How to get more Google reviews for your business

1. Get your Google profile ready

Reviews are published on your Google Business Profile, the listing that appears on Google Maps and in search. Before asking for any, make sure it is verified and complete: name, the right category, opening hours, phone, website and real photos of your place and your work.

A well-kept profile is more convincing to readers, and people about to leave a review can see there is someone behind it, which makes them more likely to write more than just the stars.

2. Get your direct review link

Google gives you a link that opens the review form for your business directly. You will find it when managing your profile from Search or Google Maps, under “Ask for reviews”. Copy it and keep it safe: everything else builds on it.

With that link, customers don't have to search for you, tell your listing apart from a similarly named business or find the review button. Every step you save them is one more review that actually arrives.

3. Ask at the best moment

The best moment is right at the end: when they pay, when you hand over the work or when the customer thanks you. The experience is fresh and the phone is usually in their hand. A day later, most people have forgotten.

Ask in person, naturally. Something like “If you enjoyed it, a Google review really helps us: just hold your phone here” works better than any sign, because it is a request from a person, not an ad.

4. Remove every step you can

The fewer steps between “sure, I'll leave one” and the form, the more reviews you get. Common ways to share your link, from most to fewest steps:

• Sending it by WhatsApp or email after the service. Useful for appointment-based businesses, although the message arrives when the customer has moved on.
• A printed QR code on the counter or the bill. The customer has to open the camera and focus.
• An NFC card or stand. The customer just holds their phone near it and the form opens, no camera or app. That is what LinkID review products do.

Whatever you use, put it where the phone is already in the customer's hand: next to the card reader, on the table with the bill or at the exit.

5. What Google does not allow

Google's content policies for reviews are clear, and breaking them can get reviews removed or your profile restricted:

• Don't offer anything in return: no discounts, gifts or prize draws for leaving a review.
• Don't ask only happy customers or screen who gets to leave one. Ask everyone.
• Don't review your own business or ask staff or relatives to do it.
• Don't buy reviews or pay anyone to post them for you.

Beyond Google's rules, EU consumer protection law treats posting or commissioning fake reviews as an unfair commercial practice. Be wary of any service that promises five-star reviews.

6. Reply to every review

Reply to all of them, including the good ones. It shows readers there is someone behind the business, and encourages hesitant customers to write because they can see they will be read.

For a negative review, reply calmly and publicly: thank them for the feedback, explain what needs explaining without arguing, and offer to talk in private. Readers will care more about how you react than about the complaint itself. If a review breaks the rules (insults, spam, someone who was never a customer), you can report it from your profile so Google reviews it.

Checklist to start today

1. Check that your Google profile is verified and complete, with real photos.
2. Copy your “Ask for reviews” link.
3. Decide when you will ask (at payment, at handover) and who asks.
4. Put the link one tap away from the customer: NFC card, stand or sticker, or a QR code.
5. Ask every customer, without offering anything in return.
6. Set aside some time each week to reply to new reviews.