How to ask for Google reviews the right way
Reviews help people choose you, and they are part of how Google decides who shows on the map. They only help if they are real. Here is how to get them without putting your business at risk.
Ask every customer
- Ask right after the job. The day the work is done, while the customer is still glad you came.
- Send the direct link. In your Google Business Profile, find the option to share a review link. Text or email it, or print it on a card.
- Ask every customer who used you. Sending only satisfied customers to Google and unhappy ones to a private form is called review gating. Google's rules prohibit it, and the FTC has treated filtered reviews as deceptive.
- Say thank you, and answer each review. A short, polite reply to a good review and a calm reply to a bad one both show the next customer how you treat people.
What not to do
- Do not write reviews yourself or ask a friend or employee to.
- Do not buy reviews or pay a service that supplies them. The FTC's rule on fake reviews, in effect since October 2024, bars buying fake reviews and allows civil penalties per violation.
- Do not offer a discount, a gift or a prize in return for a review. Google treats reviews posted for a reward as fake engagement and removes them.
- Do not offer anything to get a bad review changed or removed.
When a review is wrong
If a review breaks Google's content rules, you can report it from your profile. If it is only unfair, answer it politely and let the other reviews speak.
Where this fits
Reviews are step four of the free steps any owner can do. At kickoff, we also write a short list of what to fix in your Google profile.
Questions
Can I give a discount or a gift for a review?
No. Google does not allow reviews posted in return for a reward, and the Federal Trade Commission bars buying reviews. Ask, say thank you, and leave it there.
What if a customer leaves a bad review?
Reply in public, stay polite, say what you will do about it, and fix the problem. Do not offer anything to have it taken down.
Do you write or buy reviews?
Reviews have to come from your real customers. We tell you how to ask them.