We Analyzed 3,800+ Google Business Profiles Across 15 Industries

3,844 businesses. 15 industries. 13 U.S. cities. Ratings cluster above 4.8 stars in nearly every vertical. The real differentiator is whether anyone responds.

We pulled data on 3,844 local businesses across 15 industries and 13 U.S. cities using the Google Places API in April 2026. The question was simple: what do Google Business Profiles actually look like for real local businesses right now? The answer changes how you think about local marketing. If you already know the problem and want it handled, see how we work with dentists, HVAC companies, or med spas.

The headline finding: star ratings barely differentiate anyone. Nearly every vertical clusters above 4.8 stars. The actual competitive gap is response activity. Profiles where someone responds to reviews, posts updates, and shows signs of life get more calls. Profiles that sit silent, even with excellent ratings and hundreds of reviews, fade into the background. BrightLocal's 2026 Local Consumer Review Survey confirms it: 98% of consumers read reviews for local businesses, and 88% would choose a business that responds over one that doesn't (BrightLocal 2024).

The full data: 15 industries compared

Here is every vertical in our dataset, sorted by average review count descending:

Source: ReplyProof analysis of 3,844 Google Business Profiles via Google Places API, 13 U.S. cities, April 2026.

Finding 1: Ratings cluster at 4.8+ stars. The rating race is over.

Look at the average rating column. It barely moves. Chiropractors and real estate agents sit at 4.91. Med spas are at 4.89. HVAC companies, plumbers, and hair salons all land between 4.84 and 4.85. The spread across most verticals is less than a tenth of a star.

Customers aren't choosing between a 4.2 and a 4.9 anymore. They're choosing between five businesses that all sit between 4.8 and 4.9. At that point, the star number stops mattering. What matters is everything around it: how recent the reviews are, whether the business responds, and how the profile feels when you land on it. BrightLocal's 2026 survey found that 73% of consumers only read reviews from the last month. Freshness beats volume.

If your rating is already above 4.5, the biggest return on effort isn't pushing it to 4.9. It's making your profile look active.

Finding 2: Restaurants have the most reviews and the lowest ratings

Restaurants are the outlier in this dataset. A median of 2,346 reviews and an average rating of 4.54. That is the lowest of any vertical we tracked.

The reason is straightforward: volume creates exposure. When you have thousands of reviews, even a small percentage of unhappy customers produces a visible stack of 1-star and 2-star feedback. And restaurants get reviewed by everyone. You don't need to be a paying customer to have an opinion about a meal.

For restaurant owners, the math is different. You can't prevent negative reviews when you serve 200 people a night. But you can respond to every single one. BrightLocal's 2024 data shows 88% of consumers would choose a business that responds to reviews. A thoughtful response to a 2-star review does more for your reputation than ten 5-star reviews sitting in silence. For the restaurant specific breakdown, see our post on what unanswered reviews cost restaurants.

Finding 3: Auto repair shops and electricians are the most Google-dependent

13.1% of auto repair shops in our dataset have no website listed on their Google profile. For electricians, it's 9.5%. Compare that to dentists at 1.2% or law firms at 0.8%.

For these businesses, the Google Business Profile isn't a supplement to their web presence. It is their web presence. Every review, every photo, every response (or lack of one) is the only thing a potential customer sees before deciding to call or keep scrolling.

If you're running an auto repair shop without a website, your GBP profile is your storefront, your sales team, and your reputation all in one. Leaving reviews unanswered on that profile is the equivalent of leaving customers standing at your counter with nobody behind the register. For more on what this costs, read our auto repair review analysis.

Finding 4: The median tells a different story than the mean

Look at HVAC companies. The average review count is 2,003. The median is 597. That is a massive gap. A small number of HVAC companies have enormous review counts (10,000+), pulling the average way up. Most HVAC businesses have a few hundred reviews. The same pattern shows up with electricians (mean 430, median 122) and law firms (mean 661, median 284).

This is good news if you're a smaller business. You don't need thousands of reviews to compete. The median business in most verticals has a few hundred. What you need is consistency. A steady stream of new reviews, responded to promptly, signals to Google that your business is active. A business with 200 responded reviews looks better than one with 800 reviews and radio silence. Google's local ranking factors study (Whitespark 2024) confirms that review activity is a top 10 ranking signal for the local pack.

Finding 5: The response gap is the real competitive advantage

Walk through any of these verticals and look at the actual profiles. The same pattern appears 15 different ways: 4.8 stars, a few hundred reviews, and the vast majority sit unanswered. Positive reviews with no "thank you." Negative reviews with no explanation. Questions in reviews with no answers.

BrightLocal's 2024 data makes the cost of silence concrete: 88% of consumers would use a business that responds to both positive and negative reviews. Only 47% would use one that doesn't respond at all. That 41-point gap is driven entirely by whether someone at the business bothers to reply.

The businesses that respond to every review look professional. They look present. They look like someone is running the show. The ones that don't look abandoned, even if they have great ratings and plenty of reviews. Our analysis of 3,200 Reddit posts from SMB owners (April 2026) confirms this: the most common pattern we found is what we call the Ghost Town profile. 100 to 500 reviews. Solid rating. Zero owner responses in months. Roughly 4 out of 5 profiles in most verticals match this pattern.

For a deeper look at how inactivity compounds over time, read what happens when you stop responding to reviews.

Finding 6: Active profiles are the ones AI recommends

This data matters even more now that AI is reshaping how people find local businesses. BrightLocal's 2026 survey found that 45% of consumers have used an AI tool to search for local businesses. Google's "Ask Maps" feature, powered by Gemini, now answers natural language questions like "highly rated HVAC company near me with same-day availability." The data layer feeding those answers is your Google Business Profile.

Profiles with fresh reviews, owner responses, and recent activity are the ones that surface in AI recommendations. Profiles that went dark six months ago don't exist in those answers. For the full breakdown of how this works, read our analysis: 75% of businesses visible on Google are invisible to AI.

Sources: BrightLocal Local Consumer Review Survey 2026, Google "Ask Maps" product update.

What this means for your business

The data says the same thing across every industry: responding to reviews is the simplest, most visible thing a business can do to stand out on Google.

You don't need to chase a perfect star rating. You already have a good one. You don't need to run a campaign begging for more reviews. You have enough. What you need is someone paying attention. Someone responding to every review within a few hours. Someone posting updates so Google knows your business is active. Someone making sure your profile doesn't look like it was set up in 2019 and forgotten.

For context on the pricing landscape, see our breakdown of the $200/mo visibility gap nobody talks about.