Guide
Not "more than them" — a specific number, worked out from the map pack in front of you, plus a timeline for closing the gap.
Every trade forum thread on this ends the same way: "it depends." True, but useless when you're staring at a competitor sitting above you for "plumber near me" and you want to know how many jobs of review-asking that actually takes. Here's a method that gives you a number, not a shrug.
Search your money keyword — the one that actually brings in jobs, like "boiler repair Leeds" or "emergency locksmith Bristol" — from a logged-out browser or incognito window, ideally on mobile since that's where most local searches happen. Write down the review count and star rating for the three businesses sitting above you in the map pack. Ignore the ones below you; they're not your problem.
Example set:
| Position | Reviews | Rating |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | 210 | 4.8 |
| 2 | 140 | 4.6 |
| 3 | 95 | 4.5 |
| You | 60 | 4.3 |
Don't chase the top spot's number; that's usually years of accumulation and you'll demoralise yourself. Take the median of the three above you. In the example, the median of 210, 140, 95 is 140. Add 20% as a buffer, because Google's local ranking also weights recency and relevance, not just raw count, so you want to clear the pack rather than just tie it.
140 × 1.2 = 168 reviews. That's your target, not "more than my competitor" or "as many as possible." You currently have 60, so your gap is 108 reviews.
If the field is bunched tightly — say all three rivals sit within 20 reviews of each other — use the highest of the three instead of the median, since a tight cluster means the algorithm isn't rewarding volume beyond that point and you want to sit clearly above the ceiling.
This is the part most advice skips. You need a realistic conversion rate from jobs done to reviews left, not a wish.
When you ask every customer, in person or by text, right after the job while they're still pleased with the work, a well-run trade business typically converts 25–35% of served customers into a left review. Below 20% usually means you're not asking consistently or you're asking too late (a week after the job, enthusiasm has faded). Above 35% usually means you're only asking the customers you know were happy, which is fine for rating but slows volume.
Take 30% as your working number unless you've measured your own conversion rate — track it for a month and use the real figure once you have it.
Worked example: you complete 40 jobs a month. At 30% conversion, that's 12 reviews a month.
Gap of 108 reviews ÷ 12 reviews per month = 9 months to close it, assuming steady job volume and steady asking.
Smaller gap, same logic: if your target were only 60 reviews above your current count, at 12 a month that's 5 months. This is where the "60-review gap closes in five months" rule of thumb comes from — it only holds at that specific job volume and conversion rate, so recalculate with your own numbers rather than borrowing someone else's.
If job volume is the constraint rather than review-asking discipline, a missed-call problem is often the leak — jobs you never won don't generate reviews either. Worth checking with the missed call revenue calculator if your enquiry-to-job conversion feels lower than it should.
Volume gets you into contention. Rating keeps you there once positions are close. Here's the maths for moving your average up.
Your current rating is a weighted average: total star-points ÷ total reviews. At 60 reviews averaging 4.3, your total star-points are roughly 60 × 4.3 = 258.
To move from 4.3 to 4.6 by adding only 5-star reviews:
(258 + 5n) ÷ (60 + n) = 4.6
Solve for n: 258 + 5n = 4.6(60 + n) = 276 + 4.6n
0.4n = 18
n = 45
You need 45 more 5-star reviews to lift 4.3 to 4.6, assuming no further 4-star or lower reviews land in that window. One 3-star review during that stretch adds roughly 1.6 to the deficit, so a bad week with an unhappy customer can cost you several weeks of 5-star catch-up. This is why asking happy customers systematically matters more than asking a lot of customers randomly.
Once you're within about 20% of the leader's review count, Google's local ranking signals lean more on recency and relevance than on total accumulated volume. A competitor with 200 reviews but nothing new in eight months is more beatable than their raw number suggests, because their review velocity has stalled. Your fresher, steadier flow of recent 4- and 5-star reviews — especially ones that mention your service type and location naturally — can outweigh their static lead.
Practically: don't stop asking once you hit your target number. A burst of reviews followed by silence looks the same to the algorithm as a business that's slowing down. Steady monthly volume, even at a lower rate, beats a spike-then-nothing pattern.
If review-asking is one of a dozen admin jobs you keep meaning to systemise, the small business operations kit has templates for exactly this kind of recurring task, so it doesn't quietly drop off the list when you're busy.
Stop asking "how many reviews do I need." Pull the three competitors above you, take the median, add 20%, subtract what you have. Divide by your monthly review count — jobs done times roughly 30%. That's your number of months. Then keep asking after you hit it, because the businesses above you aren't standing still either.
The Small Business Operations Kit ($19) turns guides like this one into fill-in-once worksheets: rate card, quoting sheet, job costing, payment terms and follow-up templates.