How many Google reviews do I need to compete?
Local SEO — answered straight, by an operator who builds these systems rather than an agency selling them.
Enough to be credible against the top three in your market — look them up and aim past the median. More important than total count is recency and pace: a steady trickle of new reviews signals an active business, while 200 reviews that stop three years ago signals the opposite.
The longer version
Ratings behave less like a score and more like a threshold. Below roughly four stars, buyers screen you out; well above it, further decimal gains matter less than volume and freshness. A 4.7 with reviews from last week generally beats a 4.9 with reviews from 2021.
The only reliable way to get there is asking every customer, every job, through a system that does it automatically instead of when someone remembers. Do not buy reviews — platforms detect purchased review patterns, and in the US the FTC has rules against fake reviews and testimonials.
More on local seo
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