“Is This Place Any Good?” How Google’s AI Reads Your Reviews to Answer Customers (Before They Ever See Your Website) H1: “Is This Place Any Good?” How Google’s AI Uses Your Reviews to Answer Your Customers

Here’s a stat that should make every small business owner sit up straight: 90% of consumers used Google to evaluate local businesses last year. (Source: BrightLocal).

For over a decade, I’ve been advising my clients—from lawyers to plumbers to restaurant owners—that their online reputation is their “digital front door.” We all know the drill: a customer searches for you, they see your star rating, they read a few reviews, and they decide whether to call you or your competitor.

It’s been a simple, if stressful, process.

But what if I told you that process is already dead?

My name is Linda Donnelly, owner of Business Solutions Marketing Group. For over ten years, I’ve helped small businesses navigate the constant changes in digital marketing. And I’m telling you, what’s happening right now is the biggest, most fundamental shift I have ever seen.

You’ve probably noticed it. You search for something, and Google doesn’t just give you 10 blue links. It gives you a direct answer in a big, shaded box at the very top.

That’s Google’s new AI, Gemini, giving an “AI Overview.”

And when a potential customer asks Google a question about you—like, “Is XYZ Law Firm any good?” or “What’s the vibe at ABC Restaurant?”—the AI is no longer just showing them your star rating.

It’s reading all of your reviews and writing its own summary.

This is a complete game-changer. Your reviews are no longer just “reviews.” They are the raw data that is actively training Google’s AI on how to describe your business to the world.

So, what has the AI learned about you? Is it a glowing recommendation, or is it a warning? Let’s talk about what this means and how you can take control.

How do Google reviews impact a business's local ranking? 🤔 — How do Google reviews impact a business’s local ranking? 🤔

The “Old” Way vs. The “New” AI-Powered Way

This is not a small tweak. This is a different planet.

The Old Way (Last Year):

A user Googles: “best family lawyer in Greensboro.”
Google shows a “3-Pack” of businesses.
The user looks at the star ratings. 4.8 stars. 4.7 stars. 3.2 stars.
The user clicks on the 4.8-star and 4.7-star firms, reads a few reviews, and ignores the 3.2-star one.
They visit your website, read your Content, and then decide to call.

In this world, a 3.2-star rating was bad, but it was just a “filter.”

The New Way (Today):

A user asks Google: “Is the XYZ Law Firm in Greensboro any good for a custody case?”
Google’s AI instantly reads the website, but more importantly, it scans the sentiment of all 50 reviews for “XYZ Law Firm.”
The AI bypasses the 10 blue links and writes its own answer at the top of the page.

And that answer will not be just a star rating. It will be a summary.

“Garbage In, Garbage Out”: How AI Really Reads Your Reviews

This is the part that’s so critical. AI doesn’t just “count” your 5-star reviews. It reads the words. It performs “sentiment analysis.” It looks for patterns and keywords in what your customers are saying.

Let’s run a simulation. Imagine you’re a plumber with 20 reviews.

Scenario A: (You have a great, clean reputation)

18 5-star reviews use words like “fast,” “professional,” “on-time,” and “fair price.”
2 4-star reviews say “great service, but a little expensive.”

A user asks Google: “Is Acme Plumbing in High Point reliable?”

The AI Overview will likely say: “Acme Plumbing is generally considered highly reliable, professional, and fast. Most customers praise their ‘fair pricing,’ though a few mention they are ‘a little expensive’ but worth it.”

That’s a fantastic answer! You’d pay thousands for an ad that good.

But now let’s look at the same business, but with a few “poison pill” reviews…

The “Poison Pill”: How a Few Bad Reviews Can Ruin Your AI Summary

Let’s take the same plumber. They still have 18 great reviews. But two new 1-star reviews have come in.

One 1-star review from an angry customer says, “They never called me back! I waited all day. Unresponsive and unprofessional.”
One 1-star fake review from an ex-employee says, “Total scam. They overcharge and the owner is a jerk.”

Now… what happens?

A user asks Google: “Is Acme Plumbing in High Point reliable?”

The AI Overview will likely say: “Reviews for Acme Plumbing are mixed. While many customers find them ‘fast’ and ‘professional,’ other users report that they are ‘unresponsive,’ ‘unprofessional,’ and may ‘overcharge’ or be a ‘scam’.“

That is a DISASTER.

Your 18 happy customers were just completely canceled out by one angry person and one fake post. The AI’s “neutral” summary is now poisoned. It’s a disaster for your business.

Why? Because 75% of consumers say they have “a lot” or “complete” trust in online reviews. (Source: BrightLocal). They will believe that AI summary.

And just like that, you are invisible to your best customers.

This Isn’t “Reputation Management” Anymore. It’s “AI Training.”

Are you starting to see the shift?

For the last decade, my team and I at Business Solutions Marketing Group have focused on Reputation Management. That meant gathering good reviews and responding to bad ones. It was a reactive process.

Now, that’s not enough.

Our job is no longer just “managing” your reputation. Our new job is “AI Training.”

We have to proactively train Google’s AI to see you as the 5-star, trusted, authoritative business that you are. We have to feed it so much good, positive data that it drowns out the inevitable bad data.

We have to curate the “diet” that the AI is learning from.

This is the new SEO. It’s no longer just about keywords on your website. It’s about managing the entire public sentiment about your brand, 24/7.

It’s a lot of work. But here’s the good news: we have a plan for this.

Our “AI-Ready” Reputation Strategy: A 3-Step Plan

This is how we, as your marketing partner, fight back. We don’t just “hope” for a good AI summary. We build one.

It’s a simple, 3-part strategy.

Step 1: The Offense (Feed the AI with a Flood of Good Data)

The #1 way to fix a “poisoned” dataset is to overwhelm it with new, clean data. You can’t let those two 1-star reviews be 10% of your total. You need them to be 0.1%.

Your goal is to get a steady, consistent stream of new, 5-star reviews.

Why? Not just to raise your star rating, but to continuously feed the AI with positive keywords.
How we help: You’re too busy running your business to chase down reviews. We implement a simple, automated system for you. It can be a simple QR code on an invoice, an email, or a text message that goes out to your happy customers.
The Key: We make it easy for your happy customers to leave a review and hard for your unhappy ones. Our system can ask for “feedback” first. If it’s a 4 or 5-star experience, it auto-directs them to Google. If it’s 1-3 stars, it opens a private feedback form that goes directly to you. This lets you solve the problem before it becomes a public, AI-poisoning review.

Step 2: The Defense (Responding: Showing the AI You’re Engaged)

What happens when a bad review does get through? You must respond.

Not just for the human customer—for the AI. An AI can read your response. It’s looking for “Trust” signals. A business that responds professionally to a negative review is seen as more trustworthy than one that doesn’t.

In fact, one survey from ReviewTrackers found that 45% of consumers say they are more likely to visit a business if it responds to negative reviews. (Source: ReviewTrackers).

AI’s Thought Process: “I see a 1-star review claiming ‘unprofessional.’ But I also see a 5-star response from the Owner: ‘We are so sorry this happened. That is not our standard. We have a record of your call and would like to make this right.’.”
Result: The AI sees “problem” and “resolution.” It sees an engaged, professional owner. This neutralizes the poison.
How we help: As a business owner, a 1-star review feels like a personal attack. It’s hard to not respond emotionally. Let us do it for you. We are a professional, detached third party. We can respond calmly, strategically, and empatheically, turning that negative review into a marketing win.

Step 3: The “Special Ops” (Removing the Truly Bad Data)

This is our “secret weapon.” You have to respond to a legitimate bad review. But what if the review is NOT legitimate?

What if it’s from an angry ex-employee? (Conflict of Interest)
What if it’s from a competitor? (Spam)
What if it’s defamatory and just… fake? (Hate Speech / Harassment)
What if it’s a 1-star review about your politics and not your business? (Off-Topic)

You do not have to live with these. These are direct violations of Google’s Terms of Service. The “Flag as inappropriate” button that you’ve tried? It’s a “maybe” at best.

Our team at BSMG has been in this Reputation Management game for almost a decade. We know the real rules. We have a process. We build a “legal-style” case for Google, proving why the review is a TOS violation, and we submit it through the proper channels.

We offer two powerful programs for this:

Pay-on-Success Removal: This is our no-risk option. You tell us the review, and we go to war for you. We don’t even take a credit card. If we get it removed, you pay a one-time fee. If we don’t, you pay nothing.
Guaranteed Removal: This is for that one, killer 1-star review that is slaughtering your business. It’s a higher investment, but we dedicate a massive amount of resources to it, and we 100% guarantee it comes down.

Think about the ROI of that. A one-time fee to permanently remove the “poison data” that the AI is feeding on… versus letting it sit there and cost you thousands every month?

The math is simple.

Your Reputation is Your Revenue

Your reputation is your most valuable asset. In this new age of AI, it’s more than “fluff”—it’s the data that feeds the AI, it’s the first impression you ever make, and it’s a direct driver of your revenue.

Don’t let a “fluff” item on your to-do list be the reason your business stalls. Let’s start treating it like the powerful, money-making tool it is.

If you’re ready to turn your online reputation from an “expense” into your #1 high-ROI investment, my team is here to help.

Key Takeaways

Here’s the “cheat sheet” for what you need to remember:

Reviews = Revenue: The data is clear. A small 0.5-star jump in your rating can lead to a massive increase in conversions (calls, clicks, leads).
The AI is Watching: Google’s new AI Overviews read and summarize your reviews to answer customer questions. Your reputation is now training the AI on how to describe your business.
A Bad Review is a “Poison Pill”: A single 1-star review (even a fake one) can poison the AI’s summary, turning a positive answer into a “mixed” or negative one.
You Have Two Plays:
1. Offense (Proactive): You must have a system to get a steady stream of new, positive 5-star reviews to “drown out” the bad data.
2. Defense (Reactive): You must respond professionally to all reviews and have a partner (like us!) who can remove fake, defamatory, or TOS-violating reviews.
Reputation is an Investment: The one-time cost of managing or removing reviews has an immediate and massive ROI by plugging the “leak” in your sales funnel.

Common Questions You Might Have

I own a law firm. Do reviews really matter for professionals?
- 100%. They might matter more. Trust is your only product. When a potential client is facing a divorce or a criminal charge, they are in a high-stakes, vulnerable state. They will read your reviews on Google, Avvo, and Justia to see who other people trusted. A bad reputation (or no reputation) is an immediate disqualifier.
Isn’t it “cheating” to remove a bad review?
- It is not possible to remove a legitimate, opinion-based review just because you don’t like it. What we do is ethical and by the book. We are experts in Google’s Terms of Service. We build a case to remove reviews that are spam, fake, defamatory, conflict-of-interest (e.g., from an ex-employee), or hate speech. We are “policing” the platform for you.
How long does it take to see an ROI?
- The “defense” (removal) is almost instant. The day that 1-star review comes down, you stop losing customers to it. The “offense” (getting new reviews) is a long-term investment. You’ll start to see your rating climb in a few months, and the trust and revenue that follow will build for years.
Why can’t I just respond to my own reviews?
- You can! And you should. But… are you? Do you have time? And more importantly, are you emotional? As a business owner, it’s personal. Your response might be angry or defensive. We are a professional, detached third party. We can respond calmly and strategically, turning a negative into a public-facing positive without the emotion.
What’s the first step? Where do I even start?
- The first step is a 5-minute audit. Google your business. What do you see? What’s your rating? Read your top 5 reviews. Read your worst 5 reviews. If you don’t love what you see, your customers don’t either. The second step is to call us.