How fast can we raise our rating?

It depends on your current volume and rating — a business with 40 reviews moves faster than one with 400, because each new review carries more weight. In practice we look for visible movement within a few months of steady asking, which is roughly the timeline of the client whose 4.0 became a 4.3 and unlocked better Local Services Ads placement. Anyone promising a specific rating by a specific date is describing a program the FTC rule does not permit.

Do you screen customers before asking for a review?

No — that is review gating, and the FTC's Consumer Reviews and Testimonials Rule has prohibited it since October 2024, with civil penalties per violation. We ask every customer, make it one tap, and let the reviews land where they land. If your current tool routes unhappy customers to a private form first, we turn that off as part of onboarding.

What do you do about bad reviews?

Answer them publicly, quickly, and calmly — addressing the specific issue and moving resolution offline. The reply is written for the next reader, not the reviewer. We never bury a negative with purchased positives, and we do not file frivolous removal requests; a profile with zero negatives reads as filtered and converts worse than one with a well-handled complaint.

Which review platforms matter?

Google first, by a wide margin — it feeds the map pack, Local Services Ads, and increasingly the AI answers. After that it is trade-specific: industry directories where your buyers actually look, and the platforms your competitors are winning on. We prioritize by where your leads come from rather than chasing every badge.

How is this different from buying a reputation tool?

A tool sends requests; a program decides what to ask for, when, from whom, who replies and how fast, and how it all connects to ranking and booked jobs. We are happy to run your existing tool if it is compliant — what we add is the operating discipline and the reporting that ties rating and velocity to cost per booked job.

How do you report on it?

Rating, monthly review velocity, and response time, reported next to the marketing numbers they influence — placement, lead volume, and cost per booked job. Reviews are the rare marketing asset that compounds, so the report is a trend line rather than a monthly snapshot.

Reputation & Reviews

Your rating is a ranking input.

Reviews decide what Google shows, what the AI answers say, and who the customer calls. We run the system that raises yours — steadily, and inside the rules that got a lot stricter in 2024.

Get a free reputation audit Or call (818) 305-5441

The mechanism

Four systems read your reviews. Each does something different.

“Reviews build trust” is true and useless. Here is what actually consumes your rating, and what each one does with it.

Local Services Ads

Review count, rating, and recency are among the inputs deciding which verified businesses show — on the placement your ad budget already flows through.

The map pack

One of the strongest local ranking signals you actively control, and unlike categories or hours it compounds. You cannot finish reviews.

AI answers

ChatGPT, Gemini, and AI Overviews cross-reference reputation before naming anyone. A thin or stale profile is a reason not to recommend you.

The person choosing

Three businesses appear. The one with recent, specific reviews gets the call — before a word of your ad copy is read.

The full breakdown, with the numbers, is in our guide to what a third of a star is worth.

Client outcome · Air 1 Moving & Storage

4.04.3

Three-tenths of a star, earned in a few months — and it unlocked better Local Services Ads placement in one of the country’s most competitive moving markets. It ran alongside the tracking, site, and budget work that took cost per client from roughly $700 to $400, but it was the lever that changed what the platform was willing to show. Read the case study.

How we run it

A habit attached to the job — not a quarterly push.

01

Audit and baseline

Where you rank today, what your rating is costing you in placement, and how your velocity compares to the businesses in your pack.

02

Ask at the right moment

Requests that fire at the job, by text or QR, while the technician is still standing there — and that ask for specifics, not stars.

03

Reply to everything

Every review answered, promptly and in your voice. On the bad ones we write to the next reader, not the reviewer.

04

Keep the drip steady

Velocity beats count and bursts trip filters. The program is a monthly habit attached to the job, not a quarterly campaign.

05

Report it against revenue

Rating and monthly velocity tracked next to cost per booked job, because the two move together.

The rules changed in 2024

We run this inside the FTC rule — because most tools don’t.

The FTC's Consumer Reviews and Testimonials Rule took effect October 21, 2024, with civil penalties per violation. It bans review gating — the survey-first funnel that routes happy customers to Google and unhappy ones to a private form — which is exactly how many popular reputation tools are built.

Still fine

Ask every customer, every job
Make it one tap — text or QR
Ask for specifics: service, problem, outcome
Reply to all of them, fast
Keep a steady monthly drip

Now a liability

Screen customers before asking (gating)
Buy reviews or post insider ones
Incentivize only positive feedback
Burst thirty requests in a week
Argue with a reviewer in public

We will audit your current review tool’s actual flow as part of the engagement. If it gates, we turn that off — a rating built on a prohibited funnel is not an asset.

Testimonials

Energy Star Builders

Shawn & his team at growth key marketing have done an exceptional job bringing my business up to speed with all of the modern tech & automations.

Koalaty Remodel

My vision came alive effortlessly. Their blend of casual and professional approach made the process a breeze. Creativity flowed, and the results were beyond my expectations.

Lumiere Catering

Working with Growth Key Marketing has been a fantastic experience! They helped me set up Facebook Ads that actually work. I was blown away by how quickly the ads started bringing i...

Air1 Moving and Storage

It was an absolute pleasure working with them to create a website that truly reflects the quality and professionalism of their moving and storage business. We're thrilled to hear that the new site is making such a big difference! Our goal is always to deliver a seamless experience—both for our clients and their customers—so it's amazing to know that their new website is not only looking great but also helping build credibility and improve functionality. We truly appreciate their trust in GrowthKey, and we're here whenever they need us. Wishing them continued success! 🚀

Space Production

Growth Key Marketing completely transformed our lead generation. Their targeted Facebook campaigns delivered high-quality inquiries almost immediately, and the ROI has been outstanding from day one. Highly recommend their expertise!

NAVA Management

The team at Growth Key took our outdated online presence and turned it into a sleek, high-converting website with smart automations. Leads are coming in consistently now—it's made running the business so much smoother. Truly impressed!

Alluna Dental

We partnered with Growth Key for both website redesign and ongoing digital marketing. The new site looks professional and patient-friendly, while their Facebook ad strategy brought in a steady stream of new appointments. Excellent communication and real results!

CIG Law

Growth Key Marketing nailed our rebranding and online marketing needs. From custom automations that save us hours every week to effective ad campaigns that attract the right clients, they've been a game-changer for our firm. Professional, creative, and dependable.

Move Happy Moving

I can't say enough good things about working with Shawn and the Growth Key team. They built us a modern website that showcases our services perfectly and set up automations for inquiries and follow-ups. Our online bookings have doubled—worth every penny!

Air1 Moving and Storage

It was an absolute pleasure working with them to create a website that truly reflects the quality and professionalism of their moving and storage business. We're thrilled to hear that the new site is making such a big difference! Our goal is always to deliver a seamless experience—both for our clients and their customers—so it's amazing to know that their new website is not only looking great but also helping build credibility and improve functionality. We truly appreciate their trust in GrowthKey, and we're here whenever they need us. Wishing them continued success! 🚀

Reviews, Answered

The questions owners actually ask.

Including the one most agencies avoid: what the FTC changed, and whether your current tool is on the wrong side of it.

Free reputation audit

Find out what your rating is costing you in placement.

We’ll score your rating and velocity against the businesses in your pack, check whether your current tool is running a prohibited flow, and show you the gap. Yours to keep, whether or not you hire us.

Get my reputation audit

Who We Help

Built for the businesses that book jobs.

Pick your industry — the playbook already exists.

Knowledge base

The Thinking Behind The Work

The same arithmetic we run on your account, written down.

Reviews and rankings: what a third of a star is actually worth

Not "reviews build trust." The mechanism — how rating and velocity move LSA placement, map-pack rank, and AI answers — plus what the FTC made illegal in 2024.

7 min read | 7 Aug 2026

The 2026 Google Business Profile checklist for local rankings

Your GBP is the highest-leverage free asset in local marketing. This is the maintenance checklist we run for every local client.

5 min read | 20 Mar 2026

How LSA ranking actually works (and the lever most businesses ignore)

You cannot pick keywords and you cannot simply outbid your way up. What moves Local Services Ads ranking — documented inputs plus what we observe.

3 min read | 11 Jul 2026

Your rating is a ranking input.