An analysis of 16,238 reviewed businesses examining whether higher Google review counts correlate with better website fundamentals.
“Businesses with 500+ Google reviews are 24% more likely to have schema markup than businesses with under 25 reviews — but OG tags remain near-zero across all tiers.”
Businesses with 500+ reviews have 63.8% schema markup adoption. Those with 100-499 reviews: 57%. Those with 25-99: 59%. Businesses with 1-24 reviews: 51.3%. The correlation is clear — businesses that invest in reputation also invest in web fundamentals.
SSL tells the same story: 98.9% for the 500+ tier vs. 94.7% for the 1-24 tier. The 4.2 percentage point gap may seem small, but it means businesses with fewer reviews are 5x more likely to show 'Not Secure' warnings.
Trade businesses average 131 Google reviews. Churches average 47. The gap reflects fundamentally different relationships with reviews — contractors actively solicit them as a sales tool, while churches view review-solicitation as culturally inappropriate.
But here's the insight: churches with more reviews DO have better websites. The correlation holds across both categories. The businesses that care enough to manage their Google reputation also tend to care about their web presence.
Unlike schema and SSL, OG tag adoption doesn't increase with review count. The 500+ tier has 5.4% OG adoption. The 1-24 tier: 7.8%. The highest-reviewed businesses are actually LESS likely to have social sharing previews.
The likely explanation: businesses with hundreds of reviews have already built their reputation pipeline through Google. They don't think about social sharing because search traffic is working. But they're missing the compounding effect — every happy customer who shares their link on Facebook generates a preview that could bring in the next customer.
Sitemap adoption is nearly flat across all review tiers: 77.2% for 500+ reviews, 75.8% for 100-499, 77.1% for 25-99, and 69.5% for 1-24. Unlike other metrics, sitemaps don't correlate strongly with business maturity. This suggests sitemaps are more platform-dependent (WordPress auto-generates them) than marketing-investment-dependent.
Website health metrics broken down by Google review count tiers.
| Category | Total | Schema % | Sitemap % | OG Tags % |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 500+ reviews | 464 | 63.8% | 77.2% | 5.4% |
| 100-499 reviews | 1766 | 57% | 75.8% | 8.5% |
| 25-99 reviews | 5856 | 59% | 77.1% | 6.9% |
| 1-24 reviews | 8152 | 51.3% | 69.5% | 7.8% |
How trades and churches compare across all web health metrics.
| Category | Total | Schema % | Sitemap % | OG Tags % |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| churches | 10905 | 51.4% | 74.4% | 9.1% |
| trades | 5333 | 62.5% | 70.6% | 4.2% |
Geographic distribution of reviewed businesses with website audits.
| State | Total | Schema % | Sitemap % | Viewport % | SSL % | OG Tags % |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| CO | 3134 | 59.9% | 72.8% | 87.5% | 96.6% | 5.7% |
| UT | 2065 | 66.2% | 76.5% | 87.5% | 98% | 5.3% |
| AZ | 1174 | 49.1% | 72.4% | 90.3% | 95.3% | 10.1% |
| ID | 1137 | 61.8% | 74.6% | 88.9% | 97.4% | 5.7% |
| WA | 1033 | 48.4% | 75.7% | 89.6% | 95.6% | 9.5% |
| NE | 1024 | 52.1% | 68.7% | 88.1% | 95.9% | 7.1% |
| KS | 891 | 47.1% | 68.4% | 87.9% | 95.5% | 9.2% |
| MT | 879 | 56.7% | 72.2% | 88.4% | 95.3% | 5.8% |
| WY | 804 | 51.6% | 70.8% | 87.1% | 95% | 6.8% |
| MN | 761 | 48.6% | 71.6% | 88.2% | 97.2% | 11.8% |
| OR | 711 | 50.9% | 77.1% | 89.2% | 97% | 10.4% |
| SD | 577 | 54.9% | 73.5% | 89.1% | 97.2% | 6.6% |
| IA | 544 | 45.4% | 70.4% | 90.3% | 96% | 9.7% |
| NV | 540 | 55% | 73.5% | 90.6% | 96.5% | 8% |
| NM | 497 | 46.9% | 73.6% | 88.9% | 94.2% | 10.9% |
| ND | 289 | 41.9% | 76.8% | 89.3% | 94.8% | 9% |
| Unknown | 178 | 55.6% | 74.2% | 87.6% | 96.1% | 4.5% |
We analyzed 16,238 businesses with both Google reviews and completed technical site audits across 17 states. Businesses were segmented into review tiers (1-24, 25-99, 100-499, 500+) and website metrics compared across tiers. Trade and church categories were analyzed separately. All data sourced from Google Business Profiles with automated technical auditing. Data collected January–February 2026.
“When someone shares your church on Facebook, 93% of the time it shows a generic link with no preview image.”
“Fort Collins HVAC companies are nearly twice as likely to be found on Google as their Pueblo counterparts.”
“Boise contractors average 454 Google reviews but only 31 are listed — while Meridian has 145 contractors averaging just 275 reviews each.”
“45% of local businesses are invisible to Google's rich results — the enhanced listings with stars, hours, and contact info that get 58% more clicks.”
“LDS church websites have 89% schema markup adoption — more than triple the rate of Baptist churches in the same four states.”
“Wyoming roofers average just 19 Google reviews while Nebraska roofers average 121 — a 6x gap that directly impacts who shows up in local search.”
“Salt Lake City contractors average 1,115 Google reviews — 16x more than West Valley City businesses just 15 minutes away.”
“Across 8 western states and 6,673 trade businesses, only 3.5% are prepared for social media sharing.”
“One-third of Wyoming contractors are invisible to Google's rich results, and nearly half don't have SSL.”
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Get Your Free AuditLast updated: February 2026