I have 4.9 stars and the restaurant opposite, with 3.8, shows up before me on Google

I've had the restaurant for four years and never dropped below 4.7 on Google. Right now I have 4.9 with 43 reviews. Opposite me, literally twenty metres away, there's a pizzeria with 3.8 stars and 312 reviews. And they appear before me. Every time I search "Italian restaurant Valencia centre" they show up on the map and I don't.

For months I thought it was a Google error. That the algorithm was broken. I told my wife: "Look at this, they have 3.8 and I have 4.9, how is that possible?" She looked at me and said maybe Google knew something I didn't.

I started investigating. I read forums, articles, asked in a Valencia restaurateurs group. And I gradually understood something that was quite uncomfortable to accept: Google doesn't reward the rating, it rewards recent activity and volume.

Of my 43 reviews, 31 were from before 2023. I'd gone almost two years without receiving new reviews. When someone searches for a restaurant, Google interprets that as the place being less active, less relevant for current searches. The pizzeria opposite, with its 3.8, has 40 or 50 reviews from the last three months. For Google, that means people keep going and talking about their experience.

It was a bit humiliating to understand. I thought maintaining quality was enough. But quality without visibility is like cooking well in a basement: it doesn't reach anyone.

I started asking for reviews systematically. Automatic WhatsApp to customers two hours after dinner, when they still have the taste in their mouth. The first few days I sent the message manually, to those I'd noted in a notebook. Then I automated it with a system that also analyses the response before asking for the review, to avoid sending the link to someone who had a bad experience.

In three months: 38 new reviews. Still at 4.9 but now with 81 total, and most from the last 90 days.

Last week I searched again. Italian restaurant Valencia centre. Now I appear before them.

My wife told me not to say it too loudly because the owner opposite is a nice guy. She's right. But I took a screenshot anyway.

What I learned: the rating matters, but frequency matters more. Google Maps is a continuous conversation, not an exam you pass once.