7 reasons Google reviews aren’t as great as you think
Conventional digital marketing wisdom says you must collect Google Reviews if you want to grow. More stars equals more trust, and more sales.
And if not more sales, then at least more legitimacy.
And if not more legitimacy, then at least a pragmatic, “realmarketing” approach to (hopefully) ranking in search results.
But that advice, repeated endlessly on marketing blogs, oversimplifies how actual customers make decisions. While Google Reviews do have value, they are more limited in their usefulness, visibility, and control than most business owners realize.
If you rely on them as your main measure of reputation and trust building, you’re playing on shifting - and borrowed - ground.
Here’s why.
1. You don’t own the platform
Your Google reviews live on Google’s servers and they’re shown on your Business profile, not on your website. You can’t change how they look, where they appear, or what the algorithm decides to show. According to WiserReview, 86% of people read Google reviews before visiting a business, which gives Google control over that crucial moment.
You can’t influence which reviews your customer reads or your exact position in key parts of local search results (Map pack, etc.).
You are functionally at the mercy of Google if they decide to tweak their policies, ranking algorithms, layouts, etc. Even though you’ve done the work to earn trust, that trust lives on someone else’s property.
2. They measure general sentiment, not specific details
Google reviews are a general measure of your business reputation holistically, not the individual products or services that a customer will buy or book.
Thus, Google reviews are more about the buyer feeling safe than learning anything specific about your approach, values, etc. After all, “great experience, highly recommend Mike” doesn’t really say anything about why the experience was great, what Mike did, or how it solved your buyer’s problem.
You need reviews tied to your actual offerings (on your own site) where customers can evaluate what you sell with real context.
A business-level rating gives you a reputation meter. A product-level review gives you conversion. You need both.
3. They reflect extremes, not averages
Most people don’t leave reviews. The ones who do usually sit on either end of the experience. According to EmbedSocial, 68% of consumers leave a review only after a very positive or very negative encounter.
But the quiet majority says nothing, and that skews the picture.
If you’re looking for a balanced read of overall customer sentiment, Google’s rating system won’t give you one.
4. Fake reviews still distort reality
No one likes to talk about it, but fake reviews remain widespread (both glowing and critical). A report from Invesp found that 82% of people have read at least one fake review before realizing it. Google removes millions every year, but the scale of the problem means that, unlike Pokemon, they can’t catch them all.
I had an experience hiring a contractor with a Google review average that seemed high, and only later realized that the 1-star reviews reflected my actual experience (bad) while the better reviews were suspiciously generic and uniform.
When the data can’t be trusted, the signal loses meaning.
5. Everyone’s rating looks the same
A few years ago, a 4-star rating looked impressive. Now it’s the norm. Almost every local business checks in somewhere around 4.11.
The rush of review and reputation management digital marketing services have flattened the curve.
When every business looks good enough, customers stop reading reviews closely. They glance at your score, think “seems fine,” and move on. The system promised differentiation but delivered sameness.
Your reputation is now the same shade of Taupe as everyone else.
6. You can’t extract insights
Google reviews tell you whether customers liked something or didn’t. They don’t tell you why.
There’s no structured data and no way to categorize comments without third‑party tools. You can’t see patterns, trends, or recurring issues. It’s sentiment without much substance.
A Textedly report found that 53% of customers expect a business to respond to reviews within a week, but most companies don’t. That silence leaves valuable feedback unexamined and unaddressed.
You can take Google’s star ratings as a temperature check, but you can’t build a strategy from them.
7. They don’t build your brand
Google Reviews can help establish trust generally, as a blunt bona fides, but they don’t express who you are. They use Google’s template, Google’s typography, and Google’s tone.
Reviews on your own site, especially in formats like short video testimonials or case studies, carry your design, formatting, and message. They feel like your brand.
That distinction matters. People don’t buy from algorithms; they buy from people.
In praise of owning your content
Keep collecting Google Reviews, because they still help people trust you in the first five seconds of a search.
But that should be the start, not the end, of your reputation-building.
Collect product-level reviews on your own site. Encourage photos and short videos. Ask for testimonials that tell stories, not just star counts. Create case studies that show outcomes, not adjectives.
When you own the platform, you own the narrative.
If you want to quickly, easily, and scalably start collecting video testimonials, check out Speaking of Me - we’re the most open video review platform available. You can actually start now, with no CC, no watermarks, and no hassle.