Your Google rating increases when you collect more positive reviews and maintain a strong response pattern. The mechanics are straightforward: you need happy customers to leave 4–5 star reviews at a rate that outpaces any negative feedback you receive. Start by asking for reviews at the moment of peak satisfaction. For service businesses, that's right after project completion or delivery. Send a follow-up email with a direct Google review link (find it in your Google Business Profile dashboard under "Get more reviews"). Text messages work even better for local businesses because open rates hit 90%+ versus 20–30% for email. Don't be vague, just ask: "If you're happy with our work, would you leave us a Google review? Here's the link." Respond to every review, positive or negative, within 24–48 hours. Google's algorithm favors businesses that engage with feedback. For negative reviews, stay professional and offer to resolve the issue offline. This shows future customers you care and often prevents rating damage. At Ottawa SEO, we've seen businesses recover from 3.8 to 4.5+ stars in six months purely through response discipline and service improvements. Avoid these mistakes: never buy reviews, never incentivize with discounts (violates Google's policies), and never create fake reviews from employee accounts. Google's detection has improved dramatically since 2022, and penalties include review removal or complete profile suspension. The math matters. If you're at 4.1 stars with 40 reviews, you need roughly 15–20 new 5-star reviews to hit 4.5, assuming no new negative ones. Use a simple spreadsheet to model this. Focus on volume and recency. A business with 120 reviews and a 4.4 rating typically outranks one with 30 reviews at 4.8 in local pack results, because Google weighs review velocity and total count heavily. Make review requests part of your standard operating procedure. Train staff to ask, automate the email sequence, and track your monthly review count like any other KPI. Most businesses that crack 4.5+ stars simply ask more consistently than their competitors.