Trustpilot vs Google Reviews: Where an Online Business Should Focus

An online store can hold a 4.8 on Google and a 2.9 on Trustpilot at the same time, and a shopper can hit either one first. Which page deserves your effort depends on one thing most comparisons skip: whether your customers ever meet you.

This guide is part of our bigger look at responding to reviews on every platform. Here we settle the Trustpilot question for businesses that sell or serve online: who reads each site, how the two ratings are built, what each platform lets you do to collect reviews, and the one place the two actually connect.

Trustpilot vs Google Reviews: Two Different Moments

A Google review works without anyone looking for it. Someone searches your business name, or "candle shop near me", and your rating and your latest reviews are already on screen beside the map pin.

A Trustpilot review gets read on purpose. The shopper has your checkout open in one tab and "your brand reviews" in another, and they are asking a narrower question: is this company real, and will the order turn up?

The audience numbers reflect that split. In BrightLocal's Local Consumer Review Survey 2026, 71% of consumers used Google for reviews, down from 83% the year before, and Google remained "far ahead of other platforms". The same report lists Trustpilot among the sites that "saw increased usage over the last 12 months".

So Google is still where most people read reviews, and Trustpilot is growing in a specific job: the legitimacy check right before a purchase. When we compared Google reviews vs Yelp, the verdict was lopsided. This one is not, because Trustpilot wins a moment Google often never sees.

First Question: Can You Even Have a Google Business Profile?

This is the part that decides everything, and it is rarely in the comparison.

Google's guidelines for representing your business say: "If your business either has a physical location that customers can visit or travels to customers where they are, you can create a Business Profile on Google." A business without a storefront that travels to customers is "allowed one service-area Business Profile".

An online store that ships orders and never meets a customer fits neither half. There is no address to visit and no travel, so there is no profile to collect reviews on. Google reviews, in the Maps sense, are simply not on the menu for that business.

Trustpilot has no such gate. Its Trust Centre says "Everyone can share their experiences on Trustpilot whenever they choose" and that "reviews can be written at any time, about genuine experiences, and not just for purchases." A page for your business can exist there whether or not you ever claim it.

That gives you three buckets:

1. A local business that also sells online. A bakery that ships, a clinic, a repair shop with a web store. You qualify for a Business Profile, so Google comes first.
2. A service business that travels. Cleaners, installers, mobile groomers. You get one service-area profile, so Google comes first here too.
3. An online-only store or service. No visits, no travel. Trustpilot is your main review page, and Google enters through store ratings, covered below.

How Each Rating Is Calculated

The two numbers look alike and behave very differently.

Google keeps it plain. Its help page on review scores says: "The review score is the average of all ratings published on Google for that place or business." It adds that "it may take up to 2 weeks to get an updated review score" after a new review. A two-year-old one-star counts exactly as much as yesterday's five.

Trustpilot weights its number. The Trust Centre says "Each reviewed business receives a TrustScore based on the number of reviews, how old they are," through "a weighting system that includes seven reviews at 3.5 stars." In practice, a new profile sits near 3.5 until real reviews outweigh those seven built-in ones, and older reviews count for less over time.

That difference should change how you collect. On Google, every happy customer you ever had helps the average, whenever they get around to it. On Trustpilot, a profile that stops inviting drifts back toward the middle, so a steady monthly flow beats a one-off push. Our Trustpilot reply guide covers how the Verified badge and TrustScore shape your replies.

Asking for Reviews: Both Allow It, With Different Rules

Here both platforms are friendlier than Yelp, which filters solicited reviews. Each one lets you ask. Each one draws a different line.

Google's rule is about rewards. Its review link page says "You can also send review requests through email, WhatsApp message, or Facebook post." Its tips for getting reviews add that "Offering incentives, like free or discounted goods or services, in exchange for customers to post reviews, change reviews, or remove negative reviews is considered fake & misleading content and is strictly prohibited."

You can generate your Google review link in a few seconds, and our review request email templates are written to stay inside those lines.

Trustpilot's rule is about fairness. Its guidelines for businesses say to "Invite consistently and fairly", which they define as "inviting everyone in the same way" regardless of whether they had a positive or negative experience, and they list "Be selective with invitations, by picking and choosing which customers you invite" under the things not to do.

Incentives are out too: "We don't allow incentivized reviews on Trustpilot." The consequence is spelled out: "Misuse of the platform can lead to actions such as account suspension or placing a Consumer Warning on your profile."

The practical difference: a Google ask can go to whoever you like, as long as nothing is attached to it. A Trustpilot invitation has to go to every customer in the same way, including the one whose parcel arrived late. That is uncomfortable, and it is also why a Trustpilot page reads as earned.

The One Place They Connect: Stars on Your Google Ads

Trustpilot reviews never appear on your Business Profile, and Google's local ranking help names nothing outside Google when it says "More reviews and positive ratings can help your business's local ranking." But Trustpilot reviews can put stars under your Google ads, and for an online store that is the connection that matters.

Google's Merchant Center help on store ratings says: "Google gathers store ratings from reputable websites that aggregate business reviews, as well as from users on Google." Under "We also source feedback from the following independent review websites", Trustpilot is on the list. Those ratings "showcase your store's customer experience in ads and unpaid formats".

The thresholds are stated too. "A merchant generally needs to collect at least 100 eligible, unique reviews", "Google evaluates reviews gathered within a rolling 24-month window", and "A rating of 3.5 or above is required to display a store rating on ads." Trustpilot's own post on store ratings confirms that "customer reviews collected through Trustpilot's automated invitations can count toward your business's Google Store Rating."

So for the online-only bucket, Trustpilot does double duty: it is the page shoppers check, and it is a feed into the stars Google can show beside your ad. Whether Google displays them is up to Google, but the reviews have to exist first.

Is Trustpilot Legit? What Its Own Numbers Say

Business owners ask this almost as often as shoppers do, usually after a one-star review from someone they cannot find in their orders.

Trustpilot publishes its enforcement figures. Its 2025 Trust Report says "Trustpilot removed 4.5 million fake reviews - amounting to 7.4% of the total number of reviews submitted in 2024", up from 6.1% in 2023, and that "90% of those 4.5 million were removed automatically". Its Trust Centre currently shows 7.8 million "Reviews detected as fake and removed in 2025", with every submission "checked by automated fake review detection systems."

Google is doing the same job at its own scale. Its Maps team reported blocking or removing more than 240 million policy-violating reviews in 2024. Our guide to handling fake Google reviews covers the Google side.

What Trustpilot will not do is bend for the business. The Trust Centre says "Businesses can engage meaningfully with feedback, but they can never pay to remove reviews." The business guidelines add that "Not liking a star rating or disagreeing with a negative review is not a valid reason for flagging a review" and that "Flagged content remains visible online during the investigation." So the honest answer for a business: legitimate, and unforgiving. You cannot curate the page. You can only earn it and answer it.

So Where Should an Online Business Focus?

Pick your bucket, then split the work.

If you qualify for a Business Profile, Google first. Claim it, ask every customer for a Google review, and reply to all of them, because that count and rating sit in the search results everyone runs. Then claim your free Trustpilot profile and invite consistently, even at a modest pace, so the "is this company real" page has recent, verified answers on it.

If you are online-only, Trustpilot first. Claim the profile, turn on automatic invitations after every order so the fairness rule takes care of itself, and reply to everything. Pair it with Google Customer Reviews in Merchant Center if you run ads, since Google counts both toward store ratings.

Show the reviews where you sell. Shoppers who never reach either platform still see your website. Trustpilot's own widgets display its reviews, and if you have Google reviews, you can embed your live Google reviews on any page for free. Put them next to the add-to-cart button, not in the footer.

Reply on both, but only automate one. A free Trustpilot response generator drafts a reply tuned to buyers, which you paste into your Trustpilot business account yourself. We do not monitor or post to Trustpilot, and no honest tool should promise that. Google is the half that runs itself: because Google has an official API, ReplyOnTheFly watches your Google reviews 24/7, drafts a reply in your voice, and emails it for one-tap approval. Create a free account and your next Google review arrives in your inbox with the response already written.

Frequently Asked Questions

The Bottom Line

Trustpilot vs Google reviews is not a contest between two versions of the same thing. Google reviews find customers who are searching. Trustpilot reviews reassure customers who are about to pay. Which one leads depends on whether Google will give you a profile at all.

Key Takeaways:

• Google's eligibility rule is a physical location customers can visit or travel to customers. An online-only store fits neither, which makes Trustpilot its main review page.
• Google's rating is a plain average of every published rating. Trustpilot's TrustScore weights review count and age with seven built-in 3.5-star reviews, so a steady flow of invitations matters more there.
• Both platforms let you ask. Google bans incentives. Trustpilot also requires inviting every customer the same way, and the free plan covers 50 invitations a month.
• Trustpilot reviews never appear on your Business Profile, but Google's Merchant Center lists Trustpilot as a source for store ratings on ads, at 100 or more eligible reviews in 24 months and a 3.5 minimum for ads.
• Reply everywhere. Automate the Google half, and treat each Trustpilot reply as a one-minute paste.

For the full playbook on every platform, head back to our guide on responding to reviews on every platform. If you need the step-by-step on Trustpilot replies, templates included, our Trustpilot response guide has them ready to use.

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