What is a good Google rating for bars?
The 477 studied bars profiles averaged 4.39 stars and 45.5% sat at 4.5 or higher. Below 4.0 sat 5.9%. That describes the profiles studied, not the whole trade.
Original research · Industry · 2026
The bars benchmark 2026
Rating, review volume and profile completeness across 477 bars profiles in the United States and the Netherlands.
This page is the industry cut of our deep audit. Every figure comes from public fields the Google Places API returned for bars; this is observational research, not a survey.
Deep audit 26 August 2026 · free to cite under CC BY 4.0 · source: Google Maps Platform Places API
Research snapshot
- Study
- The Bars Benchmark 2026
- Publisher
- RecensioAI B.V.
- Industry
- Bars
- Markets
- United States and the Netherlands
- Profiles analyzed
- 477
- US sample
- 313
- Netherlands sample
- 164
- Audit date
- 26 August 2026
- Research type
- Observational analysis
- Source
- Google Maps Platform Places API
- Version
- 1.0
- Published
- 26 August 2026
These figures describe the 477 profiles studied and are not representative of all bars in either country. We do not publish individual business names.
1. Key findings
Every figure below uses the same denominator: the 477 studied bars profiles, unless a market is explicitly named.
4.39★
average rating for bars
US 4.37 · Netherlands 4.42
Bars · n=477
45.5% reached 4.5 stars or higher and 5.9% sat below 4.0.
358
median review count
US 472 · Netherlands 138
Bars · n=477
The median describes the profiles studied and is not a target for your business.
18.4%
no website was returned
Bars · n=477
No phone number for 14.3% either, and no regular opening hours for 6.7%.
82.0
average field coverage (out of 100)
Bars · n=477
A RecensioAI measure across six public API fields. Not a Google score and not a claim about quality.
2. United States versus the Netherlands
Ratings sit closer together than review counts: 4.37 versus 4.42 stars, but 472 versus 138 reviews for the median profile.
United States
4.37★
median 472 reviews
n=313
Netherlands
4.42★
median 138 reviews
n=164
3. What was missing on the profiles
Share of the studied profiles for which the Places API did not return the field.
Bars (n=477) All six trades
No website
18.4%
9.5%
No phone number
14.3%
5.3%
No regular opening hours
6.7%
3.7%
No photo returned
2.1%
1.8%
Accessibility information was returned for 77.1% of the studied bars profiles and an editorial summary for 33.5%.
4. How other trades performed
Same audit, same fields, different cohorts. Each trade has its own benchmark page.
Quick answers from the research
Each answer refers to the profiles studied and names the sample the figure comes from.
How many Google reviews does a bars profile typically have?
The median studied profile had 358 reviews: 472 in the US sample (n=313) and 138 in the Netherlands sample (n=164).
How complete are bars profiles on Google?
For 18.4% of the studied bars profiles the Places API returned no website, for 14.3% no phone number and for 6.7% no regular opening hours. Average field coverage was 82.0 out of 100.
Do bars differ between the US and the Netherlands?
In this sample the average rating was 4.37 in the US and 4.42 in the Netherlands, with medians of 472 and 138 reviews. The difference sits mostly in volume, not in rating.
How was this industry benchmark measured?
Through the Google Places API, across 477 unique bars profiles in the United States and the Netherlands, audited on 26 August 2026. Observational research, not a survey.
Methodology
We requested 477 unique bars profiles through the Google Places API (313 in the US, 164 in the Netherlands) and recorded rating, review count and the presence of six public fields for each.
Trade assignment follows the primary category Google returned. A venue that could be seen as both a café and a restaurant sits in one cohort, not both.
The sample is not weighted to the true business mix of either country, and nothing on this page is a claim about ranking causes.
Version and updates
This is version 1.0, published on 26 August 2026. This URL is permanent: new editions and corrections appear here rather than at a new page, so existing citations keep working.
This study is part of RecensioAI's research programme, where we keep our methodology and every edition. The main study is The State of Local Reputation 2026.
An industry average is context. Your street is useful.
Run a free scan of your Google Business Profile and see how your public signals compare with similar bars nearby.
How to cite this research
Journalists, agencies and researchers may use these aggregate figures freely under CC BY 4.0. One condition: cite the source and link back to this page.
RecensioAI (2026). The Bars Google Business Profile Benchmark 2026: ratings, review volume and profile completeness across 477 profiles in the United States and the Netherlands. https://recensioai.com/benchmark/bars
Canonical URL: https://recensioai.com/benchmark/bars