Why Review Sites Should Be at the Center of Your Monitoring Strategy
Review sites are where customers make buying decisions. Before signing up for a SaaS tool, booking a restaurant, downloading an app, or purchasing a product, most people read reviews. And unlike social media posts that disappear into algorithmic feeds, reviews are permanent, searchable, and highly visible.
A single negative review on Google can influence hundreds of potential customers. A trending complaint on Trustpilot can tank conversion rates overnight. A pattern of mediocre G2 reviews can quietly erode your competitive positioning for months before anyone on your team notices.
Review monitoring is the practice of tracking what customers say about you (and your competitors) across review platforms in real time. It's not optional. It's a core business function that directly impacts revenue.
Understanding the Major Review Platforms
Not all review sites are created equal. Each platform has a different audience, format, and impact on your business. Here's what you need to know about the platforms that matter most.
Google Reviews
Google Reviews monitoring is arguably the highest priority for any business with a local or web presence. Google Reviews appear directly in search results, Google Maps, and Knowledge Panels. They influence local SEO rankings, and they're often the first thing a potential customer sees when they search for your brand.
Key characteristics:
- Star ratings appear in search results, directly affecting click-through rates
- Review volume and recency impact local search rankings
- Business owners can (and should) respond publicly to every review
- Fake review detection is improving but still imperfect
Trustpilot
Trustpilot monitoring is essential for e-commerce and SaaS businesses, especially those serving European markets where Trustpilot dominates. Trustpilot reviews are indexed by Google and often appear in branded search results.
Key characteristics:
- Open platform (anyone can review, even non-customers)
- TrustScore algorithm weights recent reviews more heavily
- Businesses can invite customers to review, boosting volume
- Review replies are public and appear directly below the review
G2
G2 reviews carry enormous weight in B2B software decisions. G2's quarterly Grid reports are used by thousands of companies to evaluate vendors, and review volume directly affects your placement on these grids.
Key characteristics:
- Reviews are authenticated (LinkedIn verification required)
- Structured format with pros, cons, and specific use-case questions
- Seasonal review cycles tied to G2's quarterly reports
- High-intent audience: people reading G2 reviews are actively evaluating tools
Yelp
Yelp remains dominant for local businesses, restaurants, and service providers. Its recommendation algorithm filters reviews aggressively, which can be frustrating but also means that visible reviews tend to be more trustworthy.
Key characteristics:
- Recommendation algorithm hides reviews it considers unreliable
- Strong local SEO impact, especially for service businesses
- Yelp users tend to be highly engaged and vocal
- Responding to reviews is free but requires claiming your business page
App Store and Play Store
For mobile apps, store reviews directly influence download rates. Apps with ratings below 4.0 stars see significantly lower conversion from store page visits to installs. Both Apple and Google also use ratings and review sentiment as ranking signals.
Key characteristics:
- Star ratings are the first thing users see on your app listing
- Recent reviews are weighted more heavily in the displayed rating
- Developer responses are visible to all users browsing reviews
- Review content influences App Store and Play Store search rankings
Amazon Reviews
For physical or digital products sold on Amazon, reviews are the primary conversion driver. Products with fewer than 15 reviews struggle to gain traction, and even a small drop in average rating can significantly impact sales velocity.
Setting Up Multi-Platform Review Monitoring
Monitoring a single review platform is straightforward. Monitoring all of them simultaneously, across multiple products or locations, is where things get challenging. Here's a practical approach:
Step 1: Audit Your Review Presence
Before you set up monitoring, take inventory. Which platforms have reviews about your business? You might be surprised. Many companies discover reviews on platforms they didn't even know they were listed on. Check Google, Trustpilot, G2, Yelp, App Store, Play Store, and Amazon at a minimum.
Step 2: Claim and Optimize Your Profiles
On every platform where you have reviews, claim your business profile. Fill out all available fields, upload your logo, and ensure your information is consistent. This establishes your ability to respond and gives you access to platform-specific analytics.
Step 3: Centralize Your Monitoring
Checking six or seven platforms individually every day isn't sustainable. A review tracking tool that aggregates reviews from all platforms into a single dashboard saves hours and ensures nothing slips through the cracks.
Kaulby monitors reviews across Google Reviews, Trustpilot, G2, Yelp, App Store, Play Store, and Amazon Reviews. All mentions are analyzed with AI for sentiment and categorized by theme, so you can see patterns across platforms instead of treating each one as an isolated silo. Set up brand monitoring to track reviews alongside community mentions for a complete picture.
Step 4: Set Up Alerts
Configure real-time alerts for negative reviews (one and two stars) so you can respond quickly. For positive reviews (four and five stars), a daily or weekly digest is usually sufficient. The goal is to respond to negative reviews within 24 hours and acknowledge positive ones within a few days.
Step 5: Establish a Response Workflow
Define who responds to reviews and what your tone and guidelines are. Key principles:
- Always respond to negative reviews with empathy and a concrete next step
- Thank positive reviewers specifically for what they mentioned
- Never argue, get defensive, or share private customer details
- Use review responses as an opportunity to demonstrate your values to future readers
Turning Review Data Into Business Intelligence
Beyond responding to individual reviews, the aggregate data from review monitoring is incredibly valuable:
- Product development - Review themes reveal what customers love and what needs improvement. If "slow customer support" appears in 20% of negative reviews, that's a clear signal.
- Competitive positioning - Compare your review sentiment to competitors on the same platforms. Use competitor monitoring to track how rivals are rated and what their customers complain about.
- Marketing content - Positive reviews are social proof. Pull quotes for your website, ads, and sales materials (with permission where required).
- Customer success - Track review sentiment over time to see if product changes and process improvements are actually improving customer satisfaction.
Common Review Monitoring Mistakes
Avoid these pitfalls as you build your review monitoring practice:
- Only monitoring one platform - Your customers are spread across multiple review sites. Ignoring any of them creates blind spots.
- Ignoring positive reviews - Responding only to negative reviews makes it look like you only show up when there's damage control to do.
- Using generic responses - Copy-paste responses are obvious and counterproductive. Personalize every reply.
- Not tracking trends - Individual reviews are data points. Trends across reviews are insights. Track both.
- Delayed responses - A review that sits unanswered for weeks signals that you don't care. Speed matters.
Bottom line: Review sites are where your reputation lives, and that reputation directly drives revenue. Multi-platform review monitoring isn't a nice-to-have. It's essential. Get started with Kaulby to monitor Google Reviews, Trustpilot, G2, Yelp, and more from a single dashboard.