How to Get More Google Reviews Without Breaking the Rules

Trade owners keep asking the same thing: how do I get more Google reviews without being penalised for it? Google’s own help pages tell businesses to ask, saying you can ask customers to visit a Google link or scan a QR code [2]. The trouble starts with how you ask: paying for reviews, choosing who you ask, steering what they write, or faking them. UK consumer law now sits on top of Google’s rules as well.

What Google forbids

Incentives

Google’s “Rating Manipulation” list says it does not allow merchants to offer incentives, such as payment, discounts, free goods or services, in exchange for posting a review, or for revising or removing a negative one [1]. Its review-tips page calls this strictly prohibited [2]. In practice that rules out money off the next job for a review, a free extra as a thank-you for a review, and anything else handed over in return for one. We’d treat a prize draw for reviewers the same way. Google’s wording covers offering the incentive itself [1].

Review gating

The same list includes “discourage or prohibit negative reviews, or selectively solicit positive reviews from customers” [1]. This is what people call review gating. The usual version is a “how did we do?” message that only sends happy customers on to Google and routes unhappy ones to a private form. Read plainly, that is selective soliciting. So send the same request to everyone who bought from you, whether or not you think the job went well.

Pressure, scripts and quotas

Google says that when soliciting reviews, merchants should not require or pressure people to leave ratings or reviews while on the premises, nor request that specific content be included [1]. It also names merchants asking staff to solicit a certain number of reviews, or reviews with specific content, including content that identifies a staff member, as not allowed [1]. For a firm with several engineers, that means no review quota per engineer and no “please mention Dave” in your message.

Fake reviews

Google defines fake engagement as content that does not represent a genuine experience [4]. Reviews you write yourself, reviews from friends about work that was never done, and reviews bought from an agency all fit that description. The CMA’s guidance for businesses says the same in plainer terms: do not pretend to be a customer and write reviews, and do not commission third parties to write fake reviews, because you may be liable for their actions [5].

The UK legal layer

In April 2025, fake reviews and reviews that hide the fact they were incentivised became a banned practice under the DMCC Act 2024 [6]. The CMA says behaviour that falls under a banned practice is automatically unfair and illegal [6]. Its guidance to businesses adds that you should not offer inducements, meaning money or gifts, to customers to write positive reviews [5]. Businesses that engage in misleading practices may be in breach of consumer protection law, which can lead to a fine of up to 10% of global turnover [5]. Either way, the advice for a trade business is the same: don’t reward reviews.

How to ask properly

Use the link or QR code

Google’s steps are to go to your Business Profile, select Read Reviews and then Get more reviews, and then share the link or QR code, or copy the review link [3]. QR codes can currently only be generated from a computer browser, not on mobile [3]. Google suggests putting the link or QR code on receipts and in thank-you emails, printing the QR code for display in a shop, and sending requests by email, WhatsApp message or Facebook post [3]. For a trade business, the natural equivalents are your invoices and completion emails, and a text or WhatsApp message once the job is done.

Ask at a sensible moment

This is our suggestion rather than anything taken from Google’s rules: ask once the work is finished and the customer has seen the result, ideally in the same message as the invoice or completion note. It costs you nothing extra to send, and it means every customer gets asked at the same point in the job.

Keep the wording neutral

Something like this works: “Thanks for choosing us. If you have a minute, an honest Google review helps other people in your area find a tradesperson they can trust: [link]”. It doesn’t ask for a particular rating and doesn’t tell the customer what to write, which keeps you on the right side of the rule against requesting specific content [1]. Send the same message to everyone.

Handle unhappy customers separately

If a customer is unhappy, put the problem right. Attaching a condition about the review is where it goes wrong, because Google bans offering incentives for the revision or removal of a negative review [1]. A refund offered on the basis that they take the review down is out.

Quick checklist

• Send the same request to every customer, not just the ones you think were happy [1].
• Use the Google link or QR code on invoices, emails and messages [3].
• Offer nothing in return: no discounts, freebies or prize draws [1].
• Don’t script the content, name engineers, or set review quotas for staff [1].
• Never write reviews yourself or pay someone else to [5].
• Don’t tie fixing a problem to changing or removing a review [1].