Why Tracking Competitor Reviews Is Pointless

Competitive analysis, like tracking competitor reviews on Google Business Profile (GBP), is a fancy feature many Local SEO software platforms promote as “game changing” when it comes to being able to beat the competition for coveted placements on search engines. 

At the surface, it makes sense why businesses want to have access to this information.

For example, how do you know how many reviews you need to get to be the most reviewed business in your market or region? How will you celebrate your victory if you surpass your competitors? 

The reality is that although you may be able to set a benchmark for “how many” additional reviews you need to top the competition, knowing this information shouldn’t change your strategy.

No matter what the data says, continue getting more reviews for your business. Don’t stop if you are #1 and don’t get discouraged if you’re playing from behind. 

Why it doesn’t really matter if you’re ahead or behind. 

When tracking your competition for things like total reviews and review score, there’s five potential outcomes: 

1. They have more reviews than you and a higher average score. 
2. They have more reviews than you and a lower average score. 
3. They have less reviews than you and a higher average score. 
4. They have less reviews than you and a lower average score. 
5. They have the same number of reviews and the same average score. 

Assuming you are tracking your competitors’ reviews because you want to improve your organization’s reputation, we must ask the big question: What would you change about your strategy in any of the above scenarios? 

Would you stop generating new reviews if you were in any of the five scenarios? No, of course not. That would be silly.

Regardless of those scenarios, you’re likely going to walk away with the same strategy: Generate more reviews with a high average star rating. 

See? The reviews your competitors generate have no impact on your strategy.

If it doesn’t change your strategy, it’s a worthless data point.

Ultimately, your business should focus on maximizing the quality of your product or service to increase the likelihood of a positive review while also working on marketing campaigns and processes designed to request more reviews from active or previous customers. 

If you’re like me, you won’t leave a review for a business unless you absolutely love them and want to spread the word, OR you were so dissatisfied that you felt compelled to warn the next customer about your experience. 

Sure, there are clever ways to increase the likelihood of getting a review from someone who may not otherwise review your business, but at the end of the day, most people who are going to leave your business a review are going to do it without any solicitation. 

No matter what the data says, continue getting more reviews for your business. Don’t stop if you are #1 and don’t get discouraged if you’re playing from behind. 

Generating more reviews is a marathon, not a sprint.

Stop tracking metrics that don’t inform your strategy.

If you’re tracking your competitors’ reviews, I recommend that you only do so once in a while. It’s unlikely that the competitors you are trying to catch up to are slowing down, so you may never achieve the results you are looking for. 

Focus on YOUR business. Deliver an incredible product/service experience first and foremost. Then be sure to ask every customer for a review after their purchase. 

Customers are much more likely to leave a great review if they genuinely love your product or service. 

Don’t get discouraged if you don’t get a lot of new reviews out of the gate or don’t see any noticeable improvement in the number or quality of reviews. 

Generating more reviews is a marathon, not a sprint.

I hope this was helpful and that you’ll take these ideas and apply them to your business. 

Reach out if you have any questions. I love a good conversation and am eager to see if more businesses are experiencing the same results as our clients.