NZ Business Insights
What New Zealand review data shows about the trades and professions we rank, and practical guides for the businesses on those pages.
Research
Analysis of the review data behind our rankings. Written for anyone choosing who to hire.
September 2026
5,726 NZ Painter Reviews: 97% Are Five Stars, So the Rating Cannot Tell Them Apart
No trade that works on houses gets five stars more often, so the text has to do the choosing. One positive review in four says nothing a reader could check, one in nine describes the preparation, and more than a third of complaints are about a job that never started or never finished.
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July 2026
2,911 NZ Builder Reviews: What Separates a Good Builder Is Conduct, Not Craft
Workmanship earns 57% of the praise, but among complaints, how a builder behaves once challenged and whether they answer the phone after handover each appear nearly as often as faults with the building itself. The 1-star rate runs seven times higher in the hardest market than the easiest.
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July 2026
2,420 NZ Plumber Reviews: Speed Wins Stars, Billing Loses Them
Top5.nz classified 2,420 reviews of 224 NZ plumbing businesses. Billing leads the complaints at 43%; the plumbing itself is faulted in 36%. Speed of response drives 46% of the praise.
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Updated July 2026
What 2,508 NZ One-Star Reviews Actually Complain About
Five complaints recur across nearly every category of NZ service business. Building inspectors, moving companies, family lawyers, solar installers, and roofers each have a signature complaint the others rarely raise.
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Updated July 2026
Which NZ city has the best tradespeople and professionals in 2026?
Wellington edges Tauranga by 0.003 stars at the top of the table, but Tauranga still wins the most categories. Napier/Hastings debuts fifth with two category wins.
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Updated July 2026
What It Takes to Rank in the Top 5: Review Thresholds Vary 24-Fold by Category
The review count needed to reach a Top 5 ranking ranges from 11 in architecture to 263 in veterinary care. A perfect 5.0 rating is not enough in most categories.
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Updated July 2026
The 1-Star Problem: What NZ's Review Data Really Shows
Complaint rates across NZ service industries vary by a factor of nineteen. Family lawyers attract 19 times more 1-star reviews than mortgage brokers, yet both display ratings above 4.6 stars.
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For business owners
Practical guides for the businesses we rank. Written for the owner, not the customer.
August 2026
How an AI Assistant Decides Which Business to Name
Optimising for AI is being sold as a new discipline, under names like AEO and GEO. What actually happens between a question and an answer, the tactics Google says do not work, and what is worth doing instead.
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August 2026
What Counts as an Authority Link, and How to Check One in Ten Minutes
Someone is always selling links to small businesses, and most of what they sell is worthless. Five free checks that tell you the difference, what Google actually says about paid and directory links, and where good links really come from.
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August 2026
How to See Which Websites Send You Customers
Plenty of sites will tell you they send you business. One dropdown in Google Analytics tells you whether it is true. The whole check, plus why a real referral sometimes hides in Direct.
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August 2026
Your Reviews Decide What You Get Recommended For
Search engines, AI assistants and rankings sites now write descriptions of your business from your review text. What your reviewers happen to mention decides what those descriptions say, and how you ask changes what you get.
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August 2026
How to Move Up the Top5.nz Rankings
On 242 of our 468 ranking pages, the first-placed business is not the highest-rated one. Review volume decides position on Top5.nz, and volume is the lever you can work on. Where to put the effort, and the shortcuts that backfire.
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Updated August 2026
How to Get More Google Reviews for Your NZ Business
The words in your reviews now matter as much as the stars, because AI assistants quote them. The ask, the timing, and how to get reviews that say something.
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Updated August 2026
Local SEO for NZ Service Businesses: A Practical Guide
The basics that get an NZ service business found in local search, then the advanced layer for AI assistants: profile depth, review text, prices, and third-party proof.
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Updated August 2026
How to Respond to Negative Google Reviews
A handled two-star review converts better than the five-star praise above it. What to say, the one thing never to put in a public reply, and when a review can actually be removed.
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