How should a local business handle reviews?

Why reviews matter

Ask every customer for a review, make leaving one easy, reply to everything, and never try to game the system. Reviews affect both whether you appear and whether people choose you. Google says review count and rating factor into local ranking, and that more reviews and positive ratings can improve it. Customers read them too when deciding between businesses.

Ask every customer, and make it easy

1. Get the direct review link from your Business Profile, so customers land straight on the review form.
2. Ask at a natural moment: when the job is finished, the order arrives or the customer thanks you.
3. Send the link by text or email, and add it to receipts, invoices and follow-up messages.
4. Make asking a routine for every customer, not a campaign you run when your rating dips.

In practice, a steady flow of recent reviews matters. Google has not published how it weighs recency, but a profile whose newest review is a year old tells customers little about the business today.

What not to do

Google's review policies are strict, and breaking them can lead to reviews being removed or restrictions on your profile.

• No incentives: do not offer money, discounts, free products or prize draw entries in exchange for reviews, even honest ones.
• No review gating: do not ask customers how they feel first and send only the happy ones to Google. Google prohibits selectively soliciting positive reviews.
• No fake reviews: do not review your own business, ask staff to, or buy reviews, and never post negative reviews of competitors.
• Do not discourage or block customers from leaving negative reviews.

Consumer protection law in some countries also covers fake reviews and review suppression, so these are legal risks as well as policy ones.

Reply to every review

Google recommends responding to reviews. A reply shows the reviewer, and everyone who reads it later, that you pay attention.

• Positive reviews: thank the person and mention something specific about the job, not a copied line.
• Negative reviews: acknowledge the problem, address the specific points, and offer a way to continue the conversation directly.
• Stay factual and calm. A defensive or sarcastic reply is read by every future customer and usually does more harm than the review.
• Never share private customer details in a reply.

Handling fake or abusive reviews

If a review breaks Google's policies, for example it is spam, off-topic, hateful, or does not describe a real experience with your business, report it from your Business Profile or from the review in Google Maps. Google checks the report against its policies, and you can follow its status and appeal a decision through Google's review management tool.

A review that is simply negative is not a policy violation. Reply to it calmly instead.