Review Velocity
Definition
Review velocity is the rate at which a business earns new online reviews, typically measured as reviews per week or per month.
What Review Velocity Means for Your Business
What it means
Review velocity is how fast new reviews are coming in. Total review count matters, but velocity matters more to search algorithms, which weight recent reviews heavier than old ones.
Why it matters
A shop with 400 reviews from 3 years ago ranks behind a shop with 80 reviews from the last 6 months. Consistent review velocity signals an active, trusted business and drives local search rankings.
How contractors use it
Shops automate review requests at the moment of job completion, usually via SMS with a direct link. The best shops average 4 to 10 new reviews per week across their main platforms.
Real-World Example
An electrical contractor adopted automated review requests after every job and went from 1 review per month to 22 per month. Google rankings for 'electrician near me' moved from page 2 to the top 3 in 90 days, adding an estimated 65 new leads per month.
Related Terms
Reputation Management
Reputation management is the ongoing practice of monitoring, earning, and responding to online reviews to maintain a positive public image for the business.
Google Business Profile
A Google Business Profile is the free listing a business creates on Google that shows up in map results, local searches, and Google Maps.
NPS (Net Promoter Score)
Net Promoter Score, or NPS, is a 0-to-100 metric that measures how likely customers are to recommend a business to friends and family.
Customer Retention
Customer retention is the percentage of customers who continue doing business with a company over a defined time period, usually measured annually.
Local Service Ads (LSA)
Local Service Ads are Google's pay-per-lead advertising format for local service businesses, where the ad shows at the top of search results and charges only when a qualified customer contacts the business.
Put This Into Practice with Free Software
Kaldr Tech handles review velocity and everything else you need to run your shop. $0/month, 3.5% + 30¢ per transaction.