In 2026, local reputation is no longer about the total number of reviews. Google now gives more weight to recent, regular reviews than to a large stock of old ones. In parallel, the Digital Markets Act is pushing the platform to display reviews from other sources. For a Belgian SME, a neglected business profile is becoming a handicap.
1. Recency has become a primary signal
Reviews now account for roughly 15 to 20% of local pack ranking factors, making them one of the most important signals. What has changed is their freshness. A steady flow of recent reviews outperforms a high volume of reviews that are two or three years old. In practice, a profile receiving a handful of reviews each month can outrank a better-rated but silent one. Google reads consistency as a sign of genuine activity.
2. The DMA reshuffles the review deck
The Digital Markets Act, a European regulation, requires Google to stop favouring its own reviews. As a result, reviews posted on other platforms can appear alongside yours in the results. Your reputation is no longer confined to your Google profile. It now reads across several sources at once, which have to be monitored together rather than in isolation.
3. Dormant profiles slip down
In Belgium, roughly a third of SMEs have no up-to-date profile: created a few years ago, never refreshed. Yet Google no longer rewards static profiles. Recent photos, regular posts, replies to reviews, complete information: a living profile reaches the local pack, a frozen one drifts out of the top positions. Local visibility has to be earned continuously.
4. Google's AI tools are coming, but not yet here
On 10 June 2026, Google announced Gemini features connected to the business profile: access to reviews, customer questions, and alerts on an unanswered review. The rollout is global this month, but the European Economic Area and the United Kingdom are excluded. Belgium therefore has no access for now. In other words: method and consistency matter more than ever, with no automatic safety net from the platform.
The AI lens, humans first
On the agency side, AI helps keep the pace: spotting a new review, drafting a reply, tracking recency and average rating across several platforms, flagging a profile that is slipping. But the tone of a response, the judgement on a delicate review, the relationship with the customer: that stays human. As long as Google's native features are unavailable in Belgium, the discipline of steady monitoring is what makes the difference. Our stance: humans first, AI in support.
This week
Check that your business profile is complete and up to date; reply to pending reviews; set up a simple routine to request recent reviews, regularly; watch what is being said on other platforms. Four moves that weigh directly on your local visibility.
Local reputation is built over time. With Vistalaro Local & Reputation, we manage your Google reviews and local visibility: regular review collection, careful replies, a business profile kept up to date. The goal is simple: a living local presence that inspires trust and stands out in the results.
Is your local reputation up to date?
Let's review your business profile and your reviews together, and pin down the priorities, without jargon.
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