The short answer
Most people trust online reviews, with conditions. In BrightLocal's 2026 survey, 49% trust reviews from strangers about as much as personal recommendations, and 93% have bought something after reading reviews. Trust is earned through consistency: 56% look for reviews backed up by others with similar sentiment. Fake reviews erode it, and 97% of consumers think businesses should be punished for them. The FTC banned fake reviews outright in 2024.
- Trust in reviews is close to word-of-mouth level for about half of consumers, but it has always come with skepticism.
- Readers trust patterns, not single reviews. Consistency across many reviews is the top credibility signal.
- Perfect scores and text-free ratings attract suspicion; a believable spread earns more trust.
- Consumers want fake reviews punished, and since 2024 US businesses face FTC civil penalties for knowingly using them.
How much people trust online reviews
- 49%trust online reviews from strangers about as much as personal recommendations (2026).Source: BrightLocal Local Consumer Review Survey 2026
- 93%have made a purchase after reading reviews (2026).Source: BrightLocal Local Consumer Review Survey 2026
- 70%say they have made a purchase they later regretted (2026).Source: BrightLocal Local Consumer Review Survey 2026
- 51%of review readers said reviews generally give an accurate picture of quality (2016).Source: Pew Research Center
- 48%said it is often hard to tell whether reviews are truthful and unbiased (2016).Source: Pew Research Center
Put the 2026 and 2016 numbers side by side and the shape of trust is stable: roughly half of people give reviews a lot of weight, and roughly half carry real doubts. Both groups still read them. Pew found in 2016 that 82% of US adults at least sometimes read reviews before a first-time purchase, and BrightLocal's 2026 figure for local businesses is 97%.
The 70% regret figure is a useful reality check. Reviews are trusted enough to drive purchases, yet most people have still bought something they later wished they had not. That experience is why readers have become careful about which reviews they believe.
What makes a review believable
BrightLocal's 2026 survey asked which factors matter when consumers read a review. The ranking reads like a checklist for spotting genuine feedback.
| Factor | Share rating it important |
|---|---|
| Backed up by other reviews with similar sentiment | 56% |
| Describes a positive experience | 46% |
| Posted within the last month | 44% |
| High star rating | 42% |
| Owner has responded | 37% |
| Good spelling and grammar | 36% |
| Appealing photo or video | 36% |
| Reviewer is named | 35% |
| Others have liked or reacted to it | 30% |
| Reviewer has reviewed other businesses | 27% |
| Long and detailed | 26% |
Several of these are about the reviewer, not the business: a real name, a history of other reviews, decent writing. Readers are checking whether a person like them wrote it. The top factor is about the whole profile. A single glowing review proves little; twenty that independently praise the same thing are hard to fake.
PowerReviews' 2021 survey of 6,538 consumers adds two more signals. 52% don't trust star ratings without accompanying review text, and 46% are suspicious of a perfect five-star average. Northwestern's Spiegel Research Center reached a similar conclusion from purchase data: likelihood to buy peaks for products rated 4.0 to 4.7, and falls as the average nears 5.0.
What makes readers suspicious
BrightLocal's 2024 survey asked the reverse question: what would make you suspect a review is fake?
- 40% would suspect a review that seems AI-written, the top answer.
- 19% would be suspicious if the business owner suggested a review was fake, down from 30% in 2023.
- 17% would be suspicious of a reviewer with no profile photo, down from 27% in 2023.
- Suspicion of ratings with no written text fell by 19% compared with 2023.
The second line matters for anyone tempted to reply "this is obviously fake" to a review they dislike. Fewer readers hold it against the owner than before, but about one in five still do. If you believe a review is not genuine, report it to the platform and reply calmly without accusations. Our page on responding to fake reviews has wording that stays neutral.
Fake reviews: what consumers want done
Consumer patience with fake reviews is gone. In BrightLocal's 2026 survey, 97% said businesses should face some punishment for using them, and only 3% said there should be no consequences.
| Consequence | Share of consumers |
|---|---|
| Banned from review platforms | 57% |
| Lose customers as their reputation suffers | 54% |
| Removed from Google search results | 46% |
| Fined | 37% |
| Lose their business license | 20% |
| Criminal charges or jail time for the owner | 16% |
On who should catch fakes, 63% said review platforms, 49% said businesses themselves, and 25% said government or legal authorities. Shoppers expect platforms to do most of the policing, but nearly half also expect you to keep your own house in order.
The FTC rule: fake reviews are now a legal risk
On August 14, 2024, the Federal Trade Commission announced a final rule banning fake reviews and testimonials, taking effect 60 days after publication in the Federal Register. It lets the FTC seek civil penalties against knowing violators. According to the FTC's announcement, the rule prohibits:
- Creating, buying or selling fake reviews, including AI-generated ones, where the business knew or should have known they were fake.
- Offering compensation for reviews conditioned on a particular sentiment, positive or negative.
- Publishing reviews from officers, managers or employees without clearly disclosing the connection.
- Suppressing negative reviews through groundless legal threats, intimidation or certain false accusations, or misrepresenting that a review section shows all reviews when negative ones were removed.
- Buying or selling fake social media indicators such as bot followers or views for commercial purposes.
Do
- Ask every customer for an honest review, whatever their experience.
- Make sure staff who review the business disclose that they work there, or better, don't review it at all.
- Report reviews you believe are fake through the platform's process.
- Answer criticism publicly and professionally.
Don't
- Offer discounts or gifts in exchange for positive reviews.
- Buy reviews or use a service that writes them.
- Threaten reviewers with legal action to get reviews removed.
- Filter which customers get your review link based on how happy they seem.
This is general information, not legal advice. Read the FTC's announcement, and speak to a lawyer if you are unsure whether a practice is allowed.
Trust in AI recommendations
A new layer of trust sits between customers and reviews: AI assistants that summarize them or recommend businesses directly. BrightLocal's 2026 survey found 40% trust AI platforms to provide business recommendations, while 32% do not, and 42% trust AI recommendations as much as traditional reviews.
Those tools are only as good as the reviews they read. A business with a thin, old or text-free review history gives an assistant little to go on. A business with steady, detailed reviews and visible replies gives it plenty. Our local search review statistics cover how quickly AI tools have grown as a place to read reviews.
How a local business earns review trust
Build a pattern, not a highlight reel
Consistency across many reviews is the top credibility signal. A steady flow from all customers beats a handful of perfect ones. Our guide to asking for Google reviews shows how to keep it policy-safe.
Welcome a believable spread
A 4.6 with some honest 3-star reviews and thoughtful replies reads as more trustworthy than an untouched 5.0.
Reply like a person
An owner response is a credibility factor for 37% of readers. Specific, varied replies show a real person reads the feedback. AI review replies in Responsly are drafted from what each reviewer wrote, with low ratings held for you.
Keep it current
44% weigh whether a review was posted in the last month. Recency signals the business today matches what reviewers describe.
Stay clear of anything fake
No incentives, no gating, no staff reviews without disclosure. The trust you lose if caught is far larger than any rating you gain.
For how these trust signals translate into choices on Google specifically, see our Google review statistics.
Sources
- BrightLocal Local Consumer Review Survey 2026 — 1,002 US adults, published February 11, 2026. Trust, review factors, purchases, fake review attitudes and AI trust.
- BrightLocal Local Consumer Review Survey 2024 — Published March 6, 2024. Fake review red flags and AI vs human reply preference.
- Pew Research Center — "Online Shopping and E-Commerce: Online reviews", December 19, 2016.
- PowerReviews, Power of Reviews Survey 2021 — 6,538 US consumers. Suspicion of perfect scores and star ratings without text.
- Spiegel Research Center, Northwestern University — How Online Reviews Influence Sales (2017). Purchase likelihood by star rating.
- Federal Trade Commission — Final rule banning fake reviews and testimonials, announced August 14, 2024.