How do I get more Google reviews?

Most happy customers never leave a review because nobody asked, or because asking made it awkward. The fix is a habit: a short message with your review link, sent to every customer after every job.

Google’s own help pages suggest reminding customers to leave reviews and sharing a review link or QR code. Google also says more reviews and positive ratings can help your local ranking. What matters is how you ask, because Google and UK law both set clear limits.

Google lets businesses ask for genuine reviews without incentives. Its Maps content policy lists what isn’t allowed:

• No incentives. You can’t offer payment, discounts or anything else in exchange for a review, or for changing or removing a negative one.
• No review gating. You can’t discourage negative reviews or ask only the customers you think are happy. A system that asks “Were you happy?” and only sends the Google link to people who say yes breaks this.
• No pressure on the premises. Google says merchants shouldn’t require or pressure people to leave ratings or reviews while they’re on the premises. A tablet at the till where staff wait for a review is a bad idea. A card with a QR code they can use later is different.
• No staff quotas or scripts. Google lists asking staff to get a certain number of reviews, or reviews with specific content such as a staff member’s name, as not allowed.
• No fake or conflicted reviews. Reviews must reflect a real experience. Reviews from current or former staff, or anyone with a conflict of interest, aren’t allowed.

Breaking these can get reviews removed and your profile restricted, so the shortcut rarely lasts.

Since April 2025, the Digital Markets, Competition and Consumers Act 2024 has made fake reviews and concealed incentivised reviews banned practices. The Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) has published guidance on what that means for businesses.

• A fake review is one that claims to be, but isn’t, based on a genuine experience.
• Commissioning a review includes asking a member of staff to write one, as well as paying for one.
• The CMA gives offering an existing customer a discounted product, or one at no charge, in exchange for a five-star review as an example of commissioning a banned review.
• For reviews you publish, for example on your own website, the CMA says cherry picking positive reviews can mislead, including by encouraging only satisfied customers to leave them.

So the legal line and Google’s line point the same way: ask everyone, give nothing in return, and never write or buy reviews.

Your review link takes customers straight to the form, so they don’t have to search for you.

1. Sign in to your Business Profile at business.google.com on a computer.
2. Select Read reviews, then Get more reviews.
3. Select Copy to copy the link, or right-click the QR code and save the image.

Google says review QR codes can only be made in a computer browser, not on a phone. Save the link somewhere you can paste it quickly, such as a WhatsApp quick reply or your phone’s text shortcuts.

Ask when the job is done and the customer is still thinking about it. That’s usually the same day, or the day after.

• Use WhatsApp or text. It’s where most customers will see it and can tap the link in one go. Email works for businesses that already use it for bookings.
• Use their name and the job. A personal message gets more replies than a generic one.
• Keep it short and include the link. One ask, one link, no pressure.
• Send one reminder at most. A gentle nudge after a few days is fine. More than that feels like chasing.
• Ask every customer. Include the ones where something went wrong and you put it right. That’s often where your best reviews come from, and it keeps you inside the rules.

The easiest way to keep it going is to automate it, so the request goes out after every job without anyone remembering to send it.

Change the brackets to your own details. None of these offer anything in return, and they welcome honest feedback.

After a trade job

Hi [Name], thanks for having us round today. If you’ve got a minute, would you leave us a Google review? It helps people nearby find us. Here’s the link: [review link]. Honest feedback is welcome.

After an appointment

Hi [Name], thanks for coming in to [Business name] today. We’d really value a Google review about your visit, good or bad: [review link]. Thank you.

A gentle reminder

Hi [Name], just a quick reminder in case you missed it. If you’d like to leave a review of the work we did, the link is here: [review link]. No worries if not.

Google recommends replying to reviews, addressing the reviewer by name and responding to what they actually said. Thank people for good reviews. For a poor one, reply calmly, say what you’ll do, and take the detail offline. Future customers read your replies as much as the reviews.

If you’d rather have review requests set up to go to every customer automatically, both the Local Search Fix and the Missed-Call Rescue include them, each for a fixed £800. The Growth Plan includes review management each month. None of these can promise a number of reviews, because that’s up to your customers.

• Prohibited and restricted content, Maps User Generated Content Policy Help, Google, accessed 30 September 2026
• Tips to get more reviews, Google Business Profile Help, accessed 30 September 2026
• Create a Google link or QR code to request reviews, Google Business Profile Help, accessed 30 September 2026
• Tips to improve your local ranking on Google, Google Business Profile Help, accessed 30 September 2026
• Fake reviews guidance (CMA208), Competition and Markets Authority, GOV.UK, accessed 30 September 2026