Why Online Reviews Are the Secret Ingredient to Your Bakery’s Local SEO

(Updated from a 2021 post on The Importance of Online Reviews)

Online reviews have always mattered for bakeries, but the landscape has changed dramatically since I first covered this topic in 2021.

Back then, it was about building trust and boosting credibility. That’s still true today, but reviews now carry even more weight in how your bakery appears in Google search and AI-powered results.

While customers may discover your bakeshop through other channels (word-of-mouth, Eater, TikTok, local events), many will validate their decision by checking your Google reviews. Reviews remove doubt and hopefully reinforce what the searcher already believes about your business. Couple that positive social proof with enticing photos and a seamless ordering process, and it’s a recipe for being chosen.

Google looks at many factors when deciding who shows up in local search results. Here are three key areas to know:

1. Relevance – how closely your listing matches what someone is looking for

2. Distance – how physically close your bakery is to the searcher

3. Prominence – how established and trusted your business appears across the web

That last one, prominence, is heavily influenced by your reviews. Google looks at how many reviews you have, how recent they are, and what customers actually say about you.

So what should your bakery aim for here?

• Volume: At a minimum, you want a comparable number of reviews to your local competitors. Depending on other bakeries and coffee shops in your area, that could mean 50, 100, or even more. You don’t need to “win” on volume, but you can’t fall behind either.
• Star Rating: Research shows that most diners won’t even consider a restaurant rated below 3.5 stars. To show up in “best of” searches and earn trust at a glance, you should aim for a 4.0+ average.
• Recency: Google favors businesses with a steady stream of new reviews. Ongoing feedback signals that your bakery is active and relevant today, not just a historical favorite.
• Descriptions & Photos: Five stars are great, but details matter more. Encourage customers to leave a full review with a line or two about their experience, along with images or even videos. When reviews mention specifics like “custom birthday cakes,” “vegan donuts,” or “best croissants in town,” it’s feeding keywords that help Google understand what you offer — and what to rank you for.

Your customer reviews don’t just influence rankings anymore. Their words influence how your bakery is described across search. With AI-powered summaries showing up at the top of Google, and tools like ChatGPT shaping discovery, review language becomes part of your brand story. In other words, what customers say about you online increasingly determines what search surfaces.

Treat reviews less like a vanity metric, and more like a form of crowd-sourced marketing that compounds over time.

Action step

Find and claim your profiles across Google, Yelp, TripAdvisor, Apple Business Connect, and Bing. If you focus on wedding and event catering, don’t forget directories like WeddingWire and TheKnot.

Do you have reviews within the past month? Do customers use the words and phrases you want to be known for? If not, guide them gently after purchase. More on that in part 2.

Next in the series

This post is part of a 6-part series on building better online reviews for independent bakeries.

Next up? Part 2: How to Get More Reviews Without Feeling Awkward →