New Study: Review Volume and Recency Drive Local Pack Rankings More Than Star Ratings

A local search ranking study by Andrew Shotland at Local SEO Guide in partnership with SemRush analyzed 6 million local results across 10 industries and found that businesses with higher review counts consistently outrank those with better star averages — all else equal — while star ratings do not influence Google's Local Pack algorithm. GatherUp's own 2025 Reputation Industry Benchmarks, examining tens of thousands of locations, corroborate this trend, with insurance and restaurants showing major review volume growth driven by proactive request strategies. However, consumer behavior tells a different story: 77% of respondents in GatherUp's survey said they won't consider a business with fewer than 4 stars, and 90% read multiple reviews before forming opinions, meaning star ratings remain critical to conversion even if they don't factor into Google's ranking algorithm.