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Review Velocity

The rate at which your business receives new customer reviews over time, a key signal for local search rankings.

Why It Matters for Your Business

Google doesn't just count your total reviews. It pays attention to when those reviews were posted. A business that got 50 reviews two years ago and nothing since looks stale. A business that gets 3-5 new reviews every month looks active and trusted.

For Space Coast businesses competing in the Maps Pack, review velocity is often the tiebreaker. Two businesses with similar ratings and review counts? The one with more recent reviews wins the higher placement.

How It Works

Review velocity is about building a consistent, sustainable system for generating reviews:

How Does It Work?

Let's Breakdown The Process:

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1.Build the Habit
Make asking for reviews part of your standard workflow. After every completed job, send a review request. A Titusville HVAC company that services 20 customers per week and converts 15% into reviewers gets 12+ reviews per month.
2.Time It Right
Ask when satisfaction is highest, immediately after a successful service, while the customer is still impressed. Waiting a week drops your conversion rate by 80%.
3.Make It Easy
Send a direct link to your Google review page via text message. One tap to leave a review. Every extra step you add cuts your response rate in half.
4.Stay Consistent
A steady 4-5 reviews per month beats a burst of 20 followed by silence. Google's algorithm rewards consistency because it signals ongoing customer activity.

Tip: Click the circle to mark items done.

A Palm Bay pest control company trained their technicians to send a review request text before they even left the customer's driveway. Within three months, they went from 2 reviews per month to 8, and jumped from position 5 to position 2 in the local Maps Pack.

Note

Never incentivize reviews with discounts or freebies. It violates Google's policies and can get your reviews removed or your listing penalized. Simply asking is enough. Most happy customers will leave a review if you make it easy and ask at the right moment.

Common questions

FAQ

Tap a question to expand.

How many reviews per month do I need?

There's no universal number, but look at your top local competitors. If the #1 plumber in Melbourne gets 4 new reviews per month, you need to match or exceed that pace. For most Brevard County service businesses, 3-5 new Google reviews per month is a strong, sustainable velocity.

Is it better to have 100 old reviews or 30 recent ones?

Recent reviews carry more weight. Google prioritizes freshness, and a business with 30 reviews from the last 6 months looks more active and trustworthy than one with 100 reviews from three years ago and nothing recent. Consistency matters more than total count.

Can I ask all my past customers for reviews at once?

Don't blast everyone at once. A sudden spike of 50 reviews in one week looks unnatural and can trigger Google's spam filters. Instead, reach out to past customers in small batches (5-10 per week) while building a system to ask new customers after every job going forward.

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