How many testimonials should I put on my website?

Fewer, better ones beat a long list. Three to five specific testimonials on the homepage is plenty for most local service businesses - enough to show a pattern without burying the one or two that actually say something concrete. If you accumulate a lot over time, a dedicated reviews page can hold more, with the strongest handful still featured up front.

Are testimonials different from Google reviews?

They are the same trust, used two different ways. A Google review lives on your Google Business Profile, helps your local ranking, and is read on Google's terms. A testimonial is a review or quote you choose and place on your own site, in the context you pick - next to the exact service it praises, with a name, a photo, or a project it's tied to. The best move is to reuse your real Google reviews as testimonials, not treat them as competing tasks.

How do I get testimonials if I do not have any yet?

Ask a handful of recent customers directly for a sentence or two about the job, or pull the best lines from Google reviews you already have and ask permission to feature them by name. If you have neither yet, a short, honest quote from an early customer - even a text message they said you could use - is a real testimonial. Never write one yourself and attribute it to a customer; a fabricated quote is easy to spot and destroys the trust it was meant to build.

RunCabin Blog · Getting chosen

Should I put testimonials on my website?

Q: Should I put testimonials on my website?

Yes. A star rating tells a visitor you are broadly fine; a testimonial tells them why, in a real customer's own words, about the exact kind of job the visitor is trying to get done. Two or three specific quotes near the top of your homepage, next to your Google rating rather than instead of it, do more to move an undecided visitor than the star count alone.

September 21, 2026 · 8 min read

Yes - a star rating and a testimonial do two different jobs, and most small business websites only do one of them. Your Google rating tells a visitor you are broadly fine: four-point-eight stars, ninety reviews, nothing alarming. A testimonial tells them why, in a real customer's own words, about the exact kind of job the visitor showed up hoping to get done. A homeowner deciding between three painters is not comparing star counts down to the decimal - they are looking for the one sentence that sounds like their own situation.

Here is how to use testimonials without turning your homepage into a wall of vague praise nobody reads.

A testimonial and a Google review are the same trust, used differently

It helps to stop treating "get reviews" and "add testimonials" as two separate chores. They are the same raw material, used on two different stages. A Google review lives on your Google Business Profile, is read on Google's terms, and helps your local ranking - we cover that side in how to get more Google reviews. A testimonial is a review or quote you choose and place on your own website, in the context you pick: right next to the exact service it praises, paired with a photo of the finished job, attributed to a real name and neighborhood.

The efficient version of this is not "run two separate campaigns." It's: keep asking for Google reviews the way you already do, then pull the best two or three lines from what comes in and feature them on your site. One habit, two payoffs.

What actually makes a testimonial work

Most testimonials on small business websites fail for the same reason: they are too generic to mean anything. "Great service, highly recommend!" could be about a plumber, a painter, or a pizza place. It doesn't tell a nervous homeowner anything they didn't already assume.

A testimonial that moves someone is specific about the situation and the outcome:

Weak: "Great job, very professional."
Strong: "They fixed the leak two other plumbers said needed a full wall replacement - showed up same day and it took an hour."
Weak: "Highly recommend this company."
Strong: "Repainted our whole exterior in one weekend before a family reunion. Clean lines, cleaned up every evening, no surprises on the final bill."

The strong versions work because they answer the actual question a visitor is silently asking - "will this go smoothly, and will the price hold?" - instead of just cheering. When you're picking testimonials to feature, sort for specificity over enthusiasm. A calm, detailed sentence beats an exclamation point every time.

How many, and where

Three to five well-chosen testimonials on your homepage is enough for almost any local service business. That's enough to show a pattern - "this isn't a fluke" - without burying the couple that actually say something concrete inside a long scroll nobody finishes. If you're a bigger operation with a lot of good material, a dedicated reviews or testimonials page can hold more, but keep your strongest three or four up front where a first-time visitor will actually see them.

Placement matters as much as count:

Near the top of the homepage, close to your Google rating - not instead of it, alongside it. The two together read as "the internet agrees and here's specifically why."
Next to the service it's about, if you have service-specific pages. A roof-repair testimonial belongs on the roof-repair page, not just the general homepage wall.
Near your quote form, right before someone is about to fill it out - the same moment doubt is highest and a specific, credible quote does the most work.

Text, photo, or video?

Plain text with a real name is the baseline, and it's enough - don't let the lack of anything fancier stop you from posting what you already have. Two upgrades are worth the small extra effort when you can manage them:

A name and general location ("Maria T., Sandy Springs") reads as more real than an initial alone, and doesn't require a full address.
A photo of the finished job next to the quote lets the customer's words and your work vouch for each other at the same time - this is often more convincing than either alone.

A short video clip - a customer saying a sentence or two on their phone, or you catching a genuine reaction at job's end - is the strongest format when you can get it, but it is not required. A well-chosen written quote with a real name and a photo of the work still beats a generic testimonial with no supporting proof, video or not.

Where testimonials actually come from

Three sources, roughly in order of how often they get used:

Reuse a Google review, with permission. If a review already exists and it's specific, ask the customer if you can feature it on your site with their name. Most people say yes - it costs them nothing and takes thirty seconds to ask.
Ask directly, right after a job goes well. The same moment worth asking for a Google review - right after the customer sees the finished work - is worth asking "would you mind if I used a sentence of that as a testimonial on my site?" People are far more willing in the moment than by a cold follow-up email weeks later.
A text message they already sent you. Plenty of small business owners are sitting on genuinely great customer texts - "you guys are lifesavers, thank you" - that never got turned into anything. With permission, a real text screenshot or its quoted text is a legitimate testimonial.

If you're brand new and don't have any yet, that's a temporary state, not a wall. Our guide on getting customers with no reviews yet covers the other trust signals that carry a new business until the first few testimonials exist.

The rule that matters more than any of the above

Never write a testimonial yourself and attribute it to a customer, and never edit a real one to say something the customer didn't say. It's tempting when you're starting out and the page looks bare, but a fabricated quote is one of the easiest things for a skeptical visitor - or a customer who actually knows you - to spot, and it costs you more trust than an empty section ever would. If a quote needs light editing for length or clarity, keep the meaning exact and, when in doubt, show the customer the edited version before you post it.

The part people forget: testimonials go stale

A testimonials section that hasn't changed in two years reads as inactive, even if the business is thriving - a visitor has no way to tell "we just haven't updated the site" from "business slowed down." Treat your testimonials the same way you treat your job photos: add the strongest new one every so often, and retire the oldest or vaguest one to make room. A page that visibly keeps adding recent, specific praise reads as a business that's actively working right now, which is exactly the impression you want a first-time visitor to leave with.

Where RunCabin fits

This is the kind of small, ongoing update that used to mean emailing a web designer and waiting a few days, or fighting a page builder for twenty minutes to add three sentences. With a RunCabin site, you just ask: "Add this as a testimonial near the top of the homepage: [the quote], from Maria in Sandy Springs." It's live in moments. Got a better one next month? Ask again and swap it in - no ticket, no waiting on anyone. Your site comes with your own domain, professional email, and a free logo included, one flat $39.99/mo, no setup fee, no contract.

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