Google Review Calculator
How many 5-star reviews to beat your rival?
How many 5-star reviews you need to reach the rating you want.
This Google review calculator tells you how many 5-star reviews you need to reach your target rating. Most owners guess. The real number is often much higher than they expect, because each tenth of a star costs more reviews than the last one. A perfect 5.0 cannot be reached once you have one review below 5.
To show the target: reviews = your review count × ((target − 0.05) − current) ÷ (5 − (target − 0.05)). Google shows one decimal, so a listing displays 4.5 from a true 4.45.
As shown on your Google listing
To show 4.5 stars
55 reviews
55 five-star reviews in a row takes you to 175 reviews and an average of 4.45, which Google displays as 4.5.
To reach a true 4.5 average, rather than a rating that displays as 4.5, you need 72 reviews.
How long that takes
2 reviews / week
28 weeks
5 reviews / week
11 weeks
10 reviews / week
6 weeks
Asking after the visit is what changes the pace. Happy customers mean to leave a review, walk out, and forget.
We assume every new review is 5 stars and none are removed. A higher target gets much harder: each extra tenth of a star needs more reviews than the last, because we divide by how far the target sits below 5.0.
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How this screen worksHow this works
- We solve the average directly, twice: once for the rating Google would DISPLAY (the target minus 0.05, because a listing shows one decimal) and once for the target as a true average. The first is the headline; the second is printed beside it.
- The last part, 5 minus target, is why the climb gets steeper. Going from 4.2 to 4.8 takes five times as many reviews as going from 4.2 to 4.5.
- We assume every new review is 5 stars and none are removed. That is the best case, so treat the answer as the minimum.
- A target of 5.0 gets a message, not a number. Once one review below 5 exists, no number of 5-star reviews averages back to exactly 5.0.
Common questions
- How many 5-star reviews do I need to raise my Google rating?
- Multiply your review count by the gap between your target and your current rating. Divide by 5 minus the target. Round up. A shop at 4.2 stars with 100 reviews needs 60 five-star reviews to reach 4.5.
- Why can I never reach a perfect 5.0 rating?
- The formula divides by the distance between your target and 5. At 5.0 that distance is zero. Once one review below 5 exists, no number of 5-star reviews brings the average back to exactly 5.0. You can only get close.
- Does Google round my star rating?
- Google shows one decimal place, so 4.45 shows as 4.5. Your real target may be a little lower than the number you have in mind. Check this before you start asking for reviews.
- How many Google reviews a week is normal?
- Most local venues get fewer than one a week without asking. Happy customers walk out and forget. Asking at the right moment is the biggest change most businesses can make.
- I have no Google reviews yet. What do I do?
- The calculator will say there is no average to move yet. Your first review sets your rating on its own. Get the first ten reviews from real customers before you worry about a target.
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