Local search
How to ask for Google reviews without breaking the rules
Published by Zubair Afzal, responsible editor
First published Updated 4 min readWe check this page every three months. Next check: .
Ask everyone, ask early, never pay
Asking customers for reviews is allowed, and the platforms encourage it. Three things aren’t: choosing who gets asked based on how happy they seem, offering anything in exchange, and arranging reviews from people who weren’t customers.
The first is the trap, because it’s sold as a feature. Software that surveys a customer first and only shows the public review link to happy respondents is doing review gating, which the major platforms prohibit.
What works instead is duller and safer: ask everybody, at the same point in every job, with one tap between them and the form.
The routine
Three habits that produce a steady flow
Steady matters more than volume. Thirty reviews arriving in one week looks exactly like what it is.
Ask at the moment of relief
There’s a short window when the job is done and the customer is visibly pleased: the leak has stopped, the case has closed, the keys have been handed over. Ask then, in person or within the hour. Three days later, the request reaches somebody who has moved on.
You get: A named point in the job where the ask happens every time
Make it one tap
Send the direct review link, by text where you have the number, not a link to your website or a request to search for you. Every extra step loses people who meant to help. Put the same link on a card in the van and at the bottom of the invoice.
You get: A short direct link saved where staff can reach it
Ask everybody, and record that you did
Same point, same wording, every customer, including the ones you suspect are unhappy. Keep a simple record of who was asked: it turns good intentions into a process, proves nobody is selecting, and shows what proportion respond.
You get: A tick in the job record for the request
The rules
Allowed, and prohibited
Platform policies vary in detail and consumer law varies by country. The items below are consistent across the major platforms.
Allowed
- Asking every customer for a review, in person, by text or by email
- Sending a direct link to the review form
- Reminding once, politely, if nothing arrives
- Replying publicly to any review, positive or negative
- Reporting a review that breaches the platform’s content policy
Prohibited
- Asking only the customers you expect to be positive
- Surveying first and showing the public link only to happy respondents
- Offering a discount, a gift, a draw entry or anything else in exchange
- Reviews from staff, family, friends or anyone who wasn’t a customer
- Buying reviews, or paying an agency that won’t say where they come from
The difficult one
Write the reply for the next reader, not the reviewer
A negative review feels like a conversation with the person who wrote it. It isn’t. The person who matters is the next prospective customer, reading to find out what happens at this company when something goes wrong.
That gives the reply a structure. Acknowledge the specific thing without arguing about the facts. Say what you did or would do about it. Give a way to continue the conversation elsewhere. Three sentences, no defensiveness, no legal language, no repetition of the complaint.
Publish it and stop. A second reply is how a bad review becomes an argument, which does far more damage than the original complaint.
Before you post it
Four checks on a reply to a bad review
- Does it name the specific issue instead of thanking them for the feedback?
- Does it avoid disputing their account of what happened?
- Does it say what changes, or what you would like to do about it?
- Would you be comfortable if this reply were the only thing a customer read?
Questions
Common questions about asking for reviews
Can I ask only my happy customers?
No. Asking only customers you expect to be positive, and steering the rest somewhere private, is prohibited by the major platforms. It’s called review gating, and it’s built into a lot of software sold to small businesses.
Ask everybody, on the same terms, at the same point in the job. It’s simpler to run and produces a rating people believe.
Can I offer a discount for a review?
No. Incentivised reviews are prohibited by platform policy, and depending on where you operate they can attract regulatory attention, especially where the incentive depends on the review being positive.
You can thank somebody. You can’t pay them, give a discount, enter them into a draw, or make anything conditional on the review.
What about reviews from staff, family or friends?
They’re prohibited as conflicts of interest, and easy to spot. A cluster of five-star reviews from accounts with no other activity gets a profile looked at.
The upside is a slightly better average. The downside is losing the reviews you earned legitimately.
Should I respond to every review?
Respond to every negative one and to a reasonable share of the positive ones. A profile where only the complaints get replies reads as defensive.
Keep positive replies short and specific. The same sentence under twenty reviews tells a reader nobody is reading them.
Can I get an unfair review removed?
Sometimes, and only when it breaches the platform’s content policy: it isn’t about your business, it contains abuse, it’s spam, or it comes from a conflict of interest. Being unfair isn’t grounds for removal.
Report it once with the specific policy named, then reply publicly on the assumption that it will stay. Most do.
References
Sources for how to ask for Google reviews
The official documents and research this page is based on. Platform rules change, so check the source before you act on a detail.
Start here
Fix the ask before you buy anything
Most businesses with too few reviews aren’t being refused. They’re asking late, asking through three clicks, or not asking at all. Change those three things for a month before paying anyone to manage it.
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