Google review benchmark checker

How to use the result

Patients who search for your specialty see a short list of practices on the map, each with a star rating and a review count beside the name. Your result tells you how that list probably looks from the patient's side: whether your count reads as established or new compared with the practices around you, and how far you are from the middle of the pack.

Compare against your metro, not the country

Review counts differ a lot between cities and specialties. A count that is normal for an IV therapy clinic can look thin for a dental practice in the same city, and a count that is above the median in one metro can sit below it in another. Always pick your own metro if it is listed. Use the national figure only when your metro is not in the study, and remember that patients compare you with the practices near you, not with a national average.

Turn the gap into a weekly habit

The "reviews per month" figure is the pace you need to reach today's metro median. Divide it by the number of weeks you are open, and that is your weekly target. Then work backward: if you see 150 new and returning patients a week and need 10 reviews a week, you need to turn about one visit in 15 into a review. Most practices that fall behind are not getting bad reviews; they are simply not asking. Build the ask into checkout or the post-visit text, send a direct link, and track the weekly count where the whole team can see it.

Expect the target to move

The median is a snapshot from 2026. The practices around you keep collecting reviews, so the bar rises over time. Treat the 12-month pace as the minimum and the 6-month pace as the plan if you are well below the median. Re-check every quarter.

Rating and count work together

A 4.9 with 20 reviews and a 4.7 with 400 send different signals. Few reviews make a high rating look fragile, and a lower rating on many reviews can still read as reliable. If your rating sits below the metro average, read your last 20 reviews for repeated themes (wait times, billing surprises, front-desk tone) and fix those first, because a steady flow of new reviews will reflect the change. Reply to every review in a way that respects patient privacy: never confirm that a reviewer is a patient or discuss their care. The HHS Office for Civil Rights has taken action against providers whose replies disclosed patient information.

Stay inside the rules

Do not buy reviews, offer rewards for reviews, or ask only the patients you expect to be happy. Google's review policies prohibit all three, and the FTC's rule on consumer reviews and testimonials bars fake reviews and incentives conditioned on a positive (or negative) review. Ask everyone, the same way. To keep the rest of the profile in shape, Angryturtle, our Google Business Profile software, scores your profile on reviews, relevance and freshness, ranks the fixes, and lets you reply to reviews from one place. The full numbers for your specialty, including weekend hours and profile completeness, are in the 2026 benchmark report for your specialty.

Frequently asked questions

How many Google reviews should a medical practice have?

Enough to sit at or above the median for your specialty in your metro, because that is the set of practices patients compare you with on the map. In our 2026 benchmark the median varies widely by specialty and city, so check your own combination with the tool above rather than relying on a single national number.

Does the number of Google reviews affect local ranking?

Google says that more reviews and positive ratings can help a business's local ranking, and that how many reviews you have feeds into prominence, one of its three local ranking factors alongside relevance and distance. Reviews are one signal among several, not the whole picture.

Can I offer patients an incentive for a Google review?

No. Google's policies prohibit offering incentives in exchange for reviews, and the FTC's rule on consumer reviews and testimonials (in effect since October 2024) bars fake reviews and incentives conditioned on a review expressing a particular sentiment. Ask every patient the same way, at the same point in the visit, and never filter who gets asked based on how happy they seem.

How do I close the gap to the median faster?

Ask more patients, more consistently. Send a review request by text or email shortly after the visit, make the link one tap, and track the share of visits that turn into reviews each week. Practices that ask only occasionally rarely close a gap; practices that ask after every visit usually do.

Where does the benchmark data come from?

From the Ichelon Consulting 2026 Google Business Profile benchmark: public profile data for 9,452 practices across 9 specialties in 20 US metros. We publish aggregates only, never business names, and we do not show any metro group with fewer than 10 practices.

More free tools: healthcare marketing budget calculator · cost per new patient calculator · all US tools. Research: US healthcare marketing research · 2026 Google benchmarks by specialty. How we run US engagements: how Ichelon Consulting US works.