What Is Review Velocity?
Review velocity is the rate at which a business earns new reviews over time, not the total sitting on its profile. A steady stream of new reviews signals an active, trustworthy business to Google, while hundreds of old reviews with none in months can look dormant by comparison — even with a higher total. That matches how customers actually read reviews too: 74% say they only trust reviews written in the last three months, according to a 2026 consumer review survey, so a stale total carries far less weight than a recent one.
Last updated 2026-07-14
How to build consistent review velocity
- Trigger review requests automatically after every positive interaction, not in occasional batches.
- Spread requests across the week rather than sending them all at once — a sudden spike looks unnatural too.
- Track velocity per location, not just an aggregate — one underperforming location can hide in a company-wide average.
- Compare velocity against nearby competitors, not just your own history.
Common mistakes
- Running one big review-request push per quarter instead of a steady drip.
- Treating a high total review count as equivalent to strong, current velocity.
- Not noticing when a single location's velocity drops while the network average looks fine.
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