{"id":2122,"slug":"brightlocal-rating-norms-by-category","title":"BrightLocal Google Reviews Study — 93K businesses; avg 39 reviews / 4.42 stars (vendor)","kind":"reference","scope":"business","status":"current","audiences":["kevin","candid-team"],"topics":["category-review-norms"],"reference_body":"**Claim:** BrightLocal Google Reviews Study (**93,000 businesses, 26 industries**): overall average **39 reviews**; top-3 local businesses average **47**; average star rating **4.42**.\n\n**Most reviews:** hotels/B&Bs, restaurants, bars, local stores, car dealerships.\n\n**Fewest reviews:** **accountants/finance** (least likely to even have reviews), landscaping, senior living, marketing/PR, construction/roofing.\n\n**Rating norms (Industry-consensus, vendor-sourced):**\n\n- Home services and salons highest (**~4.5-4.6**)\n- Beauty/hair ~4.5\n- Fitness ~4.4\n- Legal ~4.3\n- Healthcare/dental ~4.1\n- Restaurants ~4.1\n- Hotels ~4.0\n- Car dealerships and senior living lowest\n\nHigh-volume / high-variability businesses (restaurants, hotels) carry many reviews but lower stars; relationship businesses (trades, dental, salons) carry fewer-to-moderate reviews but higher stars.\n\n**Note:** ~20% of top-3-ranked local businesses had NO reviews — confirms other factors matter (proximity, category).\n\n**Source:** BrightLocal (local-SEO/review SaaS vendor).\n\n**Caveat:** Vendor. Quarantined.\n\n**Confidence:** Industry-consensus (the standard reference).","rationale_body":null,"metadata":null,"links":{"outgoing":[],"incoming":[{"slug":"research-brief-smb-widget-vertical-difficulty-june-2026","title":"Research brief: SMB widget vertical difficulty — two-axis tiering by industry (June 2026)","kind":"reference","scope":"business","link_type":"relates-to"},{"slug":"tier-4-open-verticals","title":"Vertical Tier 4 — Relatively open (Accounting, niche B2B/industrial, Landscaping)","kind":"reference","scope":"business","link_type":"depends-on"}]},"created_at":"2026-06-23T19:16:04.843Z","updated_at":"2026-06-23T19:16:04.843Z"}