Review Recency

How recently a business's most recent reviews were posted. A profile whose newest review is 18 months old is widely cited as ranking worse than a profile whose newest review is from last week — independent of total review count.

Definition

Review recency is the 'when was your last review' axis of review-based ranking. Google's local algorithm is widely understood to weight recent reviews more heavily than old ones — both because recency signals an actively-operating business and because customer behavior shifts over time (a 5-year-old review is less reflective of current service quality). The practical implication: a business sitting on 200 reviews from 2019 with nothing new since loses ground every month to a competitor adding 4 new reviews monthly, even if the competitor's total is much lower. Continuous review acquisition is more valuable than a one-time burst followed by silence.

Example

Two restaurants have 4.6-star averages. Restaurant A has 312 reviews, most from 2020–2022. Restaurant B has 78 reviews, all from the past 18 months. Restaurant B typically outperforms A in 'best [cuisine] near me' searches today. The score is comparable; the recency isn't.

Related terms

  • Review Velocity →The rate at which new reviews are added to a business's Google profile. A business that earns 8 reviews per month is widely understood to rank better than one earning 2 per month — even if both end up with the same total over time.
  • Local SEO →The discipline of getting a local business to rank in Google's local results — the map pack, Google Maps, and 'near me' searches — rather than the general organic web results.

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