New data shows that a plumber with 40 reviews who gets 3 new ones every week will now outrank the plumber with 400 reviews who hasn't gotten one in months. Google's algorithm now evaluates reviews on rolling 30-day and 90-day windows instead of lifetime totals.

In this episode, we break down:

- The freshness decay curve — a review from this week carries 100% weight, but one from last year drops to 20-30%
- Sterling Sky's "18-Day Rule" — go 18 days without a review and your rankings can fall off a cliff
- Why responding to reviews within 24 hours moves you 1.6 positions higher (Flen AI study of 5,000 businesses)
- The "Magic 10" threshold that triggers your first ranking boost
- BrightLocal's 2026 finding that 74% of consumers only care about reviews from the last 3 months
- A simple step-by-step system any service business can start today

Whether you're a plumber, HVAC tech, roofer, dentist, or lawyer — this is the single biggest actionable opportunity in local SEO right now.

👉 Want help getting your reviews and local rankings dialed in? Visit speedmobi.com or reach out to our team — we work with over 5,000 local service businesses.