How to Get More Google Reviews Within the Rules

This guide is for owners who know reviews matter and want more of them without putting the profile at risk. It sets out what Google allows, a step-by-step way to ask, how to respond to negative reviews, and what Google does to businesses that cheat. Reviews are one part of local SEO, and this guide covers that part only.

What do Google's rules allow, and what do they forbid?

You may ask. You may not reward, filter, pressure or script. Google's policy says businesses can encourage reviews that reflect a genuine experience, as long as they offer nothing in return and do not try to influence the rating or the wording.

How to get more Google reviews: step by step

Set it up once, then make it something that happens after every job without anyone having to remember.

How should you ask customers for reviews?

Plainly, briefly, and without hinting at the rating you want. These are two example messages to adapt.

Notice what is missing: no “five stars”, no discount on the next visit, no prize draw, no request to mention a team member. Each of those breaks a rule in the table above.

How do you respond to negative reviews?

Reply calmly, in public, and move the detail to a phone call. Google's own advice is to protect the reviewer's privacy, be honest about what went wrong, apologise where it is due, address the person by name, and offer to continue by phone or email if the matter is complicated.

• Answer in good time. The reviewer is notified, and can still edit the review after reading your reply.
• Never include private details about the customer, even to correct the record.
• Say what you will do, or what was outside your control, in two or three sentences.
• Do not report a review only because you disagree with it. Google says it does not get involved in conflicts between businesses and customers.
• If a review breaks Google's policies, for example spam or profanity, report it from your profile. Google says evaluation typically takes several days, and there is a one-time appeal if the report is turned down.

Do Google reviews help ranking?

Yes, according to Google. Its guidance on local ranking says how well known a business is depends partly on how many reviews it has, and that more reviews and positive ratings can help a business's local ranking. It does not say how much, and it gives no target number. The percentages you may see quoted for reviews as a ranking factor come from industry surveys, not from Google.

Reviews also do a second job: they are what a customer reads when choosing between you and the next business on the list. For the rest of the ranking picture, see how to rank higher on Google Maps. If your profile is not fully set up yet, start with the Business Profile checklist.

What happens if you break the rules?

Google removes the reviews and can restrict the profile. Its page on restrictions gives three examples: the profile cannot receive new reviews or ratings for a period, existing reviews and ratings are unpublished for a period, and the profile displays a warning telling customers that fake reviews were removed. Google says it emails the owner before applying a restriction, and that the business can appeal.

Google also says reviews removed for breaking policy are not restored. That is the practical cost of a shortcut: the reviews go, and a public warning can take their place.