Glossary

Local SEO & Google review terms

Plain-English definitions of the terms that come up when you’re trying to rank higher on Google and get more out of your reviews.

Google Business Profile (GBP): Google Business Profile (formerly Google My Business) is the free listing a local business manages to control how it appears in Google Maps and local Search — name, address, hours, photos, and reviews. A complete, active profile is the foundation of local SEO; it's where customers read and leave Google reviews and where owners post replies.
Local Pack (Map Pack): The Local Pack — also called the Map Pack or 3-pack — is the group of (usually three) local businesses Google shows with a map above the regular results for a local query like "dentist near me." Ranking in the Local Pack drives the majority of local clicks, and star rating plus review signals heavily influence which businesses appear there.
Local ranking factors (relevance, distance, prominence): Google says local results are ranked by three main factors: relevance (how well a profile matches the search), distance (how far the business is from the searcher), and prominence (how well-known and well-regarded it is). Reviews feed prominence — Google states that "more reviews and positive ratings can improve a business's local ranking" — which is the lever a business owner can most directly influence.
Review response rate: Review response rate is the percentage of a business's reviews that have received a public reply from the owner. Responding to reviews is an engagement signal and a trust cue: consumers are far more likely to trust a business that replies to both positive and negative reviews, and studies show responding is associated with higher ratings over time. Aiming for a 100% response rate is a common goal.
Review velocity: Review velocity is the rate at which a business receives new reviews. A steady, natural stream of recent reviews signals an active, trustworthy business and tends to support local ranking more than a large but stale pile of old reviews. Sudden unnatural spikes can look manipulative, so consistency matters more than bursts.
Owner response (review reply): An owner response is the public reply a business posts beneath a customer's review on Google. Good responses thank positive reviewers by name and address negative reviews by acknowledging the concern, apologizing where appropriate, and offering to make it right. A thoughtful reply to a negative review often prompts the reviewer to update or remove it — roughly a third do.
Star rating (average rating): A business's star rating is the average of all its Google review ratings, on a 1–5 scale, shown prominently in Maps and the Local Pack. Even small differences move customer behavior, and rating is both a ranking input (via prominence) and a conversion driver — most consumers filter out businesses below about 4 stars.
Review gating: Review gating is the practice of surveying customers first and only asking satisfied ones to leave a public review (while diverting unhappy ones elsewhere). Google prohibits it: businesses must ask all customers for honest feedback, not selectively solicit positive reviews. The compliant approach is to ask everyone and respond well to whatever comes in.
NAP (Name, Address, Phone): NAP stands for Name, Address, and Phone number. Keeping NAP consistent across your Google Business Profile, website, and directory listings (citations) helps Google trust your business data and can support local ranking. Inconsistent NAP across the web can dilute prominence and confuse customers.
Citation: A citation is any online reference to your business's NAP — in directories (Yelp, Yellow Pages), social profiles, or other sites. Consistent, accurate citations reinforce the legitimacy of your business to search engines and are a traditional component of local SEO, though reviews and profile activity now carry more weight.
Local SEO: Local SEO is the practice of improving a business's visibility in location-based searches — the Local Pack, Google Maps, and "near me" queries. For most local businesses the highest-leverage work is maintaining a complete Google Business Profile and building a steady stream of reviews with a high response rate, since those are the signals owners control.
GEO (Generative Engine Optimization): Generative Engine Optimization (GEO) is the practice of structuring content so that AI answer engines — ChatGPT, Perplexity, Google AI Overviews — surface and cite it. Clear definitions, direct question-and-answer formatting, structured data, and machine-readable resources (like an llms.txt file) all help content get quoted in generated answers.
Rich results (rich snippets): Rich results are search listings enhanced with extra visual detail — star ratings, FAQ dropdowns, breadcrumbs — generated from structured data (schema.org markup) on the page. For local businesses, review stars in rich results can meaningfully increase click-through from search.
Aggregate rating: An aggregate rating is a single score summarizing many individual reviews (for example, 4.6 stars from 128 reviews). In structured data, an AggregateRating on a product or business can make a page eligible for star-rating rich results, provided the rating reflects reviews genuinely shown on the page.
Online reputation management (ORM): Online reputation management is the ongoing practice of monitoring and improving how a business appears online — primarily through its reviews and how it responds to them. For local businesses the core of ORM is simple: earn steady reviews, reply to every one promptly and professionally, and resolve complaints in public. Done consistently, it protects both ranking and conversion.
Google review link: A Google review link is the short URL (available from your Google Business Profile) that opens the review form for your business directly, so customers can rate you in a couple of taps. Sharing it by text, email, receipt, or QR code removes friction and is one of the most effective, policy-compliant ways to earn more reviews — as long as you ask all customers, not just happy ones.
Search engine results page (SERP): A SERP is the page of results shown for a search query. For local queries it typically includes the Local Pack (map + three businesses), organic web results, and sometimes an AI overview. Ranking well means appearing in the parts of the SERP that get the most attention — for local businesses, that's overwhelmingly the Local Pack.
Review sentiment: Review sentiment is the emotional tone of a review — positive, neutral, or negative — independent of its star rating. Tracking sentiment (and the topics customers mention) helps a business spot recurring problems and prioritize which reviews need a careful response first. SmallBizReply tags each review's sentiment and urgency automatically.
Google Business Profile categories: Business categories are the labels you choose on your Google Business Profile (a primary category plus secondary ones) that tell Google what your business does. Picking the most specific accurate primary category is one of the highest-impact local-SEO settings, because it directly affects which "near me" searches you're eligible to rank for.
Google Questions & Answers (Q&A): Google Q&A is the crowd-sourced questions-and-answers section on a Google Business Profile. Anyone can ask or answer, so businesses should monitor it and post accurate owner answers to common questions — otherwise incorrect crowd answers can mislead customers. It's a smaller but often-neglected part of managing your Google presence.

The lever you control: reviews

Of all these signals, review rating and response rate are the ones an owner can move directly. SmallBizReply replies to every Google review automatically, in your voice.

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