EXPERIMENT 002 FAILED

Do more Google reviews improve local ranking?

Started 1 August 2026 · Local Falcon · Google Business Profile · Google Maps

Hypothesis — written before starting

More reviews should mean a higher map-pack position. I expected review count to be the strongest single factor.

Result

Wrong. Review count did not predict visibility. The clinic with 1,681 reviews appeared in the Google Maps top 3 at only 3 of my 25 test points. A competitor with 559 reviews appeared at 15. A clinic with 8 reviews matched one with 117. A clinic with zero reviews matched one with 70. Two other things did line up with winning: the search word appearing inside the business name, and the primary category setting. I was wrong, and the common advice is wrong here too. Limits: one keyword, one day, 76 clinics scanned. This is a pattern, not proof.

Local Falcon heatmap showing dentist rankings across 25 grid points in Seri Kembangan — 25 test points around one clinic. Green = top 3. Red = nearly invisible.

Read the full write-up: Do more Google reviews improve local ranking? I scanned 76 dental clinics →

All 76 clinics, the full comparison table, and the method.

This experiment failed, and it stays published. A lab that only shows its wins isn’t a lab, it’s a brochure. What I learned here changed how I approach the next one.