Does Google require reviews from the last three months?

Google's cited local-ranking guidance does not require reviews to be less than three months old. BrightLocal's 74% figure describes a stated preference in its 2026 US consumer survey, not a Google rule.

Do newer reviews improve local ranking?

Google says more reviews and positive ratings can help local ranking. Google's cited local-ranking guidance does not publish a review-age cutoff or a numerical weight, so the survey's recency figures cannot be used to predict a ranking change.

What does the increase from 20% to 32% mean?

BrightLocal reports that 32% of consumers looked for reviews written in the last two weeks in its 2026 survey, compared with 20% in the prior year. That is a year-over-year survey comparison. It does not identify a cause or show that Google ranking changed as a result.

How old can a review be before it stops helping?

Neither BrightLocal's survey nor Google's local-ranking guidance establishes a universal age. BrightLocal shows that some surveyed consumers prefer recent reviews, while Google's guidance publishes no review-freshness threshold.

Statistics

How recent do local business reviews need to be?

By Sergey Sulimko, Founder4 min readUpdated September 28, 2026

Neither BrightLocal's 2026 survey nor Google's local-ranking guidance establishes a universal age that local business reviews need to be. BrightLocal found that 74% of consumers seek reviews from the last three months, 32% look for reviews from the last two weeks, and 18% are only swayed by reviews from the last week. Google's guidance does not publish any of those intervals as a ranking cutoff. The guidance says local results are mainly based on relevance, distance, and popularity, and that more reviews and positive ratings can help local ranking without stating a review-freshness formula.¹²

What does published research say about review recency?

BrightLocal's Local Consumer Review Survey 2026 was published on February 11, 2026. It used a representative panel of 1,002 US adult consumers through SurveyMonkey.¹

Source, sample and method	Finding	Figure	What the figure supports	What it does not prove
BrightLocal, representative panel of 1,002 US adults via SurveyMonkey; published February 11, 2026	Consumers who seek reviews written in the last three months	74%	Many surveyed consumers use recent reviews as part of their decision.	Google requires every review to be less than three months old.
BrightLocal, representative panel of 1,002 US adults via SurveyMonkey; published February 11, 2026	Consumers who look for reviews written in the last two weeks	32%, compared with 20% in the prior year	The 2026 survey reports a year-over-year increase in stated recency preference.	The change was caused by one factor, or that it changed local ranking.
BrightLocal, representative panel of 1,002 US adults via SurveyMonkey; published February 11, 2026	Consumers only swayed by reviews written within the last week	18%	A defined survey segment places a particularly high value on very recent reviews.	One-week-old reviews are a universal customer requirement or a Google ranking signal.

What does Google say about review freshness and local ranking?

Google's current Business Profile guidance says local results are mainly based on relevance, distance, and popularity. Google explains that relevance concerns how well a Business Profile matches a search, while distance concerns how far the business is from the searcher or the location Google knows when no location is shared.²

The same guidance discusses reviews under Prominence. Google says that prominence includes information such as websites linking to a business and the number of reviews it has. It also says more reviews and positive ratings can help local ranking. The page does not state a minimum review count, a maximum review age, a freshness cutoff, or a numerical weighting.²

Google also says there is no way to request or pay for a better local ranking, and that Google keeps search-algorithm details confidential to keep the system fair. That leaves the BrightLocal figures as evidence about consumer expectations, not a paid or guaranteed ranking recipe.²

What do these numbers not tell you?

They do not measure observed behaviour. BrightLocal recorded what respondents said they look for, not every search, visit, booking, or purchase.
They do not describe every market. The sample represents 1,002 US adults, not consumers in every country or customers in every local-business category.¹
They do not prove why preferences changed. The increase from 20% to 32% is a year-over-year survey comparison, not a causal study.
They do not set a Google ranking threshold. Google's local-ranking guidance does not connect a review age to a ranking position or publish a review-freshness formula.²

How should a local business use these statistics?

Use the three-month, two-week, and one-week figures as different levels of stated customer preference. Do not present any of them as a Google deadline. A business can review the dates of its newest reviews to understand whether its public feedback looks current to customers, but the survey does not supply a universal target.

Keep customer expectations separate from ranking claims. Google says reviews and positive ratings can help local ranking, but its public guidance does not connect a specific review age to a specific position. For the terminology behind the regular arrival of reviews, see review velocity. For the broader subject, see the Google reviews hub.

BrightLocal, "LCRS 2026: Study Shows Reviews Matter More Than Ever": https://www.brightlocal.com/research/local-consumer-review-survey/ (published 2026-02-11; read 2026-09-28; representative panel of 1,002 US adult consumers via SurveyMonkey)
Google Business Profile Help, "Tips to improve your local ranking on Google": https://support.google.com/business/answer/7091?hl=en (read 2026-09-28)

See where your profile stands

The audit shows how this applies to your own profile: it reads a verified Google Business Profile and scores it the same way every month.

Visibility Score

0 to 100

20 scored factors across profile completeness, performance, competitive position. Free, no signup, on any verified Google Business Profile.

Run the free Visibility Score audit

No signup, no card. You get the score and the factors behind it.

Common questions

Does Google require reviews from the last three months?: Google's cited local-ranking guidance does not require reviews to be less than three months old. BrightLocal's 74% figure describes a stated preference in its 2026 US consumer survey, not a Google rule.
Do newer reviews improve local ranking?: Google says more reviews and positive ratings can help local ranking. Google's cited local-ranking guidance does not publish a review-age cutoff or a numerical weight, so the survey's recency figures cannot be used to predict a ranking change.
What does the increase from 20% to 32% mean?: BrightLocal reports that 32% of consumers looked for reviews written in the last two weeks in its 2026 survey, compared with 20% in the prior year. That is a year-over-year survey comparison. It does not identify a cause or show that Google ranking changed as a result.
How old can a review be before it stops helping?: Neither BrightLocal's survey nor Google's local-ranking guidance establishes a universal age. BrightLocal shows that some surveyed consumers prefer recent reviews, while Google's guidance publishes no review-freshness threshold.