Review recency is a ranking signal?
Change my mind. In local SEO, two reviews a month for a year will outperform a burst of fifty once in a while.
Google tracks the pattern of how you collect reviews, not just the total number. A business getting reviews consistently every month signals an actively operating, trusted business.
Most businesses ask for reviews from everyone at once, collect a flood, and tick the box. The problem is Google has seen this pattern millions of times, and it does not reward it.
You can avoid this. Pick one point in your customer journey where asking for a review makes sense.
- It can be after a job is completed.
- after a delivery.
- after a positive interaction.
Make that the moment you always ask. Every customer, every time, without exception. Make your employees do that as well.
That single habit, done consistently, will do more for your local ranking than any review push ever will.