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Field notes on running a review program

We watch reviews land for a lot of local businesses. These are the things we've learned — the scripts that get five-star reviews without sounding desperate, the templates that defuse a bad review, and what local SEO actually rewards in 2026.

• Scripts

  How to ask customers for a Google review without being pushy — 9 scripts that work

  Nine review-request scripts for different moments of the customer journey, by channel, by intensity. With the reasoning behind each one and the line you should never use.

  10 min read

• Templates

  Responding to a 1-star review: the 4-paragraph template that actually works

  Most negative-review responses make the situation worse. The 4-paragraph structure that doesn't — broken down line by line, with three worked examples for the categories that get the most negative reviews.

  11 min read

• Local SEO

  Google review velocity vs review count: what local SEO actually rewards in 2026

  Total review count used to be the metric. It hasn't been for years. Here's what we've seen Google actually weight — recency, velocity, response rate — and what that means for how you run your review program.

  9 min read