/ CHAPTER 03 — 7 min read
Import your review history
Four routes to get every existing review into one place: browser extension, CSV, Google Business Profile connection, and Takeout.
Your review history is data. Importing it means sentiment analysis, trends, and dashboards start with real context instead of an empty chart. Most platforms give you no "download my reviews" button — so there are four routes. Pick per platform.
The four routes
| Route | Best for | Effort |
|---|---|---|
| Browser extension | Google, Facebook, Trustpilot listings you can open in a browser | Low |
| CSV import | Exports from a previous tool, hand-built spreadsheets, anything else | Medium |
| Google Business Profile connection | Your own GBP — connect once, reviews import and stay synced | Low |
| Google Takeout | Last resort for your own Google reviews (JSON, often incomplete) | High |
Compliance first. Only collect reviews that are publicly visible or that you own. Respect each platform's terms, robots directives, and privacy law (GDPR/CCPA and local equivalents). Never bypass CAPTCHAs, logins, or paywalls. The Echorank extension deliberately reads only what is already rendered on the page in front of you.
Google: connect your Business Profile
For the business you own, connecting your GBP is the preferred route: reviews import, scoring starts immediately, and new reviews keep syncing without you touching anything.
The extension route
Video plays muted — tap the speaker icon to unmute.
Watch it first (2 min): the install walkthrough covers download, developer mode, load-unpacked, and connecting your access token, start to finish. The written steps on the download page match the video.
For listings you manage but haven't connected — and for Facebook and Trustpilot:
- Open the actual listing page (Google Maps place page, Facebook Reviews tab, Trustpilot company page).
- Confirm it's the correct listing — chains and common names produce near-duplicates. Check name, address, and review count.
- Scroll so the reviews you want are loaded on the page.
- Click the extension icon → Scan & Import Reviews.
- Verify in Monitoring; re-scan any time. Imports are idempotent — duplicates are skipped, so re-scanning is safe.
Everything else: one CSV
Normalize other platforms into one CSV (up to 5 MB per file):
reviewer_name,rating,review_text,review_date,platform,review_url,owner_reply
"Jane D.",5,"Great service, fast and friendly.",2026-05-14,GOOGLE,https://maps.google.com/...,"Thanks Jane!"Ratings are 1–5 integers, dates are YYYY-MM-DD, platform is an uppercase source name. Leave unknown fields empty rather than guessing.
Verify before you analyze
- Imported count roughly matches the platform's visible count
- Ratings and dates spot-checked against 5 random originals
- The right business/tenant received the data (agencies: check twice)
- Oldest and newest review dates recorded in your baseline notes