How to get more Google reviews without breaking the rules

To get Google reviews, ask every customer once the job is done, and send them the review link Google gives you, so leaving a review takes them a minute. Never offer anything in return, never ask only the customers you expect to be happy, and never write reviews yourself or ask family to, because Google’s policy forbids all of these, and since April 2025 UK law has banned fake reviews and reviews that hide an incentive (CMA guidance, checked October 2026).

The honest way can be slower, but it does not put your profile at risk, and every review it gets you is one a future customer can believe.

Ask everyone, the same way

Google allows businesses to ask for reviews, as long as they reflect a genuine experience, nothing is offered for them, and the business does not try to influence the rating or what the review says (Google’s policy, checked October 2026). The Competition and Markets Authority’s guidance on fake reviews agrees that simply emailing customers to ask whether they would like to leave a review is fine (CMA fake reviews guidance, checked October 2026).

The important word is every. Ask each customer at the same point, for example in the email that goes with your invoice, rather than picking the ones you think will be kind. Google’s policy forbids asking only for positive reviews, and the CMA’s guidance says encouraging only satisfied customers can be a way of cherry picking reviews.

Do not stand over people while they do it either. The same policy says businesses should not require or pressure customers to leave reviews while they are on the premises, or ask them to include particular content.

Make it easy with your review link

Google gives you a link that takes customers straight to the review box. To find it (Google help, checked October 2026):

1. Go to your Business Profile.
2. Select Read reviews, then Get more reviews.
3. Select Copy to copy the link.

The same screen gives you a QR code, which you can save by right clicking it and choosing Save image as. Google says the QR code can only be made on a computer browser, not on a phone. Put the link in your emails and invoices, and the QR code anywhere customers see it.

Customers need to be signed in to a Google Account to leave a review, but Google says they can set one up with an email address that is not Gmail (Google help, checked October 2026).

What you must not do

Google’s policy does not allow (Google’s policy, checked October 2026):

• reviews that have been paid for, in money or in kind
• offering incentives such as payment, discounts, or free goods or services in exchange for a review, or for changing or removing a bad one
• discouraging bad reviews, or asking only for good ones
• reviews from people with a conflict of interest, such as current or former employees and family

Treat anything a customer gets for reviewing you as an incentive. That includes a discount on their next job, a free extra and an entry into a prize draw.

The penalties are real. Google says that if it finds a business has broken its fake engagement policy, it can stop the profile getting new reviews for a set period, hide its existing reviews for a set period, and show customers a warning that fake reviews were removed (Google help, checked October 2026).

UK law covers some of the same ground. Since 6 April 2025, writing or paying for fake reviews, and reviews that hide the fact they were incentivised, have been banned practices under the Digital Markets, Competition and Consumers Act 2024 (CMA guidance, checked October 2026). The CMA’s fake reviews guidance also says a business should not hide genuine bad reviews, for example by stopping and starting its review requests whenever it likes (CMA fake reviews guidance, checked October 2026).

Reply to the reviews you get

You can reply to reviews once your business is verified. Go to your Business Profile, select Read reviews, then Reply next to the review. Google says your reply appears as the business, without your personal name, and that the person who wrote the review is told when you reply (Google help, checked October 2026).

Thank people for good reviews in a sentence. For a bad one, stay calm, keep it short, and offer to sort it out directly. The reply is written for everyone who reads it later, not just the person who left the review.

When a review breaks the rules

If a review is fake, abusive or from someone who was never a customer, you can report it: go to your Business Profile, select Read reviews, then Report next to the review, choose the reason and send the report. Google says only reviews that break its policies can be removed, and asks businesses not to report a review just because they disagree with it (Google help, checked October 2026). Its policy also allows reviews that describe a bad experience respectfully.

Show them on your website, word for word

Reviews on your own site should be the customer’s exact words, with their name as they posted it and a link to where they posted it, so anyone can check they are real. Do not tidy them up or shorten them in a way that changes what they meant.

If you are a therapist or counsellor, check your register’s rules before you ask for reviews or show any. UKCP, for one, tells its members not to use testimonials on their website (UKCP, checked October 2026). What a therapist or counsellor’s website needs has more on this.

That is how the one review on my own site is shown. It is Stephen’s, copied word for word from Google, with a link to where he posted it.

If your Google Business Profile is not set up yet, start there. How to set up a Google Business Profile when you work from home covers it step by step, using Google’s own menus.