How to get more Google reviews (without breaking the rules)

Knowing how to get more Google reviews mostly comes down to two things: asking at the right moment, and making it take a few seconds instead of a few minutes. Happy customers rarely leave a review on their own. Many will if you ask and hand them the link.

How to get more Google reviews: the short version

• Copy your direct review link from your Google Business Profile, so customers land straight on the review box.
• Ask in person at the end of the job, then send the link by text or WhatsApp the same day.
• Ask every customer for an honest review, and leave what they write to them. Google's rules don't let you ask for particular words.
• Reply to reviews, especially the bad and mixed ones.
• Never pay, discount or only ask happy customers. That breaks Google's rules and UK law.

Why reviews matter for local search

Google's own help page on local ranking says review count and review score factor into how businesses are ranked. Reviews are part of what Google calls prominence, alongside how well known you are across the web.

They matter to customers too. Someone choosing between three salons on the map will read what people say about each one. A recent, detailed review often does more than a star rating.

Before you start, look at the businesses that show first on Google Maps for your main service. Note roughly how many reviews they have compared with you (say, your 40 against their 150). That gap is the one worth closing. Our guide to competitors shows how to compare yourself with the top three.

Dashboard · CompetitorsExample

Make asking easy

The biggest barrier is effort. "Find us on Google and leave a review" loses most people at the search step. Give them a direct link that opens the review box.

Get your direct review link

Every Google listing has a Place ID, which you can look up with our free Google Place ID finder. Google's review link uses it like this:

https://search.google.com/local/writereview?placeid=YOUR_PLACE_ID

The quickest way is our free Google review link and QR code tool: type your business name and postcode, pick your listing, and it gives you the link, the Place ID, a QR code and a table card to print.

Your Business Profile also has an "Ask for reviews" option that gives you a short link. If you use Kerbrank, it builds the direct link for you from your listing and puts it in a ready-to-send message.

Put the link where customers already are

• In the text or email you send after an appointment or job.
• On your receipt or invoice.
• As a QR code on a small card at the till or left with the customer. The review QR code tool makes an A5 card you can print.
• In your email signature.

When and how to ask

Ask every customer, at the natural end of the visit. For a salon, that is at the mirror. For a tradesperson, it is when the job is finished and they have seen it working.

For a shop, it is at the counter. Ask everyone, not only the ones who seem pleased: picking who gets asked by how happy they look is the same as gating, which Google doesn't allow.

Ask in person first, briefly and without pressure: "Would you mind leaving us a Google review? I'll send you the link." Then send the link the same day, while the visit is fresh. A second, gentle reminder a few days later is fine. More than that starts to feel like nagging.

Make asking a habit rather than a campaign. A steady trickle of reviews keeps your latest one recent, and it looks more natural than a sudden burst.

When a service never comes up in your reviews

Google groups the words people use in reviews into topics and shows them on your profile, such as "welcoming staff" or "lip fillers", with a count beside each.

Google hasn't said whether topics affect ranking, but they show customers what you're known for. If people only ever mention "friendly staff", nobody reading your reviews learns that you also do laser hair removal.

One business Kerbrank measured had its staff as its biggest review topic (13 mentions), with one of its treatments close behind (12). Another service it offers, one people search for, wasn't among the topics Google showed.

You can't fix that by asking customers to mention the service. Google's content policy says businesses shouldn't "request that specific content be included" in a review. What you can change is who you ask.

Make sure every customer who has that service gets the review link, whatever their visit was like, and leave what they write to them. Then check the service is on your Google services list and your website, with a price, so people reading your profile can see you offer it.

Kerbrank compares the topics Google shows on your profile with the services you offer and flags the ones that aren't there. You can do the same by hand: open your profile, look at the topics above your reviews, and list the services missing from them.

A sample review request message

Copy this and change the details:

It thanks them, asks once and explains why. Naming the treatment in your thanks is fine. Asking them to write about it, or telling them what to say, is not.

Reply to reviews, especially the bad ones

Replies show future customers that someone is listening. Our guide to how to respond to Google reviews has wording to adapt for good, mixed, bad and fake reviews.

• Good reviews: thank them by name and mention the service naturally ("So glad you're happy with the new boiler"). Keep it short and don't copy the same reply every time.
• Bad reviews: reply calmly, apologise for their experience, and offer to sort it out by phone or email. Never share details of their visit or argue in public. Other customers are reading how you handle it.
• Fake or abusive reviews: you can report a review that breaks Google's policies from your Business Profile. Reply politely in the meantime. Our guide to removing a Google review walks through reporting and appeals.

Google's rules (and UK law)

Breaking these can get reviews removed and, in some cases, restrictions put on your profile. If some have already gone, why Google reviews disappear helps you work out which rule, or which other cause, was behind it.

• No incentives. No discounts, freebies, prize draws or payment in exchange for reviews, even for honest ones.
• No review gating. You can't ask customers whether they were happy first and only send the review link to the ones who say yes. Ask everyone, or no one.
• No asking for particular content. You can ask for a review, but not tell people what to put in it: no "please mention the boiler", no suggested wording, no star rating.
• No reviews from staff, family or yourself, and none written on customers' behalf.
• No buying reviews or using services that post them.

UK consumer law also bans fake reviews and hiding the fact that a review was paid for or incentivised, so this isn't only about Google's policies.

Reviews are one part of a bigger picture. Our local SEO checklist covers the rest, and how to rank higher on Google Maps explains how reviews fit with relevance and distance.

Common questions