77.5% of Electricians Have Fewer Than 20 Google Reviews vs 58.2% of Local Businesses

A breaker keeps tripping and half the house has no power. The homeowner searches for an electrician, looks at the three businesses Google shows on its map, and checks the reviews. Most of the electricians they find have three or four reviews and no replies, so the one with a few dozen and an owner who answers stands out immediately.

For an electrician, the Google Business Profile, the free listing that shows a business's reviews, star rating, hours, phone number and website in Google Search and Maps, is often the only thing a customer sees before calling. Reviews show that other homeowners trusted you with their wiring, replies show that someone is paying attention, and the basic fields tell Google and the customer what you do and when you are open.

Electricians leave that listing thinner than almost any other trade. 77.5% have fewer than 20 reviews, second only to one other category of 18, and the median electrician has 4. 64.8% never replied to any recent review, also second-highest. Their widest gaps with other businesses are review counts, replies and the business description.

We used two samples of US electricians, collected on September 23, 2026. The first is 679 electrician Google Business Profiles, where we recorded the number of reviews, star rating, website, opening hours, description, claim status, business categories and photos. The second is 526 electricians with at least one review, for which we collected up to 20 of their newest Google reviews, 4,913 in all, with each review's star rating, text and any owner reply. We compare every electrician figure with the average of the 18 local business categories in the same study.

A profile is unclaimed when no owner has verified it with Google, so the business cannot edit the listing. An electrician "never replied" when none of its 20 newest reviews has a reply from the owner. Negative reviews are one- and two-star reviews. The median is the middle business: half have more, half have fewer. The 18-category average is the simple average of the 18 category figures.

That is 19 points above the 58.2% average across 18 categories. The median electrician has 4 reviews, against a median of 27 across categories, and 7.2% have 100 or more, about a third of the 20% average. 18.4% have none at all, in line with other businesses.

Most electricians have a few reviews, not none: the problem is that reviews stop coming after the first handful. Claimed electrician profiles have a median of 10 reviews against 2 for unclaimed ones. Among electricians with 20 or fewer lifetime reviews, review volume rose 25.4% over the last 12 months compared with the year before, so the trade is starting to ask more, and 20.3% received at least a third of their reviews in a single month.

Ratings split both ways. 45.5% of rated electricians hold a perfect 5.0, well above the 35.7% average, yet 17.1% sit below 4 stars, above the 13.8% average, and the average rating is 4.46 against 4.52. On a profile with four reviews, a single unhappy customer decides which side of that split a business lands on.

64.8% of electricians never replied to any of their 20 newest reviews, against a 52.8% average and the second-highest rate of 18 categories. Across all recent electrician reviews, 38% carry an owner reply, below the 40.5% average, and electricians rank 11th of 18 on that measure. The ones who do reply are fast: 3.3 days on average and a median of 1.3 days.

The reviews that most need an answer get the fewest. Electricians reply to 23.7% of one- and two-star reviews, against 40.1% of five-star reviews, and rank 15th of 18 categories on replies to negative reviews. Of English-language one-star reviews, 32.9% mention price or cost and 15.7% mention rude or unprofessional staff, complaints a calm reply can put in context for the next customer.

Replying and growing go together. 67.7% of electrician reviews from the last 30 days have a reply, above the 55.3% average. Businesses with many reviews reply more often: across all 18 categories, 20.5% of businesses with 200 or more reviews never reply, against 81.7% of businesses with fewer than 10. Happy customers praise electricians in the same words as other trades: of five-star reviews, 31.8% use "recommend", 31.5% "professional" and 10.3% "friendly", in reviews averaging 37 words.

Electricians trail the 18-category average on every basic field. 56.7% have no description, against 43.9%. 44% have no website linked, against 35.1%. 40.6% are unclaimed, against 29.2%, and 34.8% list no opening hours, against 28.6%. 70.3% list only one business category, and the median electrician profile has 2 photos, against a median of 18 across categories.

Because so many electricians have thin profiles, a little effort goes a long way on the map. In a separate Suff Digital study of 3,160 Google Maps searches across 79 US cities, the top three results for "electrician" had a median of 19 reviews, against 14 for listings ranked 4 to 20, a far lower bar than in most trades. 73% of top-three electricians linked a website, against 72.5% at ranks 4 to 20. 89.2% of top-three names include the service word, chains held 0.4% of top-three spots, and adding "near me" changed the top three in 53.2% of city searches.

Start with the listing itself. Claim your Google Business Profile if you have not: an unclaimed profile cannot be edited by the owner, and claimed electrician profiles have five times the median reviews of unclaimed ones. Then write a description, link your website, add your hours, list every service category that applies, from panel upgrades to EV charger installation, and upload photos of your work and vans.

Next, make reviews routine. Ask every customer after every job, by text with a direct link, so reviews arrive steadily. With the top three map results carrying a median of 19 reviews, a steady review habit is enough to compete for a top-three spot. Reply to every review, and answer one- and two-star reviews first, with the facts and an offer to put things right.

Finally, measure yourself against the electricians in your own map results, not national numbers, and close the gap on each field. Our seo for electricians programs build review volume and complete Google Business Profiles for electrical contractors.

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