Review sources
Analysing Google Maps reviews
Google Maps is the broadest source and the noisiest. Everyone writes here, including someone who only tried to get through on the phone — and that is an advantage if you know how to read it.
What we pull from a profile
Every review from the first one, with its rating, date and the owner's reply where there is one. Later runs pick up only what is new. We do not pull photos or author data beyond the display name shown publicly on the profile.
About half are a bare star
On Google Maps the share of reviews with no words at all is the highest of any platform. We count them in the statistics but build no conclusions on them, and the report says so.
Complaints from around the service
Here, and only here, land complaints about parking, directions, opening hours and unanswered phones. Booking platforms have none of these, because only someone who already used the service writes there.
Owner replies in context
The report shows which complaints were left unanswered — a separate metric, and usually more surprising than the complaints themselves.
Step by step
How we connect a Google Maps profile
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1
You point at the venue
Paste the profile link or the Place ID. With several venues sharing a name it helps to give the identifier directly — names and addresses are ambiguous.
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2
We pull the full history
Every review from the first, with rating, date and the owner reply where there is one. At a venue with a few years behind it that is usually hundreds to thousands of statements.
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3
We separate text from bare ratings
Reviews with no words at all enter the statistics but not the conclusions. The report gives both numbers so it is clear what the conclusions rest on.
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4
Later runs pick up only new ones
A profile fetched recently is not fetched in full again. You pay for the increment, not twice for the same thing.
In practice
Complaints that exist only here
Everyone writes on Google Maps, including someone who only tried to get through on the phone, could not find parking, or found the place closed despite the hours on your site. Booking platforms have none of these, because only someone who already used the service writes there. This is the one source showing how many customers dropped out before the door.
approx. 50%
of Google Maps reviews are a bare star rating. We count them towards the average but build conclusions only on the rest — and say so in the report.
Why it works this way
Why the full history and not the last ten
The last ten reviews show no trend, because a trend needs a time axis. A noise complaint running from 2021 to today is different information from the same complaint ending in the month of a refurbishment — and the second is the only available evidence that the refurbishment worked.
Common questions
Do I need access to my Google Business Profile?
Not for the analysis. Reviews are public and we pull them exactly as any visitor sees them. Profile access is needed for replying to reviews and for generating the link used to request them.
How do I point at a venue?
Paste the Google Maps link to the venue or its Place ID. With a Google Places key configured, a venue can also be found by name.
What about reviews removed by Google's filter?
We do not see them, because nobody outside Google does. If reviews keep vanishing after being posted, the cause is usually how they are collected — we cover that on the collecting reviews page.
See also
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