Research · October 2026

How many Google reviews does a Geelong tradie need? We checked 10 trades.

On 15 October 2026 we searched Google Maps for ten trades in Geelong and recorded the top ten results for each: rating, number of reviews, website and phone. 100 listings, 98 of them unpaid.

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What you get, in writing

Findings before you pay a centYour site, ads and Google listing, screenshot by screenshot
Cost per booked job, every monthNot clicks, not impressions
Live in 90 days or you stop payingThen month to month, no lock-in
Your accounts, your cardWe never mark up ad spend

See two client results, numbers left in

In short

The typical unpaid top-10 listing for a Geelong trade on Google Maps had about 45 reviews and a 5.0 rating, and 27 of the 98 listings had fewer than 20 reviews. Electricians, plumbers and air conditioning are the exception, with top-three medians of 1,073, 639 and 433 reviews.

The six numbers

Typical review count

About 45

is the median number of Google reviews across 98 unpaid top-10 listings for ten Geelong trades.

Under 20 reviews

27 of 98

listings in a top 10 had fewer than 20 reviews, and 12 had fewer than 10. One concreter made the top 10 with none.

Top three vs the rest

56 vs 33

is the median review count for the top three unpaid listings compared with positions four to ten (about 33).

Rated 4.8 or higher

80 of 97

rated listings, with 51 on a perfect 5.0 and the lowest at 4.3. Ratings barely separate anyone.

Link a website

96 of 98

listings link to a website and 95 show a phone number. A listing without a website is the exception.

Searches with a paid listing

2 of 10

showed a sponsored listing at the top: builders and air conditioning. The rest were unpaid all the way down.

Trade by trade

Trade	Median reviews, top 10	Median reviews, top 3	Fewest reviews in the top 10	Rated 4.8 or higher
Electrician	85.5	1,073	25	10 of 10
Plumber	60	639	16	8 of 10
Air conditioning installation	345	433	58	8 of 9
Painter	65.5	46	6	10 of 10
Roofer	46.5	62	5	9 of 10
Fencing contractor	45.5	47	7	7 of 10
Landscaper	42	54	5	9 of 10
Concreter	24	35	0	6 of 10
Builder	24	32	5	3 of 9
Carpenter	15	17	7	10 of 10

Top three and top ten exclude paid listings. Builders and air conditioning each had one paid listing, so their columns cover nine unpaid listings.

What it means for a Geelong tradie

In most trades the bar to appear in Geelong's top ten is lower than it looks: a few dozen genuine reviews, a complete profile and a website that matches the service. The exceptions are the trades where a handful of businesses have collected reviews for years, where the top three are a long way ahead and paid listings or a narrower suburb focus are the faster route.

Five things that move a Geelong listing

1. Ask every finished job for a review, by text with a direct link, the same day. 2. Reply to every review, good or bad, within a day. 3. Pick the right primary category and list every service and suburb you want work from. 4. Link the profile to the matching service page, not just the homepage. 5. Keep hours, photos and phone current, because an out-of-date listing loses the call even when it ranks.

We run this for trades on our marketing for tradies engagements, alongside Google Ads in Geelong and SEO and digital marketing in Geelong.

How we did it

Searches. Google Maps, in English, on 15 October 2026, for ten searches: plumber, electrician, builder, landscaper, roofer, painter, carpenter, air conditioning installation, concreter and fencing contractor, each followed by “geelong vic”. We recorded the first ten results shown for each search.

Measures. Position, star rating, number of reviews, whether the listing links a website, whether a phone number shows, whether it says open 24 hours, and whether it was a sponsored (paid) listing. Two of the 100 were paid and are excluded from the figures. We did not record business names.

Limits. Google Maps results change with the searcher's location, device and time, and these searches were not made from inside Geelong, so a searcher in Geelong may see a different order. Ten listings per trade is a snapshot, not a census.

Data and licence. Download the CSV (one row per listing, no names). Free to use under CC BY 4.0 with a link to this page. Questions about the data: info@sellevate.com.au.

Proof you can check.

We publish two client results, both read from inside the client’s own admin with their permission. Both are online stores. The method is the one we run for service businesses: track every enquiry to the booked job first, fix the page that converts, then put the budget behind what works.

Shopify store and showroom · Motorcycle gear · Victoria

Tuff Gear

A$222Ktotal sales in the 12 months to August 2026, up 274% on the year before

733orders fulfilled, up 112%
12.3%returning customers, up 68%
2.5xonline store monthly sales since 2024

A store we run end to end: product pages and tracking first, then Google and Meta run against cost per order, then creative written for riders. The showroom sells through Shopify too, so this is the whole business.

Read the Tuff Gear case study

Shopify store · Party supplies · Melbourne

Koi Koi Inbox

+205%total sales, February to August 2026 (A$77K) against the seven months before

679orders, up 176%
A$24Kstraight from Facebook and Instagram
A$15Ka month since May, from about A$6.5K

A family business whose Meta ads we took over in February 2026. The account was rebuilt around the party packs parents actually search for, and growth came in steps as the winning ads got the budget.

Read the Koi Koi Inbox case study

Screenshots read from each store’s Shopify admin on 10 September 2026 and published with the owners’ permission. They are their numbers, not a promise about anyone else’s. How we publish results

From free audits we ran for service businesses, September 2026

What we usually find in the first hour

01A Book Now button that leads to a dead pageSitewide, on a practice paying for Google Ads every day.

02Ads counting clicks as customersConversion tags firing on button presses and phone taps, so Google learns to buy the wrong clicks.

03Phone numbers a mobile cannot dialA header number formatted so that tapping it does nothing, on a business that lives on calls.

04Proof the website hidesFive stars from hundreds of Google reviews, and none of it on the pages people land on.

Names left out, patterns real. Get the same check on your business, free

Questions

How many Google reviews does a Geelong tradie need?

Fewer than most think, in most trades. Across 98 unpaid top-10 listings for ten trades in Geelong, the median was about 45 reviews and 27 listings had fewer than 20. Electricians, plumbers and air conditioning are the exception, where the top three had medians of 1,073, 639 and 433 reviews.

Does my star rating matter for Google Maps?

It is table stakes rather than a tie breaker. 80 of the 97 rated listings sat at 4.8 stars or higher and 51 had a perfect 5.0. The lowest rating in any top 10 was 4.3. What separates listings is relevance to the search, distance from the searcher, review count and how complete the profile is.

Should a tradie pay for Google Maps ads?

Only two of the ten searches showed a paid listing at the top, for builders and for air conditioning, so most Geelong trades can still win the map without paying. Paid listings make sense when the unpaid top three are out of reach for now, while reviews and the profile catch up.

Can I use this data?

Yes. The data is free to use under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 licence. Please link to this page as the source. The download lists every listing we recorded without business names.

Want to know where your listing stands in Geelong?

Send your website and we check your Google profile, reviews and site against the listings in this study, then send the findings in writing within 24 hours. Free.

Book a free 10-minute call Get a free audit

info@sellevate.com.au 0493 290 352Geelong VIC

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Where we do this

Ecommerce agency in MelbourneShopify and Amazon brands across Victoria PPC agency in MelbourneGoogle Ads, Shopping and Meta judged on cost per order Shopify SEOThe Shopify traps fixed first, then collections that rank Google Ads management in GeelongOur home market, flat fee, no spend markup Google Ads in BendigoCentral Victoria, flat fee, no spend markup How the 90 days actually runWeek by week, what happens when Client results with the numbers left inTuff Gear and Koi Koi, read from their own admin