Reviews and local search
Most statistics pages about online reviews quote each other. The figures below come from the original research only, and each one names the organisation that ran the study, how many people it surveyed and when it was published. Where a number is United States only, it says so.
Where these numbers come from
BrightLocal, Local Consumer Review Survey 2026 — 1,002 US adults, United States. Published 11 February 2026. Checked against the original on 10 November 2026.
Every figure on this page was read from the study itself, not from another article quoting it. Nothing is rounded or reworded.
Reading reviews is now close to universal, and consumers say they do it more deliberately than a year ago.
97% of consumers read reviews for local businesses.
BrightLocal, Local Consumer Review Survey 2026 — 1,002 US adults, United States. Published 11 February 2026. Checked against the original on 10 November 2026.
97% of consumers read reviews for local businesses. Source: BrightLocal, Local Consumer Review Survey 2026 (1,002 US adults, United States, 11 February 2026). Via Climbo: https://www.climbo.com/statistics/online-review-statistics#stat-read-reviews
41% always read reviews when looking for a local business, up from 29% the year before.
BrightLocal, Local Consumer Review Survey 2026 — 1,002 US adults, United States. Published 11 February 2026. Checked against the original on 10 November 2026.
41% always read reviews when looking for a local business, up from 29% the year before. Source: BrightLocal, Local Consumer Review Survey 2026 (1,002 US adults, United States, 11 February 2026). Via Climbo: https://www.climbo.com/statistics/online-review-statistics#stat-always-read
93% of consumers have made a purchase after reading reviews, and 70% have regretted one.
BrightLocal, Local Consumer Review Survey 2026 — 1,002 US adults, United States. Published 11 February 2026. Checked against the original on 10 November 2026.
93% of consumers have made a purchase after reading reviews, and 70% have regretted one. Source: BrightLocal, Local Consumer Review Survey 2026 (1,002 US adults, United States, 11 February 2026). Via Climbo: https://www.climbo.com/statistics/online-review-statistics#stat-purchased-93
Volume, recency and rating all work as filters before a business is considered at all.
47% of consumers will not use a business with fewer than 20 reviews.
BrightLocal, Local Consumer Review Survey 2026 — 1,002 US adults, United States. Published 11 February 2026. Checked against the original on 10 November 2026.
47% of consumers will not use a business with fewer than 20 reviews. Source: BrightLocal, Local Consumer Review Survey 2026 (1,002 US adults, United States, 11 February 2026). Via Climbo: https://www.climbo.com/statistics/online-review-statistics#stat-min-20
74% of consumers only care about reviews written in the last three months.
BrightLocal, Local Consumer Review Survey 2026 — 1,002 US adults, United States. Published 11 February 2026. Checked against the original on 10 November 2026.
74% of consumers only care about reviews written in the last three months. Source: BrightLocal, Local Consumer Review Survey 2026 (1,002 US adults, United States, 11 February 2026). Via Climbo: https://www.climbo.com/statistics/online-review-statistics#stat-recency-90
31% will only use a business rated 4.5 stars or higher, up from 17% the year before.
BrightLocal, Local Consumer Review Survey 2026 — 1,002 US adults, United States. Published 11 February 2026. Checked against the original on 10 November 2026.
31% will only use a business rated 4.5 stars or higher, up from 17% the year before. Source: BrightLocal, Local Consumer Review Survey 2026 (1,002 US adults, United States, 11 February 2026). Via Climbo: https://www.climbo.com/statistics/online-review-statistics#stat-rating-45
Each figure lives on one page only. These cover the neighbouring questions.
Replying to reviewswhat the research measures about management responses, and what consumers expect Reviews and revenuethe measured effect of a star rating on what a business actually earns AI searchhow many people now ask an assistant instead of searching Where searches startGoogle's share, the other channels, and the device Fake reviewswhat the FTC rule bans and what consumers think97% of consumers read reviews for local businesses, and 41% say they always read them when looking for one, according to BrightLocal's Local Consumer Review Survey 2026, a survey of 1,002 US adults published in February 2026.
74% of consumers only care about reviews written in the last three months, according to BrightLocal's Local Consumer Review Survey 2026. Recency now works as a filter: a business with old reviews is treated much like a business with none.
47% of consumers will not use a business with fewer than 20 reviews, according to BrightLocal's Local Consumer Review Survey 2026. Twenty is the threshold at which a business stops being skipped on volume alone.
Yes, and it grew very fast. Use of ChatGPT and other generative AI tools for local business recommendations rose from 6% to 45% in one year, according to BrightLocal's Local Consumer Review Survey 2026. Separately, Pew Research Center found that 49% of US adults now use AI chatbots at all, up from 33% in 2024.
89% of consumers expect business owners to respond to reviews, but 50% are put off by templated replies, according to BrightLocal's Local Consumer Review Survey 2026. Replying matters; replying with an obvious template works against the business.
No. Both studies cited on this page surveyed adults in the United States only. Consumer behaviour differs by country, so these figures should not be read as global averages.
First published 10 November 2026. Every source on this page was last reopened and its figures confirmed on 10 November 2026. That date moves when a source is checked again, not when the page is rebuilt, and a figure is replaced only if the publishing organisation has changed it.
Almost every customer reads reviews before choosing, and most only look at the last three months. Climbo is the platform marketing agencies resell to local businesses under their own brand: three AI agents keep the reviews coming in and answered, every day, with no fulfilment work for the agency.
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