Why Your Old Five-Star Reviews Might Be Costing You Customers

You’ve done the hard work. You’ve collected dozens of glowing reviews over the years. Your Google Business Profile sits proudly at 4.8 stars. So why is the business down the road—the one that’s only been going for 18 months—getting more calls than you?

The answer might surprise you: your reviews are stale.

Google cares about what’s happening now

Here’s something most business owners don’t realise. Google doesn’t just count your reviews and calculate an average. It pays close attention to when those reviews were left. A business with 200 reviews from three years ago looks very different to Google than one with 50 reviews from the last six months.

Why? Because Google wants to show searchers businesses that are active, reliable, and currently delivering good service. A flood of old reviews tells Google one thing: this business used to be good. Recent reviews tell a different story: this business is good right now.

When someone searches for “plumber near me” or “best Italian restaurant in Manchester,” Google’s job is to surface businesses that will satisfy that searcher today. Fresh reviews are one of the strongest signals that you’re still in the game and still delivering.

Your potential customers think the same way

Put yourself in a customer’s shoes for a moment. You’re looking for a local accountant. You find two options. The first has 150 reviews, mostly from 2019 to 2021, with nothing in the last year. The second has 60 reviews, with a dozen posted in the last three months.

Which one feels like the safer bet?

Most people will choose the second option without even thinking about it. Those recent reviews answer an unspoken question: “Are they still any good?” Radio silence for 12 months creates doubt. It makes people wonder if something’s changed, if the owner has retired, or if quality has slipped.

I’ve seen this play out countless times. A business owner will ring me frustrated because their competitor—who frankly isn’t as good—keeps winning the work. When we dig into it, the pattern is almost always the same. The competitor has a steady stream of recent reviews. My client has a dusty collection of old ones.

The three-month window that matters most

While there’s no magic number, a useful rule of thumb is to think about your last 90 days of reviews. This is roughly the window that carries the most weight, both for Google’s algorithm and for customers scanning your profile.

Ask yourself: how many reviews have you received in the last three months? If the answer is zero or one, you’ve got a recency problem. It doesn’t matter how many five-star reviews you collected back in 2022.

This doesn’t mean old reviews are worthless. They still contribute to your overall rating and review count. But they’re not doing the heavy lifting anymore. Think of them as your foundation, not your selling point.

Why most businesses let this slide

The typical pattern goes like this. A business launches, the owner hustles hard for reviews, they build up a solid collection, and then they stop asking. Life gets busy. The reviews keep trickling in occasionally, but nowhere near the rate of those early days.

Meanwhile, a newer competitor enters the market. They’re hungry. They ask every customer for a review. They respond to each one promptly. Their profile looks active and alive. Yours looks like a museum exhibit.

The frustrating part is that you’re probably still doing great work. Your customers are still happy. You’ve just stopped capturing that proof in a way that Google and future customers can see.

The fix is simpler than you think

You don’t need 20 reviews a month. You don’t need to hassle every customer. You just need a consistent trickle of recent reviews to keep your profile looking fresh and active.

The easiest approach is to build review requests into your normal workflow. Send a follow-up message after every job or sale. Make it easy—include a direct link to your Google review page. Thank customers who do leave reviews by responding promptly.

Even two or three reviews a month will transform a stale profile into an active one within a quarter. That steady rhythm matters far more than occasional bursts followed by long silences.

Your one thing to do this week

Go to your Google Business Profile right now and scroll through your reviews. Note the date of your most recent one. If it’s more than a month old, text or email your last three happy customers today and ask if they’d mind leaving a quick review. Include the direct link to make it effortless.

That’s it. No complicated systems, no software, no expense. Just a simple ask to people who already like what you do.

Fresh reviews beat old five-stars every time. The businesses winning in local search aren’t necessarily the best at what they do—they’re the best at proving it, consistently, over time.

Thanks for reading, Ollie

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