2 min 
Trustpilot and Google reviews are two of the most visible platforms for customer feedback.
Both show real experiences and help people decide which business to choose, but they work in different ways.
Google reviews appear in Search and Maps and directly influence local visibility.
Trustpilot reviews focus on company-wide service and reputation, reaching people who search for brand names and compare providers.
Knowing the differences between these two platforms helps you decide where to focus your effort.
This guide explains how Trustpilot and Google reviews work, what each offers, and how they can support your business.
| Points | Google reviews | Trustpilot reviews |
|---|---|---|
| Placement | Show in Google Search and Maps next to your business listing. | Show on Trustpilot’s website and appear in search results for your brand name. |
| Audience | People are actively searching for local businesses and services. | People are comparing company reputation and service quality across industries. |
| Impact | Directly affects local search ranking and visibility in Google Maps. | Influences brand trust, star ratings, and how potential customers view your company. |
| Review Style | 1–5 star ratings with text, photos, and videos | 1–5 star ratings with text; verified orders can be flagged for extra trust. |
| Ease of Posting | Anyone with a Google account can post a review. | Anyone with a Trustpilot account can post a review; verified customers get more weight. |
| Management | Managed through your Google Business Profile dashboard. | Managed through your Trustpilot Business dashboard with extra tools. |
| Reach | High exposure to new customers via search results. | Stronger exposure to people researching your brand or sector. |
| Use in Ads | Reviews can show as seller ratings in Google Ads. | Reviews add social proof to landing pages and can be shown in Trustpilot widgets. |
What are Google reviews?
Google reviews are ratings and comments that customers leave on your Google Business Profile.
They appear right in Google Search and Google Maps when someone looks for your business.
These reviews show star ratings (1–5) with optional text, photos, or videos, giving people a quick picture of your service and quality.
They directly affect how high your business appears in local search results and can bring more clicks, calls, and visits.
You can read and reply to every review from your Google Business Profile dashboard to build trust and show you care.
Key points:
- Show next to your business listing in Google Search and Maps.
- Use a 1–5 star rating with text, photos, or videos.
- Directly influence local search ranking and visibility.
- Managed and replied through the Google Business Profile dashboard.
How WiserReview helps:
WiserReview collects your Google reviews automatically, alerts you to new feedback, and gives you tools to reply and display reviews easily on your website, ads, and social posts. This saves time and keeps your profile active with fresh, genuine feedback.
What is Trustpilot?
Trustpilot is a public review platform where customers share feedback about businesses, services, and products.
It focuses on company-wide reputation rather than just local branches. People use it to compare brands, check service quality, and assess how companies handle complaints before making a purchase.
Reviews on Trustpilot use a 1–5 star rating with written comments. Verified reviews from real customers get an extra badge for added credibility.
This makes it a trusted source for shoppers researching a company online.
Businesses manage their reviews through the Trustpilot Business dashboard.
From there, they can invite customers to leave reviews, respond publicly, and display positive feedback on their website or marketing materials.
Key points:
- Public platform for company-wide feedback, not limited to local listings.
- Uses 1–5 star ratings with written comments; verified reviews build more trust.
- Helps people compare brands and service quality before making a choice.
- Managed through the Trustpilot Business dashboard with tools to invite and reply to reviews.
How WiserReview helps:
WiserReview brings your Trustpilot and Google reviews into one place.
It automatically collects them, alerts you to new feedback, and lets you reuse positive reviews on your site, ads, or social posts without extra work.
All your reviews in one place
Collect reviews, manage every response, and display them where they matter most.Side-by-side comparison: Key dimensions
Both Google Reviews and Trustpilot Reviews show real feedback, but each serves a different purpose.
Instead of only listing features, look at how they stack up on the key areas that matter to a business.
1. Building credibility and protecting review quality
- Google Reviews: Anyone with a Google account can leave feedback. This openness helps you build review volume quickly, which can push your star rating to the top of Search and Maps. But it also means you have to monitor for spam and fake reviews and respond promptly to keep your reputation strong.
- Trustpilot Reviews: Offers verified purchase invitations, fraud detection, and clear “verified” labels. This makes each review more trustworthy to readers, which is especially important for industries with high ticket prices or online purchases where people need extra reassurance.
2. Getting found: visibility, SEO, and discovery
- Google Reviews: Show directly on your Google Business Profile in Search and Maps, feeding into Google’s local ranking algorithm. A steady stream of positive reviews can improve your local rank, drive more clicks to your site, and boost calls or visits.
- Trustpilot Reviews: Reviews sit on Trustpilot’s site and are indexed in brand-name searches. They help your brand look credible when someone types your company name plus “reviews” into Google, but they don’t directly affect local search ranking. This makes them powerful for brand research rather than for Maps visibility.
3. Control and features for businesses
- Google Reviews: Managed inside the free Google Business Profile dashboard. You can reply, see basic metrics like total reviews and average star rating, and upload your own photos to enrich your listing.
- Trustpilot Reviews: Business dashboard offers more advanced tools. You can segment reviews by product or service, send automated invites to verified buyers, set up alerts, and view analytics like trends over time or common keywords in feedback.
4. Cost and scalability
- Google Reviews: Completely free. Any business can collect unlimited reviews and respond without paying.
- Trustpilot Reviews: Free plan includes a limited number of invitations and basic features. Paid plans unlock automatic invitations, advanced analytics, more customization of review displays, and integrations with e-commerce platforms.
5. Ease of use and ongoing management
- Google Reviews: Very quick to set up. Once your Google Business Profile is verified, reviews start appearing automatically. The dashboard is simple but doesn’t offer deep reporting.
- Trustpilot Reviews: Takes more setup but gives you richer insights and automation. You can create templates for review requests, integrate with order systems, and schedule reports.
6. Matching the platform to your business goals
- Google Reviews: Best for local businesses like cafés, dentists, gyms, and repair shops that want to climb search results and bring in nearby customers. It directly affects local ranking, click-through rates, and calls.
- Trustpilot Reviews: Better for online stores, service providers, and larger brands that need verified reviews and a company-wide reputation signal. It helps potential customers, comparing providers across industries, feel safe to buy.
All your reviews in one place
Collect reviews, manage every response, and display them where they matter most.Wrap up
Google reviews and Trustpilot reviews serve different purposes for customers.
Google reviews appear right in Search and Maps, which can lift your local ranking and drive people to visit, call, or click.
Trustpilot reviews sit on a separate platform where shoppers compare brands, check service quality, and read verified experiences before making a decision.
WiserReview connects both in one place. You can gather, reply to, and display feedback from Google and Trustpilot without switching tools, making it easy to maintain a strong reputation everywhere your customers look.
Frequently asked questions
Google reviews show in Search and Maps and affect local ranking. Trustpilot reviews appear on Trustpilot’s site and build the company's reputation and verified feedback.
Google reviews have a bigger impact on local businesses like cafés, clinics, and gyms because they show up directly in search results and maps when people look for nearby services.
Trustpilot reviews are more useful for e-commerce and service brands because verified reviews and fraud checks add extra trust for shoppers comparing providers.
Yes. Google can bring in people searching locally, while Trustpilot builds credibility and trust for brand-name searches and bigger purchase decisions.
WiserReview collects reviews from both platforms into one dashboard, lets you reply quickly, and gives you tools to display positive feedback on your website, ads, and social posts.
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