Reviews and Reputation
Reviews and Reputation helps operators understand what customers are saying, keep public review blocks trustworthy, and watch the Google Business Profile connection that feeds verified reviews into the workspace.
The console owns review visibility, featuring, ordering, sync status, and dashboard metrics. Google Business Profile remains the source for Google-sourced review content.
Surface Map
Reviews dashboard
Console surface: Reviews
Primary job: Review totals, rating distribution, velocity, response rate, recent reviews, GBP performance, and moderation.
Google Business Profile
Console surface: Settings > Integrations > Google Business
Primary job: Connect, reconnect, disconnect, and manually sync the workspace's Google Business location.
Public review blocks
Console surface: Website page builder
Primary job: Display verified Google reviews with configurable title, count, rating threshold, ordering, and attribution.
Reputation response work
Console surface: Reviews and Google Business Profile
Primary job: Track response coverage and decide which reviews need follow-up outside Sophosic when the source requires it.
If the Reviews page is empty, start by checking the Google Business Profile connection and whether the workspace has synced any reviews.
Google Business Profile
Google Business Profile links the workspace to a Google location so Sophosic can sync verified review data and related performance signals.
Use Settings > Integrations > Google Business to:
- Search for and connect the correct business location.
- Reauthorize the account when Google marks the connection stale.
- Disconnect a location that was linked to the wrong workspace.
- Trigger a sync when the connection is healthy.
- Review the connection status before troubleshooting the Reviews dashboard.
The Reviews dashboard depends on that connection for Google-sourced reviews. A disconnected or reauthorization-required profile means new Google reviews will not sync until the operator fixes the integration.
Dashboard Metrics
The Reviews dashboard loads the latest review data for the current workspace and shows the operating signals an owner or manager needs.
Rating distribution
What it answers: How many reviews fall into each star rating.
How to use it: Look for sudden changes in low ratings or a weak high-rating base before featuring reviews publicly.
Velocity
What it answers: How many reviews arrived in the recent window.
How to use it: Watch whether review collection is increasing, flat, or slowing down after campaigns or service changes.
Response rate
What it answers: How much of the review set has a response.
How to use it: Prioritize unanswered reviews, especially recent low-rating reviews.
Recent reviews
What it answers: What customers most recently said.
How to use it: Use as the daily triage list before adjusting public display.
GBP performance
What it answers: Searches, calls, directions, and available profile metrics.
How to use it: Connect review quality with how customers find and act on the business listing.
The dashboard and moderation list share the same review data. When an operator hides, features, or reorders a review, the dashboard refreshes from the shared cache.
Moderation
Moderation controls what the workspace chooses to show on Sophosic-managed public surfaces. It does not rewrite Google.
Supported actions:
Hide
Effect: Removes the review from public Sophosic review displays while keeping it visible to operators.
Notes: Use for reviews that should not be featured publicly. Hidden Google reviews still exist on Google.
Unhide
Effect: Makes a hidden review eligible for public display again.
Notes: Recheck the public block settings after unhiding.
Feature
Effect: Marks a review as preferred for featured-first ordering.
Notes: Use sparingly so the public block still feels representative.
Unfeature
Effect: Removes the featured emphasis.
Notes: The review can still appear if it matches the block filters.
Move up or down
Effect: Adjusts the manual sort order used by review displays.
Notes: Ordering matters most when the public block uses featured-first sorting.
Delete manual review
Effect: Permanently removes a legacy manual review row.
Notes: Google-sourced reviews cannot be deleted from Sophosic; hide them instead.
Bulk moderation supports selecting multiple reviews and applying hide, unhide, or feature actions together.
Public Display Rules
Public review blocks should preserve the source and credibility of the review set.
Review block settings can control:
- Title and subtitle.
- Maximum number of reviews.
- Minimum rating.
- Featured-first, newest, or highest-rated ordering.
- Masonry layout columns.
- Quote length.
- Google attribution placement.
Do not use review moderation to create a misleading public impression. Avoid hiding every negative review by default, do not fabricate manual reviews, and keep Google attribution visible when Google reviews are shown.
Response Workflow
Use Reviews as the triage surface, then respond in the system that owns the reply path.
- Check recent reviews first.
- Prioritize low ratings, detailed complaints, and unanswered reviews.
- Confirm whether the review is Google-sourced or manual.
- Respond through Google Business Profile when the review came from Google.
- Hide only when the Sophosic public display should stop showing the review.
- Revisit rating distribution and response rate after the response work is complete.
Troubleshooting
No reviews appear
Confirm Google Business Profile is connected, the correct location was selected, and sync is not waiting on reauthorization
Sync fails
Check the integration status, retry after any backoff window, and reauthorize when the profile requires it
A Google review cannot be deleted
This is expected. Hide the review from Sophosic public displays or manage it in Google
A featured review is not first on the public site
Check the review block sort order, max count, minimum rating, hidden state, and whether other reviews are also featured
GBP performance is incomplete
Confirm the connection is OAuth-backed and expect unavailable Google metrics to render as unavailable rather than fabricated