How to get Google reviews for your business

Your business has a Google profile, but it shows 0 to 3 reviews, and the businesses above you on Google Maps have dozens. To get Google reviews for your business, copy your review link from your Google Business Profile, send it to every customer you have ever served in a personal message, and ask every new customer on the day you serve them. If you wait for customers to review you on their own, almost none will, and in a 2026 survey nearly half of US buyers said they will not use a business with fewer than 20 reviews.

Do these three things

About 2 hours today, then about 3 to 4 hours a day, mostly the 100 messages. Judge your ask after 40 customers, and the messages after 2,800.

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1. 1Today: copy your Google review link and send it to every customer you have ever served, each in a personal message.
2. 2Every day: ask every customer you served that day, follow up up to 3 times, reply to every new review the same day, and send 100 personal messages to new buyers from your lead list.
3. 3Every Sunday: count asks, new reviews and the date of your newest review, and change the ask if fewer than 1 in 4 customers reviewed.

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1. Get your Google review link and QR code

Your review link is a short web address from your Google Business Profile that opens the review box for your business in one tap. Get it today: on a computer, go to your Business Profile, select Read Reviews, then Get more reviews, then Copy. To save the QR code, right-click it and choose Save image as.

Check you can have reviews first. Google only gives a Business Profile to a business that meets its customers in person during its stated hours. Businesses that only work online cannot have one. Your profile also needs to be verified before customers can see it. If you do not have a profile yet, set up your Google Business Profile first, then come back.

If you run a SaaS product: you sell online, so you cannot have a Business Profile or Google reviews. Your review site is G2: get G2 reviews with the same "ask every customer" routine.

If you run a D2C store that sells only online: you cannot have a Business Profile either. Collect product reviews on your store instead. If you also have a shop, a showroom or a stall with set hours, that place can have a profile and Google reviews.

If you run an agency that never meets clients in person: Google's rule leaves you out. Get reviews on Clutch, where buyers check agencies. If you do meet clients at their office or yours, you can have a profile as a service-area business.

Test the link. Paste it into a private browser window on your phone. It should open your business with the stars ready to tap. Then save the link in a note on your phone, so you can paste it in seconds. Tell customers they need a Google Account to post a review; they can make one with any email address, not only Gmail.

• Tool: Google Business Profile, free.
• Time: 10 minutes.
• You will have: your review link saved in a note, and the QR code saved as an image.
• It worked if: the link opens your review box on a phone in one tap.
• Common mistake: telling customers to "search for us on Google Maps and leave a review". Most give up before they find you. Send the link.

2. List every customer you have ever served

Your first reviews come from the customers you already have, so put every one of them on one sheet today: name, how to reach them, what you did for them and when.

Open a Google Sheet. Pull names from your invoices, your email, your phone, your bookings, your email list and your CRM if you have one. Add a row for every customer who has paid you, including small and old jobs. Your first customers probably came from people you already know; they count if they paid you.

Put everyone on, not only the happy ones. Google's policy bans asking only happy customers for reviews. The same goes for any tool or survey that sends happy customers to Google and unhappy ones to a private form. If you know a customer was unhappy, ask them too, and call them first to hear what went wrong.

Leave these off. Google removes reviews based on a conflict of interest. Do not ask staff, family, or friends who were never customers. A review from any of them is fake in Google's eyes, and fake reviews can get your profile blocked from new reviews for a while.

For each row, write one detail only you would know: the job, the order, something they said. You will use it in step 3, so each message is about them. This sheet is also your list for testimonials and referrals later.

Name | Company (if B2B) | Email or phone | What you did for them | Date of job or order | One detail only you know | Date asked | Follow-up 1 (day 3) | Follow-up 2 (day 7) | Follow-up 3 (day 14) | Reviewed (date) | Stars | Replied (date)

• Tool: Google Sheets.
• Time: 30 to 60 minutes.
• You will have: one row for every customer who has ever paid you, each with a way to reach them and one true detail.
• It worked if: every paying customer is on the sheet, and nobody on it is staff, family or a friend who never paid.
• Common mistake: listing only the 3 customers you think loved you. Every real customer counts, and a mix of reviews looks more real to buyers than three perfect ones.

3. Ask every past customer for a Google review today

Send every customer on your sheet one short, personal message today with your review link. A personal message gets an answer; a group email or a bare link mostly gets ignored.

Send it the way you already talk to them: email, text or WhatsApp. Start with the one detail from your sheet, ask once, add the link, and say it takes about a minute.

Hi [first name],Thanks again for [the job or order, in their words]. [One true line: the detail from your sheet.]Would you leave us a short review on Google? It helps other [kind of customer] find us, and it takes about a minute: [your review link]Good or bad, an honest review helps us most. If you don't have a Google Account, you can make one with any email address.Thank you,
[Your name], [business name]

How to send them all today. Paste 10 rows of your sheet and the template into ChatGPT or Claude and ask for one message per row. Check every fact, fix any line that does not sound like you, and send each one yourself. About 2 minutes a customer.

If you have more than 100 past customers, ask 100 a day until everyone has been asked. Google's policy watches for "unusual volumes or patterns" of reviews, so a steady flow is safer than 400 asks in one morning.

The rules, from Google's policy:

• No rewards. No discount, gift, free service, prize draw or payment for a review, good or bad. In the US, the FTC's rule on reviews, in force since October 2024, also bans rewards tied to a positive review.
• No asking for 5 stars, and no telling people what to write. Google says businesses should not "request that specific content be included".
• No staff names and no staff targets. Since April 2026, Google's policy bans asking staff to get a set number of reviews, or to ask for reviews that name them.
• Never write a review for a customer, post one from another account, or buy reviews.

If you run a B2B company: send it to the person who worked with you, not the most senior name. Ask for the review in their own name; Google reviews come from a person's Google Account, not a company. With only your first B2B clients, you will have only a few reviews for a while. That is the honest start.

• Tool: your email, phone or WhatsApp, your sheet, and ChatGPT or Claude to draft.
• Time: about 2 minutes a customer.
• You will have: every past customer asked, each with a personal message and your link.
• It worked if: every row has a date asked, and at least 1 in 4 of the customers you asked has posted a review within 2 weeks.
• Common mistake: one group email to all your customers with "please review us!" and no link. Nobody feels it was meant for them.

4. Ask every new customer on the day you serve them

From today, ask every new customer for a review on the day the job is done or the order arrives, then follow up up to 3 times: on day 3, day 7 and day 14. Most people mean to review you and forget, and the reminders bring in most of the rest.

Pick your moment, once. Choose the point when the customer can see the result, and ask then, every time:

If you run a B2B company or an agency that meets clients: ask on the day you hand over the work or the order arrives, in the same email as the handover notes. Add one line to your onboarding call: "When the first [result] lands, I'll ask you for a short Google review." Put the result in your monthly client report too, and ask for a referral in the same conversation.

If you run a shop or showroom: say it at the till, "If you liked it, a Google review helps us a lot", and hand over the QR code on the receipt or a small card. Then send the link by text or email the same day so they can do it at home. Google's policy says businesses should not pressure people to write reviews while they are on the premises, so never hand them your phone or wait while they type. Stars on your profile are one of the things that make a new shop look trustworthy to people who have never visited.

Follow up in the same thread, so the link is one scroll away. Short and polite, a new line each time. Stop after the third.

Day 3:
Hi [first name], just bumping this in case it got buried. Here's the link again: [review link]. About a minute.Day 7:
Hi [first name], if it's easier, reply here with a sentence or two about how [the job] went and I'll send you the link to paste it into. [review link]Day 14:
Hi [first name], last nudge from me, promise. If now's not a good time, no problem at all. Thanks again for [the job].

Let AI draft each follow-up from the row in your sheet; you check it and send it. Set a reminder each morning to send the follow-ups that are due. The same rules apply to every follow-up you send: one link, one ask, never a reward.

• Tool: your review link, the QR code on receipts or cards, your sheet and a daily reminder.
• Time: about 2 minutes per new customer, and 10 minutes a day for follow-ups.
• You will have: an ask built into every job, and every customer followed up on day 3, 7 and 14.
• It worked if: every new customer is asked within 24 hours, and nobody is followed up more than 3 times.
• Common mistake: asking once, hearing nothing, and deciding the customer did not want to. Busy people say yes and forget.

5. Reply to every Google review the same day

Reply to every new Google review on the day it arrives, good or bad, with the person's name and one thing they wrote. Buyers read your replies, and Google says helpful replies can help your business stand out.

How to reply. Go to your Business Profile, select Read reviews, select Reply next to the review, write your reply and select Reply. Google checks replies against its policies first; most show within 10 minutes, some take longer. To change one later, use the Edit icon under it and select Update.

What to write. Google's own tips: keep it short, do not send everyone the same thank-you, do not push a deal, and never share private details. Half of buyers are put off by replies that look like a template, so let AI draft it and then change it to be about this customer.

Good review:
Thank you, [first name]. [One line about the thing they mentioned.] [One line looking ahead: the next job, good luck with their launch.]
[Your first name], [business name]Bad review:
[First name], I'm sorry [the thing that went wrong, in their words]. That's not the standard we aim for. [What you have changed or will do.] Please call me on [phone] or email [email] so I can put it right.
[Your first name], [business name]

A bad review from a real customer. Reply calmly the same day, then call or email them. Never argue in public, never offer money to remove it, and never threaten them. In the US, the FTC rule bans using threats or intimidation to stop or remove a negative review. One fair bad review among good ones makes the good ones look real.

A fake or abusive review. Report it: on your profile, select Read reviews, select the Report icon next to the review, pick a reason and select Send report. Check its status in Google's Reviews Management Tool, which shows "Decision pending", "Report reviewed - no policy violation" or "Escalated". Google says checks usually take several days, and you can appeal once. If someone asks for money to remove fake 1-star reviews, that is a scam Google warns about: do not pay, report it.

If your reviews disappear. In 2026 Google has paused new reviews on some profiles when it sees spam, and in July 2026 it confirmed it was investigating reviews vanishing from profiles. Do not ask customers to post again straight away. Take screenshots of the missing reviews with names and dates, post once in the Google Business Profile Community, and keep asking new customers as normal. If Google emails you about a restriction for fake reviews, you can appeal it.

• Tool: Google Business Profile, and ChatGPT or Claude to draft replies.
• Time: about 1 minute for a good review, 5 minutes and a phone call for a bad one.
• You will have: a personal reply under every review, and every fake review reported.
• It worked if: no review is more than a day old without your reply.
• Common mistake: "Thanks for the review!" under every review, or a long angry reply to a bad one. Both tell the next buyer you are not listening.

6. Show your reviews in 100 messages a day

Reviews come only from customers, so the fastest way to get more reviews is to get more customers. Put your reviews where buyers already meet you, and send 100 personal messages a day to people who fit your business, so more of them see the social proof and buy.

Where to put your reviews, once:

• Your website. Quote 2 or 3 short lines from real reviews, with the first name, on your homepage and your contact page, with a link to your Google profile.
• LinkedIn. Add a review quote to the About section of your LinkedIn profile.
• Your email signature. One line: "Read what our customers say on Google: [profile link]".
• Proposals and decks. Quote one review on the first page of every proposal and on the proof slide of your sales deck. A customer who writes a detailed review is also the one to ask for a case study.
• Social posts. Share a new review as a post with the customer's OK, as part of promoting your business on Instagram or LinkedIn.

Then message 100 buyers a day. Pick people who look like your best customers, from your ideal customer profile, and send each one a personal message by cold email or LinkedIn. Lead with one true line about them and one small question. Put the review quote or link in the second message or your signature: buyers reply to interest in them, then check the proof.

How 100 a day is possible: paste 10 rows of your list into ChatGPT or Claude with your template and ask for one draft per person. You add the true first line and send each one yourself, about a minute each. That is about 1 hour 40 minutes for new messages, which you can fit into your week before client work, and about an hour for follow-ups. 100 a day needs about 3,000 names a month, so add 100 new names to your list every day. LinkedIn limits how many connection requests you can send each week, so spread the rest across email from a warmed-up second domain and replies in the places your buyers ask questions. The full daily routine is in how to market your B2B business and how to get customers online for free.

Every customer this brings goes onto your review sheet and gets the step 4 ask. Google reviews also feed what ChatGPT and other AI tools say about your company: since March 2026, Ask Maps in the US and India answers people's questions in Google Maps using reviews.

• Tool: your website, your email, LinkedIn, your lead list, and ChatGPT or Claude to draft.
• Time: 30 minutes once for the review quotes, then about 3 hours a day for the messages and follow-ups.
• You will have: your reviews on your site, signature and proposals, and 100 messages sent every day.
• It worked if: after 2,800 messages (4 weeks at 100 a day), at least 3 in 100 buyers reply. Below 2 in 100, fix the list or the first line, as in getting replies to cold emails, before blaming the channel.
• Common mistake: waiting until you have 20 reviews before you start reaching out. You get to 20 by having more customers to ask.

7. Count your reviews every Sunday

Every Sunday, fill in one row: customers asked, follow-ups sent, new reviews, your total and your star rating, and the date of your newest review. Then use the rules below to decide what to change.

Week | Customers asked | Follow-ups sent | New reviews | Total reviews | Star rating | Newest review date | Reviews replied to | Messages sent | Replies to messages | New customers | Enquiries that mentioned reviews | Change this week

Decide with these rules:

• Fewer than 1 review for every 4 customers asked, after 40 asks: change the ask. Ask sooner (on the day, not a week later), make the first line more personal, and check the link opens on a phone. A 2026 survey found 65% of people who were asked for a review wrote one, so a low rate means the ask, not the customers.
• No new review in 2 weeks: ask more customers. In the same survey, 74% of buyers look for reviews from the last 3 months. A review every week beats 20 in one month and then none.
• Your first target is 20 reviews. 47% of buyers will not use a business with fewer than 20. After that, aim for the average count of the top 3 businesses for your main search, as in ranking on Google Maps.
• Your rating drops below 4 stars: read the bad reviews for the same complaint, fix that one thing, and say so in your replies. 68% of buyers only use businesses with 4 stars or more.
• Messages bring few customers: follow the rules in step 6 before you ask fewer people for reviews.

Ask every new enquiry how they found you, and write "Google reviews" or "Google Maps" as its own answer, the same way you track which channel brought each deal. Once a month, put these numbers into your monthly marketing review next to your other channels.

• Tool: Google Sheets.
• Time: 20 minutes each Sunday.
• You will have: one row a week and one written change.
• It worked if: you can say, without looking, how many reviews you have, your rating, and the date of your newest review.
• Common mistake: counting only the stars. If you do not count the asks, you cannot tell whether few reviews means a bad ask or too few customers.

Your Google reviews checklist for the next 4 weeks

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Step 1 · Get your review link and QR code

• Check your business can have a Google Business Profile.
• Copy your review link and save your QR code.

Step 2 · List every customer you have ever served

• Make one sheet of every customer who has ever paid you.

Step 3 · Ask every past customer today

• Send every past customer a personal review request with your link.

Step 4 · Ask every new customer the same day

• Add the review ask to your handover, receipts or onboarding.
• Every dayAsk today's customers and send the follow-ups that are due.

Step 5 · Reply to every review the same day

• Every dayReply to every new review.
• Report any fake or abusive review.

Step 6 · Show your reviews in 100 messages a day

• Put your reviews on your website, signature and proposals.
• Every daySend 100 personal messages to buyers who fit.

Step 7 · Count your reviews every Sunday

• Every SundayFill in one row of the Sunday sheet and apply the rules.

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