CitySearch, Yahoo, YellowPages or MerchantCircle is limited to the occasional flame (highly negative review ) or a pleasant surprise when I see a nice review. But those in the hotel or restaurant business have seen the future, and the future is "he who has the most reviews wins."

Search for hotels near Orlando or San Diego Italian restaurants. 50 reviews might not get you into the critical seven pack of the Google Places Directory (page 1 of Google). In fact, 500 reviews may not be enough. 

What does this mean for bakeries, orthodontists, locksmiths and buy google reviews usa bike shops who don't have a single review but are happy to see their name on page 2 of Google Places, where according to statistics only 30% of visitors go to page 2. For most, it's just a matter of a time when even the competition realizes the importance of reviews.

One of my clients managed to get to the top of an extremely competitive category in Los Angeles after a lot of work.

It held the top spot for several weeks until a competitor returned 6 reviews. Another competitor came in with three, putting my client in third place in the Google Places Directory, significantly reducing his potential customers.

They are trying to add reviews now, but so are the other guys. A year ago it was rare to see a review of categories like bike shops or bakeries