solve.

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Why asking every customer for a review kills your rating

Selection bias is the reason your 4.8★ competitor beats you even though your service is better. Here's the math, and what to do instead.

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The Google review policies that actually get reviews removed — and the ones that don't

Google's public policy list is long. The subset that produces actual removals is much shorter. Here's what's in each bucket.

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Reputation math: how one star of rating change affects revenue for a $500k/year local business

Harvard's research put a number on this in 2016. Here's what it means for a specific business at a specific size in 2026.

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