The Power of the Five-Star Flex
In episode five of Clicks & Giggles, Dan is joined by marketing expert and our very own Performance Lead, Steve Lee, to talk about one of the most important parts of digital marketing for local businesses in 2026: online reviews.
Let’s be honest, when was the last time you booked a hotel, hired a plumber or even bought a product online without checking the reviews first?
Reviews have become part of everyday decision-making. Whether someone is searching for a restaurant, garage, nursery, hairdresser or digital marketing agency like ours, they want reassurance from real people before making contact. In a world where Google dominates local search and AI-driven results are changing how people browse online, trust has become the real currency.
The Trust Equation: Quantity vs Quality
One of the most interesting points raised in the episode is how people judge businesses based on both the number of reviews and the score itself.
A business with a perfect five-star rating but only a handful of reviews can sometimes feel less trustworthy than a business with hundreds of reviews and a slightly lower rating.
As Steve explains, seeing a business with 500 positive reviews instantly sends a signal that they are established, experienced and consistently delivering a good service.
“I’ll probably give less credibility to a five-star site with 10 reviews than a 4.5-star site with 500. Quantity shows you’re established, you’ve served the masses, and you’re a serious player.”
Steve Lee
For local businesses, especially, review quantity can be a huge trust signal. It shows potential customers that people are actively using and recommending your services.
Why Google Reviews Matter for Local SEO
Reviews are not just important for customers. They also play a major role in helping businesses appear in Google Maps results.
When someone searches for a local service, Google uses a combination of factors to decide which businesses appear in the “Local Pack”, those top map listings that generate huge visibility and clicks.
Dan and Steve discuss the three main ranking factors:
Relevance
How accurately your Google Business Profile reflects what your business actually does.
Distance
How close your business is to the person searching.
Prominence
This includes things like reviews, ratings, business activity and engagement.
Google has openly suggested that reviews contribute heavily towards prominence signals. Businesses with a larger volume of high-quality reviews are more likely to appear higher in local search results.
Why Some Local Businesses Are Missing a Huge Opportunity
Dan also touches on the “Builder Paradox.” We’ve all been there: searching for a tradesman whose website looks like it was built in 1998, if they even have one at all, and whose email address is still something like dave-the-plumber74@hotmail.com.
The reality is that many local trades businesses are so busy through word of mouth that they have never really needed to invest in digital marketing. Their websites are outdated, their Google Business Profiles are incomplete and reviews are often left to chance.
But as Dan points out, that creates a massive opportunity for the businesses that do take digital marketing seriously.
If you are actively collecting reviews, replying to customers and optimising your Google Business Profile, you are not just competing with local rivals, you are often winning by default because many competitors are not even playing the game properly online.
For local businesses in 2026, trust and visibility go hand in hand. A strong review profile can be the difference between getting the enquiry or losing it to someone else down the road.
Handling Negative Reviews the Right Way
No business gets it right 100% of the time, and negative reviews are inevitable.
The key point from the episode is that responding professionally matters just as much as the review itself.
Ignoring criticism can damage trust, while a calm and thoughtful response can actually improve how future customers perceive your business. In many cases, people are not expecting perfection. They simply want to see that a business cares about customer experience and is willing to engage.
Dan and Steve also discuss examples of businesses using humour and personality to respond to unfair reviews, turning awkward situations into positive brand moments.
Making Reviews Easier to Manage
Later in the episode Dan shares how Strategy Plus has invested in a new review management platform designed to help businesses collect and manage reviews more effectively.
The system allows businesses to:
- Send review requests by email, SMS or WhatsApp
- Use QR codes in physical locations
- Filter lower ratings into private feedback forms
- Respond to reviews from one dashboard
- Showcase reviews on their website
- Improve Google Business Profile visibility
For hospitality businesses, clinics, salons, restaurants and local service providers, tools like this can save time while helping build trust and improve local rankings.
The Takeaway
Reviews are no longer just a “nice extra” for businesses. They are a core part of local SEO, customer acquisition and online reputation management.
Whether someone is booking a holiday, choosing a restaurant or finding a local tradesperson, reviews help bridge the gap between stranger and customer.
If your business is not actively collecting and managing reviews, you are leaving trust, visibility and enquiries to chance.
Join in the conversation and catch the full episode of Clicks & Giggles to hear Dan and Steve discuss reviews, local SEO and the future of digital marketing in more detail.