How to get more Google reviews
Happy customers rarely think to leave a review on their own, but many will if you ask at the right moment and make it easy. Here's how to ask, word for word, and what you mustn't do.
→The short answer
To get Google reviews, copy your review link from your Google Business Profile, then ask every customer for an honest review as soon as the job is done: by WhatsApp, by email, on the invoice or with a QR code in person. Never offer anything in return, and reply to every review you get.
(01)Your review link
One link that opens the review box straight away.
Make your review link and QR code
- Sign in to the Google account that manages your Business Profile.
- Open your profile, go to your reviews, and choose Get more reviews1.
- Copy the link, and on a computer, download the QR code too: Google only makes the QR code in a computer's browser1.
- Save the link somewhere you can paste it in seconds: your phone's notes, a WhatsApp quick reply, your email signature and your invoice template.
Google moves its menus from time to time, so if the button has a different name, its help page has the current route1. Customers need a Google account to leave a review1, so expect a few who can't. If your profile isn't set up properly yet, start with our local SEO checklist.
(02)When to ask
Timing matters more than wording.
When to ask for a review
Straight after the job
When the work is finished and the customer has seen it. Gratitude fades fast, and a request a fortnight later is easy to ignore.
With the invoice or receipt
Google suggests putting the link on receipts and in thank-you emails2. Your invoice is read by every customer, so it's a request you never forget to make.
At the end of a chat
If customers message you, the end of a conversation where you've sorted something out is a natural moment2.
In person, with the QR code
On a card at the counter, on the back of a business card, or on a small sticker inside the van. A phone camera opens it.
Every customer, every time
Not only the ones you're sure loved it. Google doesn't allow businesses to ask only the customers they expect to be positive3, and a steady stream from everyone looks, and is, more genuine.
(03)Message templates
Copy them, change the words to sound like you.
What to say: review request templates
WhatsApp or text, after the job
"Hi [name], thanks for having us today. If you've got a moment, an honest Google review would really help other people nearby find us: [your link]. Thanks, [your name]"
Email, with the invoice
"Thank you for choosing [business]. Your invoice is attached. If you have a moment, we'd be grateful for an honest review on Google: [your link]. It helps people choose who to trust."
In person
"Would you mind leaving us a Google review when you get a minute? This card has a code: just point your phone camera at it."
One reminder, a few days later
"Hi [name], just a gentle nudge about that review, only if you have time: [your link]. Thanks again for choosing us." Send it once. More than that and it becomes a nuisance.
(04)What's not allowed
General information, not legal advice.
Google's rules and UK law on reviews
No incentivesGoogle policy
No picking and choosingGoogle policy
Don't discourage negative reviews, and don't ask only the customers you expect to be positive3.
No reviews from people with a connectionGoogle policy
Not you, not current or former staff, and not anyone with a professional or personal relationship to the business. And never reviews of competitors3.
No fake reviews, by anyoneUK law
Since 6 April 2025, writing fake reviews, or paying or asking someone else to, has been banned outright in the UK4. That includes buying review packages, whoever writes them.
Showing reviews fairlyUK law
If you show reviews on your own website, the CMA's guidance treats presenting them in a misleading way, such as hiding the negative ones, as banned too4.
Breaking Google's rules gets reviews removed, and Google can also restrict the business's profile5. It's not worth a few extra stars.
(05)Replying
Your replies are read by the next customer, not just the reviewer.
How to reply to Google reviews
Reply to every review
Good or bad, short or long. It shows people you're there and you care, and it takes a minute.
Good reviews: thank them, specifically
"Thanks, Sarah. Glad the new radiator's keeping the kitchen warm." One real detail beats a pasted thank-you.
Bad reviews: once, calmly, then offline
Acknowledge it, apologise for their experience without arguing the details, and give a way to sort it out directly. Then do sort it out. Readers judge the reply more than the complaint.
Never share personal details
Don't mention a customer's address, what they paid or anything from their records in a public reply, even to set the record straight.
Reviews that break the rules
A review that's fake, offensive or from a competitor can be reported to Google. Google won't step into an ordinary disagreement between a business and a customer6, so most bad reviews are answered, not removed.
(06)A 30-day plan
Do one row a week. By the end, asking is a habit.
A 30-day plan for more Google reviews
Days 1–7
Set up
- Get your review link and QR code
- Add the link to your invoice template and email signature
- Save it as a WhatsApp quick reply
- Order cards or stickers with the QR code
Days 8–14
Start asking
- Ask every customer, the day the job's done
- Reply to every review you already have, oldest unanswered first
Days 15–21
Recent customers
- Message customers from the last few months, once, with the WhatsApp template
- Reply to new reviews within a day or two
Days 22–30
Make it routine
- Make asking part of finishing every job, for whoever finishes it
- Link to your Google reviews from your website
- Read what reviews say, and fix anything that comes up twice
Questions
(07)Questions
No. Google's policy bans any incentive for a review, including discounts, freebies and prize draws, even if you'd accept a bad review. Reviews it judges to be incentivised are removed.
Only if it breaks Google's policies, for example if it's fake, offensive or from someone with a conflict of interest. You can report those from your Business Profile. For an honest complaint, a calm reply is your best answer.
Best not. Google treats reviews from people with a personal or professional connection to the business as a conflict of interest, and they can be removed. If they've genuinely been customers, a recommendation to people they know is worth more anyway.
Yes, once. A single polite reminder a few days later is fine; repeated chasing annoys people, and it's the customers you'd least want annoyed.
Sources
(08)Sources
Every figure on this page comes from one of these. Checked on the date shown.
- 1Create a Google link or QR code to request reviews, Google Business Profile Help. Checked 26 October 2026.
- 2Tips to get more Google reviews, Google Business Profile Help. Checked 26 October 2026.
- 3Prohibited and restricted content, Google Maps user-generated content policy. Checked 26 October 2026.
- 4Fake reviews: guidance on the Digital Markets, Competition and Consumers Act 2024 (CMA208), Competition and Markets Authority. Checked 26 October 2026.
- 5Business Profile restrictions for policy violations, Google Business Profile Help. Checked 26 October 2026.
- 6Report inappropriate reviews on your Business Profile, Google Business Profile Help. Checked 26 October 2026.
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