Reviews courseModule 5 of 7: MonitoringLesson 5.3
Checking a Named Competitor’s Reviews
Every quarter, look at exactly what one local competitor is doing with their reviews: not to copy them, but to find the single gap worth closing first. Pick one genuine rival, compare the same few numbers, and choose one thing to fix.
By Morgan King, founder of Reyse Facts checked October 2026 Jump to Your turn
Why it matters
Without a real comparison you work through a generic checklist, when the agency down the road may be weak somewhere you could win quickly.
The evidence
Evidence: Practitioner view
Practitioner view and common sense. No study measures the effect of checking a competitor.
Do this first
Pick the agency you most often lose valuations to, and compare your last 20 reviews with theirs.
01What it is
If you and a friend both sell lemonade, you could guess how to do better. Or you could walk past their stall and see it has no sign and nobody answering questions. Now you know exactly what to fix on yours.
Think of it like
Checking the fastest local runner's lap times before a race. You're not copying their stride; you want to see which part of the track they lose time on.
02Why it matters
To the people searching
A seller or landlord choosing between you and the agency down the road compares exactly what you're about to compare: rating, count, how recent the reviews are, whether the agent replies, and what reviewers say. They often invite two or three agents, so a rival's fresher or better-answered reviews may decide who gets the valuation.
buyers
May compare you with the agency down the road on the same few numbers, in the same few minutes.
tenants
Compare how each agent answers complaints about deposits and repairs.
sellers
Often invite two or three agents, and compare their reviews first.
landlords
Compare repairs, rent collection and replies between agents.
To Google, the platforms and AI
Evidence: Practitioner viewNot a ranking factor: a research habit that tells you what to fix first. Competitors' Google reviews, ratings and replies are public in Maps. Bing may show different reviews from different sources, so check it separately. AI answers about two named agencies differ between assistants and runs: in Whito's UK snapshot (August 2026), only 37% of the agencies named appeared in more than one AI tool's answers. If an assistant can't find recent information about either of you, that's the gap.
An agent example
Oakfield Lettings compared itself with Larkhill Properties, the agency it most often met at landlord valuations. Larkhill had more reviews, but 11 of its last 20 had no reply and its newest was five weeks old. Oakfield replied to all of its reviews. Asked to compare the two, an AI assistant could only find recent information on Larkhill. Oakfield's biggest gap wasn't its count but its unclaimed Trustpilot profile, so it claimed it and linked it in its requests.
03Your turn
Check yours, then fix it
- 1In Google Maps, search "estate agents in [town]" and "letting agents in [town]".
- 2Pick the agency that appears next to you, or the one you most often lose valuations to.
- 1For both of you, on the platforms you share: review count (all time and the last three months), average rating with its count, newest review date, share of the last 20 with a reply, typical reply speed, and whether replies are specific or generic.
- 2Read their last 20 reviews and note the top three praise and complaint themes.
- Run it three times in a private window, and check every claim against the real profiles. AI can get ratings and counts wrong.
Compare the reputation of [your agency] and [competitor] in [town]. What do customers say? Say which sources you used, and tell me if you can't find recent information.
- 1Recency and replies before count: a rival with 800 reviews and none in six months is less of a threat than one with 90 reviews and 12 in the last three months.
- 2Their complaint themes show what local clients complain about. Make sure your own service and reviews answer that theme honestly.
- 3Don't build an advert on a rival's complaints: the ASA upheld complaints in June 2026 against an estate agent's comparisons with named competitors that it couldn't back up.
- 1Response rate: clear the backlog and set the reply routine (lesson 3.1).
- 2Recency: fix the request process so every client is asked within 24 hours (lesson 2.1). No one-day bursts.
- 3Platform coverage: claim the missing profile (lesson 4.2).
- 4Themes: fix the service behind the theme (lesson 5.2). AI answers: work on consistency (lesson 6.1).
- 5Write the gap in one sentence, with an owner and a date.
- 1Don't scrape their reviews against a platform's terms.
- 2Don't post, or ask anyone to post, reviews about them: it breaks Google's policy and the law on fake reviews.
- 3Don't contact their reviewers, copy their replies, or describe their reviews inaccurately.
Then: Keep the same competitor for a year, in the same sheet, so you see movement rather than noise.
04Keep it up
Quarterly. Competitor positions don’t shift week to week.
Sources
- 1.AI estate agent recommendations in six UK cities · Whito, August 2026
- 2.Comparisons with identifiable competitors · Advertising Standards Authority
Facts checked October 2026, and re-checked every quarter. Spotted something out of date? Tell us.
That's lesson 5.3
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