Customer review sites are online platforms where people publicly rate and comment on businesses, products, and services. For most US shoppers, they are the first stop before a purchase. A strong profile on the right site often decides who gets the click.
The hard part is choosing where to focus. Google, Yelp, Trustpilot, G2, and Tripadvisor all work differently, and each has its own rules on asking for feedback.
In this guide, we’ll compare 16 platforms, show you how to prioritize them, and explain how to measure and manage your presence.
What are customer review sites?
Customer review sites are websites and apps where customers publish ratings and written feedback about a business, product, or service, so future buyers can compare options before they choose. Most show a star rating, a review count, and the business’s public replies.
They fall into three groups:
- General platforms such as Google and Yelp cover local businesses of every kind.
- Marketplace platforms such as Amazon and Trustpilot collect product and seller feedback.
- Industry platforms such as Tripadvisor and G2 serve one vertical.
Reviews live on these sites, not on your own website. That independence is why buyers trust them more than a testimonial you publish yourself.
How do customer review sites differ from similar terms?
People often use “review site,” “review management,” and “reputation management” as if they mean the same thing. Each describes a different layer of the same job.
| Term | What it means | Who controls it |
|---|---|---|
| Customer review site | A third-party platform that hosts public ratings and reviews | The platform |
| Review management | Requesting, monitoring, and replying to reviews | Your team |
| Reputation management | Shaping how your brand appears across reviews, search, and social | Your team |
| Testimonial | A customer quote you publish on your own channels | You |
| Customer survey | A private questionnaire that collects feedback | You |
Review sites are the places. Review management is the routine you run on them. Reputation management is the wider strategy that includes search results and social conversation.
Why do customer review sites matter?
Customer review sites matter because shoppers read them before they buy, and what they read changes what they do. A Review Survey of 1,002 US adults shows how strong that pull is:
- 85% are more likely to use a business after reading positive reviews.
- 77% are discouraged by negative reviews.
- 74% look for reviews written in the last three months.
Where people read is shifting too. 71% of US consumers used Google to read reviews, down from 83% in 2025. Apple Maps rose to 27%, and 45% now use ChatGPT or other generative AI for local recommendations.
Google also says more reviews and higher ratings can help a business rank better locally.
Which customer review sites should you know?
Sixteen platforms cover most US businesses. Find your industry in the table, then claim the profiles that match how your customers search.
| Site | Type | Best for |
|---|---|---|
| Google Business Profile | General | Local visibility |
| Yelp | General | Restaurants and local services |
| General | Social proof from followers | |
| Apple Maps | General | iPhone-based local search |
| Better Business Bureau | General | Trust and complaint handling |
| Trustpilot | E-commerce | Independent trust profile |
| Amazon | E-commerce | Product-level reviews |
| G2 | B2B software | Category rankings and badges |
| Capterra | B2B software | Small and midsize software buyers |
| Gartner Peer Insights | B2B software | Enterprise buying committees |
| TrustRadius | B2B software | Detailed long-form reviews |
| Tripadvisor | Industry | Hotels, restaurants, attractions |
| Healthgrades | Industry | Doctors and hospitals |
| Avvo | Industry | Attorneys |
| Angi | Industry | Home service professionals |
| Glassdoor | Employer | Job seeker perceptions |
B2B means business-to-business, so the B2B sites serve companies that sell to other companies. Employee sites such as Glassdoor matter because job seekers read them before applying. Treat them like customer sites and reply professionally.
How do you choose which review sites to prioritize?
Start where your customers already look, not where traffic is highest. Three steps point you to the right shortlist.
- Ask your customers.
Add one survey question: “Where did you look before choosing us?” - Search yourself.
Google your business name and your top three non-branded queries. Note which review sites appear on page one. - Match your industry.
Pick one general site and one industry site. Add a third only when you can keep up with it.
Starting points by business type:
- Local restaurant: Google, Yelp, Tripadvisor.
- Online store: Trustpilot, Google, Amazon if you sell there.
- Software company: G2, Capterra, Gartner Peer Insights.
- Medical practice: Google, Healthgrades.
- Law firm: Google, Avvo.
What are the rules for asking for reviews on each site?
Review gating means asking only happy customers for reviews while steering unhappy ones elsewhere. Most major platforms ban it. Rules differ by site, so check before you send a single request.
| Platform | Can you ask? | Incentives | Gating |
|---|---|---|---|
| Yes, consistently at the point of transaction | Banned | Banned | |
| Yelp | Discouraged, solicited reviews may be filtered | Banned | Banned |
| Not specified, spam rules apply | Banned | Not addressed | |
| Tripadvisor | Encouraged, with free tools | Strictly banned | Not addressed |
The US Federal Trade Commission (FTC) added legal weight in 2024. Its final rule on fake reviews and testimonials bans fake and AI-generated reviews, incentives tied to positive or negative sentiment, undisclosed insider reviews, and review suppression through baseless threats. Penalties reached up to $51,744 per violation when the rule took effect.
Step-by-step guide to building a review presence
A review presence takes a simple routine, not a big campaign. Follow these steps in order.
- Claim and verify your profile on each priority site.
- Complete every field, including hours, categories, photos, and services.
- Ask every customer at the moment of experience, by receipt, email, text, or QR code. Our guide on how to ask for a customer review covers timing and wording.
- Reply to every review, positive and negative, in your own words.
- Fix what reviews expose, then tell customers what changed.
How do you measure review site performance?
Measure review performance with five numbers: average rating, recency, response rate, reply quality, and recurring themes. Set a target for each so you can tell when something slips.
| Metric | Target | Why it matters |
|---|---|---|
| Average rating | 4.5 stars or higher | 31% of consumers will only use businesses rated 4.5 or higher |
| Recency | New reviews every month | 74% look for reviews from the last three months |
| Response rate | 100% of reviews | 80% are more likely to use a business that replies to all reviews |
| Reply quality | Personalized every time | 50% are put off by templated replies |
| Volume | Match your top three local competitors | Compare against rivals shown beside you in search |
| Themes | Tag the top three complaints | Sentiment analysis turns raw text into patterns |
Review these numbers monthly. A falling average with steady volume points to a service problem. A flat average with falling volume points to a request problem.
What mistakes do businesses make on review sites?
Most review problems come from neglect, not bad luck. These mistakes show up again and again:
- Ignoring negative reviews: A public reply shows future buyers how you handle problems.
- Gating requests: Asking only happy customers breaks Google and FTC rules.
- Buying or trading reviews: It risks removal, penalties, and lost trust.
- Using templated replies: Half of consumers dislike them.
- Focusing on one site: Google alone leaves you invisible where other buyers look.
- Using the wrong tool: Compare options in our roundup of review management software alternatives before you commit.
How can QuestionPro help you manage customer review sites?
Tracking 16 sites by hand does not scale. QuestionPro Customer Experience includes a reputation module that pulls reviews from Google My Business, the Google Play Store, Trustpilot, and Facebook into one dashboard. Teams filter reviews, reply from the same screen, and apply AI sentiment analysis to spot recurring complaints.
The same QuestionPro Customer Experience platform also collects private survey feedback. That lets you compare what customers tell you directly with what they post publicly, and fix the cause before it becomes a one-star review. Send review invitations to every customer, not only satisfied ones, to stay inside platform rules.
A review presence is a habit, not a project
Customer review sites reward consistency. Buyers read recent reviews, check your replies, and judge you on how you handle problems. Start small and keep the routine going.
- Pick two or three sites that match how your customers search.
- Ask every customer, every time, without incentives.
- Reply to every review and fix the cause behind the complaints.
Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs)
Most let you claim a basic profile at no cost, including Google, Yelp, Trustpilot, and Facebook. Paid tiers usually add invitations, analytics, or advertising. Check each site’s current pricing before you budget, because plans and features change often.
Verification varies widely. Amazon labels verified purchases, and B2B sites such as Gartner Peer Insights check reviewer identity through corporate email and LinkedIn. Open local directories verify less, so expect some fake or off-topic reviews and flag them to the platform.
Consumers increasingly ask AI tools for local recommendations. BrightLocal found that 45% of US consumers used ChatGPT or other generative AI for this in 2026, up from 6% the year before. Accurate profiles and fresh reviews are worth maintaining.
No fixed number exists. Aim to match the review counts of the top three competitors in your local search results, then keep new reviews arriving every month. Recency matters as much as volume, since 74% of consumers want reviews from the last three months.
Flag it through the platform’s reporting tool, keep screenshots as evidence, and reply calmly without accusing the reviewer. Do not threaten them. The FTC rule bars suppressing reviews through baseless legal threats or intimidation, so use the platform’s process instead.
