Yes, genuinely and measurably. This is one of those areas where the evidence is unusually solid, not just anecdotal. But it is worth being precise about which kind of reviews we are actually talking about, because there are two distinct things going on here, and conflating them leads to some confused advice.
The academic evidence is genuinely striking
A well known study from Harvard Business School, led by Professor Michael Luca, analysed years of Yelp review data alongside actual restaurant revenue figures. The findings were clear. A one star increase in a restaurant’s Yelp rating led to a 5 to 9 percent increase in revenue, and this effect was strongest for independent businesses rather than chains, which tend to rely less on individual reputation because customers already have a fixed idea of what to expect. This is not a small, soft correlation. It is a measurable financial impact tied directly to review scores, and it lines up closely with how most people naturally behave, checking reviews before choosing where to spend their money, particularly when a business is new to them.
Reviews also influence whether people find you at all
Beyond the direct trust impact, reviews play a genuine role in local search visibility too. Google’s own local ranking guidance is explicit that review volume and positive ratings can improve a business’s local ranking, meaning reviews are not just a trust signal once someone has found you, they actively help determine whether you show up prominently in the first place. A business with a steady stream of genuine, positive reviews is working with a real structural advantage over one that has been quietly ignoring this side of things.
A different, less well known system worth knowing about
The page you linked actually covers something slightly separate from customer reviews of your business. Google’s documentation on its reviews system explains that this particular system evaluates first party review content, meaning articles, blog posts, or guides that a website publishes itself to review or compare products, services, or experiences. Google states plainly that it does not evaluate third party reviews, such as those posted by customers in a reviews section, under this specific system. In other words, if your business ever publishes its own comparison guides or written reviews, for example “the best paint finishes for a bathroom” or “we tested five accounting tools so you don’t have to”, this is the system that judges whether that content reads as genuinely insightful and well researched, rather than thin and generic. It rewards content written with real, demonstrable expertise and original analysis, and Google notes that content affected by it can recover over time if genuine improvements are made. It is a useful thing to know exists, even if it is a different mechanism to the customer review side of things.
What this actually means for your business
Bringing both sides together, reviews affect your business in two real, separate ways. Customer reviews of your business build trust, influence buying decisions, and help you rank locally, all backed by solid academic evidence. And if your own content includes reviews or comparisons you have written yourself, Google is separately evaluating whether that content demonstrates the kind of genuine expertise worth surfacing to searchers. Both are worth taking seriously, and neither should be left as an afterthought.
Sources referenced:
- Luca, M., Reviews, Reputation, and Revenue: The Case of Yelp.com, Harvard Business School: https://www.hbs.edu/faculty/Pages/item.aspx?num=41233
- Google Search Central, Google Search’s Reviews System: https://developers.google.com/search/docs/appearance/reviews-system
