Google Review and Reputation Management for Small Businesses

Reviews also feed local search. Google considers the number, recency and content of reviews when it decides who shows up in the map results.

We run the same review check on our own profile that we run on yours: how many reviews, how recent they are, whether each one has a reply, and how the profile compares with the businesses above it on the map. Closing a gap takes steady work, not a trick. That is what this service is.

• A local business that depends on its Google rating: trades, restaurants, salons, clinics, studios, auto shops and retail.
• A business with plenty of happy customers and very few reviews.
• An owner who sees reviews arrive and never has time to reply.
• A business whose name, address or hours differ across Google, Facebook, Yelp and other sites.

Review requests

After a job or visit, the customer receives a short text or email asking for a Google review, with a direct link. Timing matters: the best moment is when the customer feels the job went well. We set a rule you are comfortable with, such as a day after the visit. See review generation for the details.

Monitoring

We watch your Google profile and other review sites you care about. When a new review appears, we see it.

Replies

Every review gets a reply, usually within a business day. We draft it in your voice. Positive reviews get a specific thank-you, not a stock line. Negative reviews get a calm, short response that you approve first. Drafting can use AI, and a person always edits and approves.

Local listings sync

Your business name, address, phone number and hours should match everywhere they appear: Google, Facebook, Bing, Apple Maps, Yelp, and industry directories. Small differences confuse customers and search engines. We check, correct and keep them current.

Reporting

A monthly note: reviews received, average rating, response time, and any listings fixed.

Google has clear rules, and breaking them can hurt your profile far more than a low rating.

• No fake reviews, ever, from us or from friends and family.
• No incentives. We will not offer discounts or gifts in exchange for a review.
• No review gating. That means asking only happy customers for reviews or steering unhappy ones to a private form. Google's policies do not allow it. We ask everyone.
• No bulk, pressured or repeated requests that annoy customers.
• No deleting criticism we do not like. We flag content that breaks Google's rules, and respond to the rest.

1. Audit. We look at your profile, your reviews, your replies and your listings. We note what customers praise and what they complain about. Both are useful.

2. Fix the basics. Make sure your Google profile is complete and verified, your listings match, and your review link works.

3. Choose the moment and the message. We write the request in your voice, with a short ask and a direct link. You pick how it goes out, by text, email, or both.

4. Turn on the replies. We set up monitoring and a reply routine you are comfortable with.

5. Review monthly. We check the numbers. If requests are not turning into reviews, we change the timing or the wording.

Google gets most of the attention, but a customer deciding on you may look in several places.

• Google Business Profile. The reviews that show next to your name in Search and Maps. This is the one that matters most.
• Facebook. Recommendations and ratings, plus how you answer comments on your page.
• Industry sites. Yelp, Angi, Houzz, the Better Business Bureau, wedding and restaurant sites, depending on your trade.
• Local groups. Neighborhood and town groups where people ask for recommendations. We cannot control these, but we can make sure your profile and site give a good answer when people click through.

We monitor the ones you care about and skip the rest. Spreading effort thin helps no one.

It happens. A customer who was never yours, a competitor, or someone angry about something outside your control. Our steps:

1. Check whether it breaks Google's rules: spam, fake engagement, off-topic content, conflict of interest, or a review of the wrong business. If it does, we flag it and wait. Removal can take days or weeks.
2. Write a short, calm reply either way. Say you could not find a record, or that you are sorry about the experience, and give a way to reach you. Future customers judge you by the reply more than by the review.
3. Do not argue, name the customer, or share private details of the job.
4. Ask your real happy customers for reviews. Volume pushes a single unfair review down the page and out of the average.

The best replies are short and specific. "Thanks, Marcus, glad the new gutters fixed the leak by the back door" does more than "Thank you for your feedback." Mention what the customer mentioned. Keep the owner's voice. For a negative review, acknowledge, offer to fix, and give a way to reach you. Do not argue. Future customers read how you handle it.

Our own Google profile has 5-star reviews from clients, and we will show them here with each client's okay. Beyond that, we have no client review counts or percentages to quote, and we will not invent them. When a client agrees to share their numbers, we will add them.

The right moment depends on when the customer feels the value.

• Trades and repairs: the day the job finishes, or the next morning, after the customer has seen the result.
• Roofing, remodeling and bigger projects: a few days after, once the dust has settled.
• Salons, barbers and groomers: within a few hours of the appointment, while the haircut still looks good.
• Restaurants and cafes: at the table by QR code, or by email the next day for reservations.
• Clinics and studios: after a few visits rather than the first one.

If you are not sure, start with the next day and adjust after you see replies. Keep the request short: name the customer, name the job, say in one line why it matters ("reviews help neighbors find us") and give one link, to your Google Business Profile review form. No review gating, no rewards, no begging for five stars, and no asking friends, family or staff. Google's policies on reviews are firm, and breaking them costs more than you gain.

Automated review requests are in our Growth plan (see the plans), with missed-call text back, booking and lead follow-up. Full reputation management, including monitoring, replies and listings, is in the Scale plan, which also covers local SEO, AI search visibility, email and SMS campaigns and workflow automation. Every plan includes a free launch site. A one-time listings cleanup is scoped in a statement of work (SOW) once we see how many places are wrong.

The first review request can go out in the first week or two. Replies start right away. A listings cleanup takes one to three weeks, since some directories verify changes slowly. Review totals grow over months. Give it a quarter before judging.

KORB is based in Logan, Utah. We work with local businesses across Cache Valley and Northern Utah, and with clients anywhere in the US. For Cache Valley businesses we know the local directories and the Chamber of Commerce listings that matter.

Ask for a free website review. We will look at your Google reviews, your replies and your listings, and give you a short list of what to fix first.