Replying to reviews
The inbox, replying, edit/delete, reporting to Google, and sync.
Review count, average rating, and reply rate are among the strongest local ranking and conversion factors — the SEO Audit scores reviews with the highest weight. The Reviews screen collects all your Google reviews in one inbox, and replies are written directly to your Google Business Profile.
The inbox
- Tabs: All, Low rating, Unreplied, Replied.
- Filter/sort: filter by star, sort by newest/oldest/rating, server-side search.
- Stats: average rating, total, unreplied, reply rate, and star breakdown.
Replying
- Open a review, write your reply (or use an AI suggestion) and send.
- The reply is written to Google; while the status is
PENDING/VERIFYING, the screen auto-refreshes every ~8 seconds. - You can edit or delete a reply (delete is Google-first, so the panel doesn't desync from Google). A reply is at most 4000 bytes.
Reply templates offer one-click canned replies.
Reporting to Google
The Report to Google button for a policy-violating review opens Google's official reporting tool in a new tab. Because Google offers no programmatic reporting API, the status isn't tracked in the panel.
Sync and banners
Reviews are synced from Google. Depending on state, banners appear:
- Connect Google — if there's no connection.
- This business isn't visible (NOT_FOUND) — "try again" won't fix it; reconnect Google with the correct account.
- Sync error / stale data — "Try again" queues a full sync (~30-60s).
Permissions: reviews.view to see reviews, reviews.respond to reply/edit/delete. See Roles and permissions.
Why it affects ranking
A high reply rate + good rating + fresh reviews raise both ranking and conversion. A fast, calm, solution-focused reply to a negative review influences both that customer and the hundreds who read it.
What's next
To speed up replies, see AI reply suggestions and Auto-reply.