Review velocity in plain English
Two contractors each have 280 Google reviews and a 4.8 rating. One earned 25 of them in the last three months; the other hasn't had a new review since last year. On paper they are the same. To a homeowner scrolling at 9 p.m. with no heat, they are not: one looks busy and current, the other looks like it might have changed owners.
Review velocity is the number that tells them apart. It measures the flow of new reviews, not the size of the pile.
How do you measure review velocity?
Formula
Velocity on its own rises when you get busier and falls in slow months. Pair it with a rate tied to your work:
Metric
Review rate
The share of completed jobs that produce a public review.
New public reviews in the period ÷ completed jobs in the period × 100
Where the numbers come from: Review counts from Google (and other sites); completed jobs from your job records.
Worked example
Example numbers for an electrical contractor over one quarter:
| Month | Completed jobs | Review requests sent | New Google reviews | Review rate |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| July | 212 | 204 | 11 | 5.2% |
| August | 238 | 231 | 13 | 5.5% |
| September | 221 | 216 | 15 | 6.8% |
| Quarter | 671 | 651 | 39 | 5.8% |
Velocity: 39 reviews over 13 weeks is 3 per week. The rate is climbing, which means the process is improving, not just the job count.
Counting rules
- Count reviews by the date posted, not the date you noticed them
- Track each site separately: Google, Facebook, Yelp, Angi and so on
- Count reviews per location if you have more than one Google Business Profile
- Don't net out removed reviews from earlier months; record removals separately
- Track the average rating of new reviews alongside the count
Why do recent reviews matter?
Customers look for them. In BrightLocal's 2026 Local Consumer Review Survey of 1,002 US adults, 74% said they look for reviews written in the last three months, and 32% look for reviews from the last two weeks, up from 20% the year before (vendor research).1
Google uses reviews in local ranking. Google says local results are based mainly on relevance, distance and prominence, and that more reviews and positive ratings can help a business's local ranking.2 Google doesn't publish whether recency is measured directly.
Local Services Ads use them too. Profile quality in LSA ranking includes your rating and number of reviews, alongside average response time and photos.3 See Google Local Services Ads.
What are the rules on asking for reviews?
Asking is allowed and encouraged. How you ask is regulated by two referees.
| Google policy | FTC rule (16 CFR Part 465) | |
|---|---|---|
| Asking every customer | Allowed: encourage genuine reviews | Allowed: generalized solicitations to purchasers are exempt |
| Incentives for reviews | Prohibited: payment, discounts, free goods or services | Prohibited when conditioned on a particular sentiment |
| Asking only happy customers | Prohibited: no selective solicitation of positive reviews | Not banned by the rule, but FTC staff say it could violate the FTC Act |
| Fake or bought reviews | Prohibited and removed | Prohibited; civil penalties for knowing violations |
| Suppressing negative reviews | Can't discourage or prohibit negative reviews | Prohibited: legal threats, intimidation, false accusations |
Sources: Google's fake engagement policy,4 the FTC's Q&A on the rule, which took effect October 21, 2024,5 and the FTC's announcement of the final rule.6
The full can-and-can't list is in asking for reviews after the FTC rule.
What raises review velocity?
| Lever | Why it works | How to check it |
|---|---|---|
| Ask after every completed job, automatically | Nobody has to remember on a busy day | Requests sent ÷ completed jobs |
| Ask within hours, not days | The visit is fresh | Review rate by delay before the request |
| One-tap direct link to your review form | Every extra step loses people | Clicks to the review site ÷ requests |
| Text as well as email | Texts get seen on the phone they'd review from | Review rate by channel |
| Catch unhappy customers fast, without gating | Fixes problems while still giving everyone the public link | Time to call back on low ratings |
| Reply to reviews | Google says replies show you value feedback2 | Share of reviews with a reply |
A step-by-step system is in how to get more Google reviews.
Review velocity in TradesWork
TradesWork sends a review request after every completed job, by text, email or both, after a delay you choose (default 2 hours), one request per job. Customers rate the visit privately, every customer sees your public review links whatever they rate, and ratings at or below your threshold become an office task. The Reviews page shows requests sent, response rate, public-site clicks and average rating by technician and branch. See reviews and referrals.
Footnotes
-
BrightLocal, Local Consumer Review Survey 2026. Vendor research; panel of 1,002 US adults. ↩
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Google Business Profile Help, Tips to improve your local ranking on Google. ↩ ↩2
-
Google Local Services Help, About ad rankings. ↩
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Google, Maps User Contributed Content Policy: Fake engagement. ↩
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FTC, Consumer Reviews and Testimonials Rule: Questions and Answers. ↩
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FTC, Federal Trade Commission Announces Final Rule Banning Fake Reviews and Testimonials, August 14, 2024. ↩
