Your Google Business Profile is the listing that appears on Google Maps and in the map box at the top of local searches: your name, phone, hours, photos, rating and reviews.
We grade four things on it: your star rating, your review count, your review pace (how many new reviews arrive each month), and whether you reply to them.
A homeowner comparing three roofers on a phone screen sees the stars and the review count before anything else. A company with 35 reviews sitting next to one with 390 looks smaller, even if it has been in business twice as long.
Pace matters too. A listing whose newest review is months old looks like a business that has slowed down. Google itself lists reviews as part of how it judges a business's prominence.
We set up a simple review request that goes out after every finished job, so reviews arrive steadily instead of in bursts. We make sure every review gets a reply, good or bad. We also complete the profile: services, service area, hours, real photos with dates, and the correct business category.
We never buy reviews, write them, or offer customers anything in exchange for one. Google and the FTC both forbid it, and it can get a listing suspended.
Why replies matter
A reply shows the next customer that someone is paying attention. A calm, specific reply to an unhappy review often does more for trust than ten five-star reviews do. In our reviews, owners who answer every review almost always earn an A on this line, even when their review count is low.
Sources: Google, "Tips to improve your local ranking on Google"; FTC rule on consumer reviews and testimonials.
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