How many businesses stop getting new Google reviews?
Of the 3,109 studied profiles with datable recency, 32.2% had no review newer than roughly six months and 22.3% had none newer than roughly twelve months.
Original research · 2026
The Silent Profile Report 2026
How old the newest Google review was across 3,109 studied business profiles in the United States and the Netherlands.
For each profile Google returned the relative age of the newest review ('3 months ago'). We converted those labels into age bands. This is observational research: it describes what the API returned, not what a business is doing wrong.
Deep audit 26 August 2026 · free to cite under CC BY 4.0 · source: Google Maps Platform Places API
Research snapshot
- Study
- The Silent Profile Report 2026
- Publisher
- RecensioAI B.V.
- Markets
- United States and the Netherlands
- Profiles in the audit
- 3,136
- With datable recency
- 3,109
- US sample
- 2,057
- Netherlands sample
- 1,052
- Excluded
- 27 profiles with no datable label
- Audit date
- 26 August 2026
- Research type
- Observational analysis
- Source
- Google Maps Platform Places API
- Version
- 1.0
- Published
- 26 August 2026
Recency is derived from the relative time label Google returned with the newest review, rounded to months. Results describe the businesses studied and are not representative of all businesses in either country.
1. Key findings
Every figure below shares one denominator: the studied profiles for which Google returned a datable label with the newest review.
32.2%
no review newer than six months
1,001 profiles
Profiles with datable recency · n=3,109
15.9% in the US sample versus 64.1% in the Netherlands sample.
22.3%
no review newer than a year
692 profiles
Profiles with datable recency · n=3,109
A profile whose newest review is more than a year old mostly shows a visitor what happened a long time ago.
46.7%
a review within three months
1,451 profiles
Profiles with datable recency · n=3,109
In the US that applied to 59.0% of the profiles studied, in the Netherlands to 22.6%.
2. How old was the newest review?
Distribution across all 3,109 studied profiles with a datable label.
Under 1 month
4.9% (153 profiles)
US 134 · Netherlands 19
1–3 months
41.7% (1,298 profiles)
US 1,079 · Netherlands 219
3–6 months
21.1% (657 profiles)
US 517 · Netherlands 140
6–12 months
9.9% (309 profiles)
US 176 · Netherlands 133
1–2 years
12.5% (390 profiles)
US 105 · Netherlands 285
Over 2 years
9.7% (302 profiles)
US 46 · Netherlands 256
3. United States versus the Netherlands
The biggest difference in this study is not in ratings but in pace: 64.1% of Netherlands profiles were silent versus 15.9% of US ones.
United States (n=2,057) Netherlands (n=1,052)
Review within 3 months
59.0%
22.6%
Silent for over 6 months
15.9%
64.1%
Silent for over 12 months
7.3%
51.4%
4. How to read these numbers
A silent profile does not mean a business is bad. It means the most recent experience a customer can read on Google is already some time old.
A business with 400 reviews from three years ago and one with 80 reviews from this month can carry the same star rating. To a reader they do not feel the same.
To see what a rating does mathematically, use the review score calculator. For the wider figures there is the main study.
Quick answers from the research
Each answer refers to the profiles studied and names the sample the figure comes from.
How old is the newest review of a typical business?
46.7% of the studied profiles had a review less than roughly three months old. The largest single group (41.7%) sat in the 1–3 month band.
Does review recency differ between the US and the Netherlands?
Yes, sharply in this sample: 64.1% of the 1,052 Netherlands profiles had no review newer than six months, versus 15.9% of the 2,057 US profiles.
What is a 'silent' profile?
In this study we call a profile silent when the newest review Google returned is older than roughly six months. That is our definition, not a Google status.
Does an old newest review mean you rank worse?
We do not measure that. This study only describes how old the newest review was; we make no claim about ranking causes.
Methodology
We ran a deep audit on 3,136 Google Business Profiles and recorded the relative time label of the newest review exactly as Google returned it. For 3,109 profiles that label was datable; 27 profiles are excluded.
Labels such as 'a week ago' are converted into months. Because Google rounds, the boundaries between bands are approximate: that is why we write 'roughly six months' and not 'exactly 183 days'.
The sample is built from a set of trades and regions and is not weighted to the true business mix of either country. The difference between markets in this study is an observed difference between the profiles studied.
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.
A silent profile is not a penalty. It is a habit you can change.
Run a free scan of your Google Business Profile to see how recent your public signals are and what to pick up first.
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 Silent Profile Report 2026: review recency across 3,109 Google Business Profiles in the United States and the Netherlands. https://recensioai.com/silent-profile-report
Canonical URL: https://recensioai.com/silent-profile-report