Yes. Google lists responding to reviews among its tips for local ranking, and customers read the replies. Most businesses don't reply. In an October 2026 sample of 1,104 independent Google Maps listings in 11 cities across India and Southeast Asia, the median gym and the median restaurant replied to none of their newest 20 reviews.
The numbers below show how often each type of business replies, how long replies take, and how much this changes from city to city. They give an owner a local benchmark to beat.
How was this measured?
On 7 Oct 2026, Reach by Locus collected the top 20 Google Maps results for six searches: "dentist", "salon", "clinic", "gym", "restaurant" and "physiotherapist". Each search ran from one point in the centre of each of 11 cities: Delhi, Mumbai, Bengaluru, Pune, Chennai, Hyderabad, Jaipur, Bangkok, Jakarta, Kuala Lumpur and Manila. Chains and listings of the wrong business type were left out of the medians.
- Reply rate is the share of a listing's newest 20 reviews that have an owner reply. It counts only listings with at least 5 sampled reviews.
- Reply lag is the number of days between a review and its reply. It counts only listings that replied.
How often does each type of business reply?
Dentists reply most often. Gyms and restaurants reply least.
| Business type | Median reply rate | Middle half (25th-75th pct) | Median days to reply |
|---|---|---|---|
| Dentists | Median reply rate35% | Middle half (25th-75th pct)0% to 85% | Median days to reply19.5 days |
| Physiotherapists | Median reply rate22% | Middle half (25th-75th pct)0% to 80% | Median days to reply29.7 days |
| Clinics | Median reply rate12% | Middle half (25th-75th pct)0% to 80% | Median days to reply22.2 days |
| Salons | Median reply rate5% | Middle half (25th-75th pct)0% to 60% | Median days to reply15.7 days |
| Gyms | Median reply rate0% | Middle half (25th-75th pct)0% to 30% | Median days to reply66.5 days |
| Restaurants | Median reply rate0% | Middle half (25th-75th pct)0% to 30% | Median days to reply3.8 days |
In every business type, at least a quarter of listings replied to none of their newest 20 reviews. Restaurants that do reply are the fastest, with a median of 3.8 days. Gyms that reply are the slowest, at 66.5 days.
Does it change by city?
It changes a lot. This is the median reply rate for each city's roughly 20 dentist listings:
| City | Dentists' median reply rate |
|---|---|
| Pune | 80% |
| Bengaluru | 79% |
| Mumbai | 68% |
| Jaipur | 55% |
| Manila | 53% |
| Jakarta | 38% |
| Hyderabad | 28% |
| Bangkok | 13% |
| Delhi | 8% |
| Chennai | 5% |
| Kuala Lumpur | 0% |
Other business types show the same kind of spread:
- Salons in Bengaluru replied to 75% of reviews. Salons in Delhi, Manila and Bangkok replied to 0%.
- Clinics in Jaipur replied to 95%. Clinics in Delhi and Chennai replied to 0%.
- Restaurants had a 0% median in 9 of the 11 cities. The exceptions were Jaipur at 30% and Mumbai at 3%.
A dentist in Pune needs to reply often just to keep up. A dentist in Chennai can stand out with a few weeks of steady replies.
Do the top 3 on Maps reply more?
The results are mixed. Top-3 dentists replied to a median of 60% of reviews, compared with 35% for dentists ranked 4 to 20. They also replied faster: 13 days against 20.3. Top-3 clinics replied to 30%, compared with 10% for the rest.
Top-3 physiotherapists replied less than the rest (15% against 22%). Top-3 gyms and restaurants replied to none, like the listings below them.
Replying does not switch on a higher ranking. Its main value is trust: customers see the reply right below the review, and a calm, specific reply tells them the owner is paying attention.
Should you reply to every review, including 5-star ones?
Yes. Keep each reply short and specific. A reply to a 5-star review shows the next customer that someone reads what people write. If a customer praised the root canal or the evening yoga batch, mention it by name.
Reply to negative reviews first. They do the most damage when nobody answers them. For wording help, see how to reply to Google reviews and these reply examples.
How fast should you reply?
Reply faster than other businesses of your type in your city. If dentists in your city take about 20 days, a reply within 2 days already puts you ahead of most of them. Restaurants should aim for under 4 days, which is the median for restaurants that reply at all.
What if you have hundreds of unanswered reviews?
Don't try to clear them all at once. Work in this order:
- Reply to your newest 20 reviews. Customers read the newest reviews first, and this benchmark measured the newest 20.
- Reply to the negative reviews, oldest included.
- Work back through the rest when you have time.
Does replying to Google reviews help SEO?
Google lists replying among its tips for local ranking. In this data, top-3 dentists and clinics replied more often than the listings ranked below them. That pattern doesn't prove that replying caused their rank. Top-3 physiotherapists, gyms and restaurants broke the pattern. Treat replying as one good habit among many.
Worked example: a physiotherapy clinic in Bengaluru
Illustrative example
A physiotherapy clinic in Bengaluru has 60 Google reviews and has replied to 4. The median reply rate for physiotherapists in Bengaluru is 38%.
The owner's plan:
- This week, reply to the newest 20 reviews. That's about 10 minutes a day for 4 days (an illustrative estimate).
- After that, reply to every new review within 2 days.
Once the newest 20 are done, the clinic's reply rate is 100%. That is higher than every median in this post. Its typical reply time of 2 days is also much faster than the 29.7-day median for physiotherapists that reply.
This example makes no claim about rank changes. What changes is what a new patient sees: every recent review has an answer.
Questions owners ask
- Should I reply to old reviews?
- Yes. Start with your newest 20, then the negative ones, then work back through the older ones.
- Should I reply to fake reviews?
- Reply calmly and briefly, then report the review to Google. The steps are in how to remove a Google review.
- Can I edit a reply later?
- Yes. Google lets you replace a reply you have already posted.
- Can AI write the replies?
- Yes, if you read and edit each one before posting. A draft that names the customer's actual visit reads better than a generic thank-you.
- Where is the data for my city and business type?
- Each business type has its own page with city figures: dentists, salons, clinics, gyms, restaurants and physiotherapists.
Related reading
Clear the newest 20 in one sitting
Clearing a backlog takes a long time when you open each review on Google, think of a reply and type it out. Reach by Locus puts every Google review in one list and lets you filter to the ones without a reply. For each review, it drafts two replies in the owner's own voice, based on their recent replies, in the review's language and script. The owner edits a draft and presses Post. Nothing posts on its own.
A set of drafts costs 2 credits. The Free plan's 50 credits a month cover 25 sets (checked 8 Oct 2026). Reach works with Google reviews only, not reviews on other sites.