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

1. Know the rules before you ask

Two sets of rules apply. Google's policy for reviews on Maps and Business Profiles, and the Australian Consumer Law, which the ACCC enforces. Google's rules are the stricter of the two, so if you follow Google, you're usually covered for Australian law as well.

What Google doesn't allow

• Incentives: no payment, discounts, free goods or services in exchange for a review, or for changing or removing a negative one. This applies even if you'd reward any review, good or bad.
• Review gating: you can't discourage negative reviews or only ask the customers you think are happy.
• Staff targets: you can't ask staff to collect a set number of reviews, or reviews that mention particular things.
• Fake or conflicted reviews: no reviews from people who weren't customers, and none from current or former staff or anyone with a business or personal conflict of interest.

What Google does allow is simple: asking customers to post about a genuine experience, without offering anything and without trying to influence the rating or what they write. If Google finds fake engagement, it can stop your profile receiving new reviews for a period, unpublish existing ones, or show a warning on your profile that fake reviews were removed.

What Australian Consumer Law says

• Fake reviews are illegal. So is arranging for someone else to write them.
• Undisclosed connections mislead. Reviews from family, staff or anyone paid in some way must make that relationship clear.
• Incentives must be disclosed and must apply whether the review is positive or negative. Google still bans them on its platform, so don't offer them there.
• Removing or editing genuine negative reviews can mislead consumers.

This isn't theoretical. In a 2023 sweep of 137 businesses, the ACCC found 37% engaged in concerning conduct with online reviews, including fake positive reviews, undisclosed incentives and steering unhappy customers away from public review sites.

2. Get your Google reviews link from your Business Profile

Google gives every Business Profile its own review link. It opens the review box for your business directly, so customers don't have to search for you on Maps first.

• Sign in to your Business Profile on a computer.
• Select Read reviews, then Get more reviews.
• Copy the link with the copy icon, or right-click the QR code and save the image.

Google says the QR code can only be created in a computer browser, not on a phone. Your business needs a verified profile, and customers need a Google Account to leave a review. If you haven't claimed your profile yet, start with our guide on how to set up a Google Business Profile.

3. Ask at the right moment

The best time to ask is right after the customer has got what they came for. The job is finished, the appointment is over, the order has arrived. The experience is fresh, and the request feels like part of the service rather than an afterthought.

• Trades: when the job is signed off and the customer has seen the result.
• Clinics and salons: at checkout, or in the follow-up message the same day.
• Cafes and shops: on the receipt or a card at the counter.
• Professional services: when the matter is closed and the final invoice goes out.

Ask every customer, the same way. That's what keeps it within the rules, and it's simpler than deciding who deserves a request. Asking in person first, then sending the link, works better than a link that arrives with no warning.

4. Make it easy: QR code, message templates and your website

Every extra step loses people. The aim is one tap or one scan from the request to the review box. Google suggests putting your link on receipts, in thank-you emails, at the end of chat conversations, and printing the QR code for your shop.

• QR code: on the counter, a table card, the back of a business card or the job sheet you leave behind.
• SMS or email: a short message with the link, sent the same day.
• Your website: a "Review us on Google" link in the footer or on the contact page, so returning customers can find it.
• Invoices and receipts: a line with the link under the total.

Here's a template you can adapt. It asks for honest feedback and offers nothing in return, which keeps it within Google's rules.

Hi Sam, thanks for choosing us for your bathroom repair today.
If you have a minute, we'd appreciate an honest review on Google.
It helps other locals decide if we're right for them:
[your review link]
Thanks, Alex

5. Reply to every review

Replies show future customers that someone is listening. Google's advice is to be professional and polite, keep it short, use the reviewer's name and mention something specific they said.

To reply, open your Business Profile, select Read reviews, then the reply icon next to the review. The reviewer is notified when you reply, and your reply appears under the review in your business's name. Google checks replies against its content policies before they show, which usually takes minutes but can take up to 30 days.

• Good review: thank them, mention the job or product by name, and keep it to a few sentences.
• Short review with no text: a one-line thank you is enough.
• Mixed review: thank them for the good parts and say what you'll do about the rest.

6. Handle negative reviews calmly

Every business gets a bad review eventually. A calm, specific reply often does more for your reputation than the review does against it, because future customers read both.

• Wait before you reply. Write it, leave it a while, then read it again.
• Acknowledge the problem without arguing about the details in public.
• Take it offline: give a name and a phone number or email so the customer can reach someone.
• Never offer something in exchange for changing or removing the review. Google bans it.

Only report a review if it breaks Google's policies, such as spam, a fake review from someone who was never a customer, or offensive content. Google says it won't remove a review just because you disagree with it. Reporting is done from Read reviews, and if a report is refused you get one appeal.

Be wary of services that promise to remove bad reviews. The ACCC's 2023 sweep named "review removalists" among its concerns, and removing or suppressing genuine negative reviews can mislead consumers. In 2020 the Federal Court ordered HealthEngine to pay $2.9 million in penalties, partly for not publishing around 17,000 patient reviews and editing around 3,000 others to remove negative comments.

7. Show reviews on your website honestly

Reviews help most when people see them at the moment they're deciding, and that's often on your website. A few real reviews near your phone number or booking button can reassure a visitor who is ready to act. If your site gets visitors but few enquiries, that's one of the fixes in our guide to why a website gets visitors but no enquiries.

• Quote reviews word for word. Don't edit them to sound better. The ACCC treats edited reviews as potentially misleading.
• Use real names or initials as they appear on Google, and link to your Google profile so visitors can read the rest.
• Show the rating with the count. The ACCC recommends showing how many reviews a star rating is based on, as in its example of "3 stars, 24 reviews".
• Don't present a hand-picked set as the whole picture. Choosing your best few is normal, but a claim like "everyone loves us" needs to match your full record.
• Disclose connections. A review from a friend, family member or staff member needs that relationship made clear.

One technical note. Google doesn't show star ratings in search results for reviews a business puts on its own site about itself, including reviews pulled in with a Google widget. Show reviews on your site because they help visitors decide, not to get stars in search. For how reviews fit into being recommended by AI assistants, see how to get your business recommended by ChatGPT.

Key takeaways

1. (01)

   Ask every customer for a review, the same way, at the moment the job is done.

2. (02)

   Use your Business Profile review link and QR code so leaving a review takes one tap or one scan.

3. (03)

   Never pay, offer discounts or filter out unhappy customers. Google bans it, and Australian Consumer Law can apply.

4. (04)

   Reply to every review, handle bad ones calmly in public, and quote reviews on your website word for word.

Frequently asked questions

More answers on price, hosting and timing in our FAQ.