Google reviews help your business show up in local results and help the people who find you decide to call. You earn them by asking every customer, making the review one tap away with a link or QR code, and offering nothing in return. This guide covers the rules, a request email and reply templates.
Key takeaways
- Google says reviews feed the “prominence” part of local ranking, alongside relevance and distance.
- Ask every customer, including the ones you cannot predict.
- Send people to a Google review link or QR code instead of telling them to search for you.
- Never attach a discount, gift or entry to a review. Google lists that as prohibited.
- Reply to every review, short and specific, and flag only the ones that break Google’s content policies.
Why Google reviews matter for local search
Google names three local ranking factors. Relevance and distance cover the match and the searcher’s location, and reviews feed the third, prominence. Prominence, in Google’s own description, is “based on info like how many websites link to your business and how many reviews you have.” The same page says: “More reviews and positive ratings can help your business’s local ranking.” Our local SEO index lists all three next to the top factors in Whitespark’s 2026 report.
Reviews can also influence whether someone contacts you. They show next to your Business Profile in Maps and Search, so a searcher can compare you with the competitor beside you before visiting a website.
Reviews are one part of a local program, and the rest is covered in our Google Maps marketing service and the SEO fundamentals guide. For the full breakdown, see our guide to how much Google Business Profile management costs.
What Google and the FTC allow
Some common review-request methods break Google’s rules. The table lists them with the rule behind each, using wording from the pages linked in the last column.
| Tactic | Allowed? | Rule |
|---|---|---|
| Asking every customer for a review | Yes | Google tells businesses to ask customers to visit a Google link or scan a QR code (Business Profile Help). |
| Offering a discount, free item or prize for a review | No | Google calls incentives “strictly prohibited” and treats them as fake and misleading (Business Profile Help). |
| Asking only happy customers | No | Merchants may not “selectively solicit positive reviews from customers” (Google Maps content policy). |
| Discouraging negative reviews | No | The same policy bars merchants from discouraging or prohibiting negative reviews. |
| Reviews from you, relatives or staff about your own business | No | The policy prohibits content “based on a conflict of interest,” including current or former employment. |
| Buying or writing fake reviews | No | The FTC’s consumer reviews rule, effective October 21, 2024, covers writing, creating or selling fake or false reviews (FTC Q&A). |
| Falsely accusing a reviewer to get a review removed | No | The FTC page says the rule prohibits a false accusation about the reviewer when the business knows it is false or is reckless about its truth. |
A word on the FTC line about incentives. Its Q&A says the rule does not bar incentives as long as nothing requires the review to express a particular sentiment. Google’s own policy is stricter and bans incentives outright, so follow Google’s version on this platform.
How to get more Google reviews
Start with these six steps, then adjust them to how your customers deal with your business.
- Make it one tap. Google’s help page says to ask customers to visit a Google link or scan a QR code, and it links to a guide for creating one. Print the QR code at the counter and on the job-complete card. Customers must be signed in to a Google Account to post.
- Ask at the best moment. Ask after the customer has received the service, while the result is fresh.
- Ask everyone. Choose a rule that does not depend on mood, such as every completed job. Choosing who to ask by how they seem to feel is the gating Google prohibits.
- Ask in person first, then follow up in writing. A short spoken ask, followed by a text or email with the link, keeps the request personal. For industries where customers rarely talk to you face to face, collect an email address and send the link, as in the template below.
- Say what helps. Invite them to describe the service they received and how it went. Do not script the wording and do not ask them to name a staff member, since Google’s policy lists requesting reviews with specific content as prohibited.
- Test the link. Open it in a private browser window before it goes on anything printed.
A review request email you can copy
Keep it short and personal, with no offer attached. The message starts at the subject line and ends at your contact details.
Subject: How did we do, [First name]?
Hi [First name],
Thank you for choosing [Business] for [the service]. If you have two minutes, a Google review about your experience helps other people in [city] decide who to call. Here is the link: [review link]
Whatever you write, thank you for the chance to work with you.
[Your name], [Business], [Phone]
Send the same message to every customer. Adjust the first line to fit the job, and leave out any promise of a reward.
How to reply to reviews
Google’s reply guidance is plain: keep it short, be conversational instead of promotional, address the reviewer by name and respond promptly. Before you can reply, the business must be verified. Replies are checked against Google’s content policies before posting, and if one is not approved you are asked to edit it (Google Business Profile Help).
Positive review:
Thanks, [Name]. We’re glad the [specific thing they mentioned] worked out. See you next time.
Negative review:
[Name], we’re sorry the [specific problem] fell short. We’d like to put it right. Please call [Name] at [phone] so we can look into what happened.
For a negative review, apologize where it is warranted and do not accept blame for things outside your control. Never use a reply to offer a deal.
What to do about a fake or unfair review
If a review breaks Google’s content policies, flag it. Google’s help pages say you can flag a review you believe violates the policies and point to a separate article for the steps. A review that is only negative or unfair to you, from someone who did use your business, does not fit that. Reply once, explain what you can verify, offer to resolve it and avoid arguing in public.
Do not respond with threats or invented accusations about the reviewer. The FTC page says a response should not use physical threats or intimidation to get a review changed or removed.
Related reading
- 5 Signs Your Google Business Profile Is Costing You Customers
- Why Google Suspends a Business Profile and How to Get It Reinstated
- Google Business Profile for a Service-Area Business: Hide Your Address and Set Service Areas
Next step
Reviews are one part of local search, and our pricing page shows what local work costs. Donnie Strompf has done SEO since 2008. The free AI-visibility audit comes first, then a 15-minute call.
FAQ
Can I give a discount or gift in return for a review?
Google counts any reward tied to a review as an incentive, whether it is cash, a coupon or a free add-on, and reviews posted because of one are removed from Maps. If you want to thank a customer, do it after the review is posted, with no promise made beforehand.
Can I ask only my happy customers for reviews?
Google’s policy forbids selectively soliciting positive reviews, so sorting customers by satisfaction before you send the link is gating. The safer habit is one rule for everyone, such as every completed job. If someone mentions a problem in person, fix it, and still send the same link.
Where do I find my Google review link?
Google publishes a help article on creating a Google link or QR code to request reviews, and your Business Profile help pages point to it. Create the link while signed in to the account that manages the profile, then open it in a private window. Reviewers need a Google Account, which they can set up with a non-Gmail address.
Can I delete a bad review?
Removal is Google’s decision, and the route to it is flagging a review that breaks the content policies, such as a conflict of interest, an incentive or a fake. A critical review from a customer that breaks no policy gives you nothing to flag, which is why a calm public reply matters more than a removal request.
Can I make my employees collect reviews?
Not in the form of a target. Google’s policy names merchants requesting that staff solicit a certain number of reviews as prohibited. Staff can still hand customers the link or QR code. A quota, or a prize for the employee with the most reviews, turns a request into the kind of pressure Google bans.
How many reviews do I need?
Google’s help pages give no target number. A practical benchmark is the top three businesses in your map results for your main search: count their reviews, note how recent the newest ones are, and aim to match their pace over the next few months.
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