Article · Research report

Local Consumer Review Survey 2026

BrightLocal · brightlocal.com Free Beginner

BrightLocal's annual survey of how consumers read local reviews. The 2026 edition finds 97% read reviews, 74% only care about reviews from the last three months and 47% will not use a business with fewer than 20 reviews.

  • Recency matters: keep reviews coming every month rather than in one push.
  • Owner replies are one of the things that make readers trust a review.
  • Reviews now also feed AI tools people use for local recommendations.
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It answers 2 questions

  1. How do I get more Google reviews for my business?
  2. How do I get my business to rank on Google Maps?

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