The 53% business line does not respond not a single one review
We analyzed 874 Google Business Profile listings across six countries and five sectors. More than half had not responded to any of their eight most recent reviews.
Responding to reviews isn't a habit. It's a switch.
The two extremes together account for 67% of the sample. The middle zone is half empty: when a business decides to respond, it sets up a process and answers almost everything. When it doesn't decide to respond, it doesn't answer at all. Almost no one answers occasionally.
The barrier, then, is not a lack of time. It's that the process either exists or it doesn't.
The sector weighs more than the country.
Coverage by sector
Coverage by country
There is a 19-point difference between countries. Between specific combinations of sector and country, there is a sixty-point difference.
Restaurants in Argentina respond to 19%. Dental clinics in Mexico, to 79%. Knowing which sector a business operates in predicts its behavior better than knowing which country it's in.
The United States does not lead
This was our hypothesis before we started, and the data disproved it.
We expected the market with the most established review culture to set the peak. It ranks fourth out of six in coverage, behind Mexico, Spain, and Chile.
In terms of intensity, it recovers to second place, which points to a different pattern: Fewer businesses are responding, but those that are are more systematic.. The conclusion we draw is that there is no single reference market. The culture of response is organized by sector, not by geography.
Two-thirds of the criticisms are ignored
A one-star review has exactly the same chance of receiving a response as a five-star review. 671% of reviews go unanswered.
This contradicts the advice of any online reputation guide: if you can't respond to everything, at least respond to the negative comments. In practice, this doesn't happen. Those who respond do so indiscriminately, and those who don't respond don't make exceptions when it comes to complaints either.
The three-star ones are the most orphaned, and it makes sense: they are not good enough to celebrate nor bad enough to cause alarm.
Having many reviews doesn't mean responding more.
The rate increases with volume up to a certain point and then drops. Listings with more than a thousand reviews respond less than those in the previous tier.
The most plausible explanation is capacity: the manual process can handle up to a few dozen reviews a month, and then it breaks down. This is what we see in the higher-end sections. It's not disinterest, it's an overwhelmed system.
Coverage by country and sector
| Sector | USA | Spain | Mexico | Colombia | Chili | Argentina | Global |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Dental health | 42% | 68% | 79% | 68% | 50% | 37% | 57% |
| Beauty | 70% | 74% | 28% | 40% | 69% | 35% | 53% |
| Hotels | 40% | 32% | 67% | 46% | 41% | 46% | 45% |
| Automotive | 41% | 45% | 43% | 22% | 51% | 43% | 41% |
| Restaurants | 38% | 44% | 48% | 54% | 23% | 19% | 37% |
| Global | 45% | 53% | 55% | 44% | 47% | 36% | 47% |
Five practical readings
The difference is greater than it seems.If half of the people in your sector and city aren't responding, starting to do so will set you apart from the average without spending on advertising.
Compare yourself to your industry, not your countryThe national average means nothing. Your category sets the standard.
Criticism is free territoryTwo-thirds of the negative reviews remain unanswered. It's the most neglected opportunity of the bunch.
It caters to the three-star ones.These are the least answered and usually come from customers who can be recovered.
After a thousand reviews, the manual process failed.The data clearly shows it. At that volume, you need a dedicated person or automation.
Methodology
- Period
- August 2026
- Fountain
- Google Business Profile public listings, automated extraction
- Cities
- Miami, Barcelona, Mexico City, Bogotá, Santiago and Buenos Aires
- Sectors
- Restaurants, dental clinics, beauty and hairdressing salons, automotive, hotels
- Sample
- 874 listings · 6,949 reviews · 8 most recent reviews per listing
- Decrease
- 3 listings with no reviews available, excluded (0.3%)
The two metrics
Coverage: Percentage of businesses that responded to at least one of their last 8 reviews. Measures whether the habit exists.
Intensity: Percentage of total reviews that received a response. Measures whether the habit is systematic.
A business can have high coverage and low intensity: it responds to some things and lets the rest go.
Limitations
The individual cells contain samples of 23 to 43 entries and should be read as indicative. The categories are assigned by Google and were manually grouped into five sectors. One city does not represent an entire country.
What they usually ask us
How many businesses respond to your Google reviews?
In this sample, 47% responded to at least one of their 8 most recent reviews. 53% did not respond to any.
Which sector responds to the most reviews?
Dental health, with 57% coverage and 40% intensity. The least covered were restaurants, with 37% and 27%.
In which country are the most reviews answered?
Of the six analyzed, Mexico leads in coverage (55%) and Spain in intensity (38%). Argentina ranks last in both.
Are negative reviews answered more often?
No. One-star ones are answered to 33%, the same ratio as five-star ones.
Do larger businesses respond more?
To a certain extent. The rate improves with volume up to 999 reviews and then drops, suggesting that manual management stops working beyond a certain size.
How was this data collected?
Through automated extraction of public Google Business Profile listings during August 2026, taking the 8 most recent reviews from each. The complete methodology is described above.