How to get more Google reviews for your business, the right way

When someone in Kolkata compares two salons or two dentists on Google Maps, the star rating and the number of reviews are often the first things they look at. Reviews also feed your Maps ranking: Google says more reviews and positive ratings can help your local ranking.

The good news is that getting more reviews is mostly about asking every customer, at the right moment, in the easiest possible way. The bad news is that many popular shortcuts break Google’s rules and can leave you worse off than before. This guide covers both, with links to Google’s own help pages so you can check the details.

Why reviews matter for Maps and for your phone

Google says local results are based mainly on relevance, distance and prominence, and that prominence is based partly on how many websites link to your business and how many reviews you have (Tips to improve your local ranking (opens in a new tab)). It also says there’s no way to request or pay for a better local ranking. Reviews are one of the few signals a small business can grow simply by doing good work and asking.

Ranking is only half of it. Reviews are what a stranger reads before deciding to call. A rating built from many recent, detailed reviews, with calm replies from the owner underneath, tells them more than any advert. Our guide to “near me” searches covers the other ranking factors.

Step 1: Get your Google review link and QR code

Every verified Business Profile has a direct link that opens the review box. Google’s help page (Create a Google link or QR code to request reviews (opens in a new tab)) gives these steps:

1. Go to your Business Profile, signed in with the Google Account that manages it.
2. Select Read reviews, then Get more reviews (the share icon).
3. Select the Copy icon to copy the link. To keep the QR code, right-click it and save the image.

Google says review QR codes can currently be generated only on a computer browser, not on a phone, so make the QR code once on a laptop and keep the image. Customers need a Google Account to post a review, but they can create one with any email address, not only Gmail (Tips to get more reviews (opens in a new tab)). If your profile isn’t verified yet, start with our Google Business Profile setup guide.

Where to put the link

• In a WhatsApp message after each visit, order or job (templates below).
• As a QR code printed on the bill, delivery slip or appointment card.
• On a small card at the counter or reception desk.
• In a saved quick reply in WhatsApp Business, so staff can send it in two taps.
• On your website’s contact page and in your email signature.

Step 2: Ask every customer, at the right moment

Two rules from Google’s Maps user-generated content policy (opens in a new tab) shape how you ask. You can’t selectively ask the customers you expect to be happy, and you shouldn’t require or pressure people to leave a review while they’re on your premises. So ask everyone, make it easy, and let them do it in their own time. A QR card on the counter is fine; standing over someone while they type is not.

Timing matters more than wording. Ask soon after the customer has experienced the thing you do best:

Ask once, and send one gentle reminder a few days later if they haven’t had time. After that, leave it. And don’t message hundreds of old contacts on the same day: Google’s policy treats unusual volumes or patterns of reviews that suggest manipulation as a problem, so a steady flow from recent customers is safer and looks more natural. If bookings already reach you on WhatsApp, as they do on the salon websites we build, the review link can go into the same chat a few hours after the visit.

WhatsApp templates you can copy

Keep it short, personal and neutral. Ask for an honest review, not a five-star one, and don’t tell people what to write. Google’s policy rules out soliciting reviews with specific content, such as a staff member’s name, and scripted reviews read badly anyway. Replace the parts in curly brackets:

• After a visit: “Hi {name}, thank you for visiting {business} today. If you have a minute, we’d be grateful for an honest review on Google. It helps other people nearby find us: {link} – {your name}”
• After a delivery or a finished job: “Hi {name}, hope everything is working well. When you get a moment, could you share your experience on Google? Good or bad, it helps us improve: {link}”
• One reminder, a few days later: “Hi {name}, a gentle reminder about the Google review, only if you have time: {link}. Thank you again for choosing us.”
• In Bengali: “নমস্কার {name}, আজ {business}-এ আসার জন্য ধন্যবাদ। সময় পেলে এই লিংকে Google-এ আপনার মতামত জানাবেন: {link}”

Send each message individually to customers who gave you their number for the visit or order, from your business number. A message with their name on it gets far more attention than a mass forward.

What’s banned: the shortcuts that get reviews removed

Google’s policy is clear on all of these:

• Incentives of any kind. No discounts, free items, cashback, lucky draws or payment in return for posting a review, changing one or removing a bad one. Google calls this “strictly prohibited”.
• Review gating. Asking only happy customers, or using a “How was your visit?” screen that sends four- and five-star answers to Google and everything else to a private form. Google forbids selectively soliciting positive reviews and discouraging negative ones, and some review tools are built exactly this way.
• Staff, family and owners reviewing the business. Google treats content based on a conflict of interest, including current or former employment and family relationships, as rating manipulation.
• Bought or fake reviews, including reviews paid for in kind and reviews posted from several accounts by, or at the request of, one person.
• Attacking competitors with negative reviews to damage their reputation.
• Quotas and pressure. Telling staff to collect a set number of reviews, or pressing customers to review before they leave.

Fake reviews are on the Indian government’s radar too. In November 2022 the Department of Consumer Affairs launched IS 19000:2022, a Bureau of Indian Standards framework for how online platforms collect, moderate and publish consumer reviews (PIB press release (opens in a new tab)). It began as voluntary, and the government said that once made mandatory, violations could be treated as an unfair trade practice. Anyone selling you “100 Google reviews” is selling you risk.

How to reply to reviews

You need a verified profile to reply. Open your profile, select Read reviews, then Reply under the review (Manage customer reviews (opens in a new tab)). The customer is notified, Google checks the reply before it appears (usually within about 10 minutes, occasionally much longer), and you can edit or delete it later. Replies show as coming from your business, and future customers read them.

Good reviews

Thank the person by name, mention what they had, and keep it to a line or two: “Thank you, Ananya. Glad the hair spa went well before the wedding.” Google advises against pasting the same thank-you under every review, and against using replies to push offers or promotions.

Bad reviews

1. Wait until you’re calm. Replies are public and they stay up.
2. Thank them, and apologise where it’s fair. You don’t have to accept blame for things outside your control.
3. Say what you’ve changed, or what you can and can’t do.
4. Offer to continue privately: “Please call us on {number} so we can sort this out.”
5. Never share the customer’s details, bill or history, and never argue or make it personal.

Clinics and labs need extra care: don’t even confirm that the reviewer was your patient, let alone mention their treatment. Our page on clinic websites covers the professional rules on testimonials. Customers can edit their review after reading your reply, and Google then shows the new date, so a fair answer sometimes changes the rating. Even when it doesn’t, the next reader sees how you handle a problem.

Fake, unfair or extortion reviews: what you can do

Google removes reviews only when they break its policies, not because they’re negative or you disagree with them (Report inappropriate reviews (opens in a new tab)). Spam, fake engagement, offensive content and reviews from someone with a conflict of interest, such as a competitor or a former employee, can qualify. A genuine one-star from an unhappy customer usually doesn’t.

1. Reply first, briefly and calmly: “We can’t find a visit under this name. Please call us on {number} so we can look into it.” Readers see you aren’t hiding.
2. Report it. In your profile, open Read reviews, select the report icon next to the review, choose a reason such as spam, and send. Google’s Reviews Management Tool does the same and shows the status of each report.
3. Wait. Google says evaluation typically takes several days.
4. Appeal once if Google finds no violation and you’re sure the review is fake. The Reviews Management Tool allows a one-time appeal.
5. Don’t retaliate with fake positive reviews or attacks on the reviewer’s business. That turns their problem into yours.

Watch for one scam in particular: a sudden burst of one- and two-star reviews, followed by a WhatsApp or Telegram message demanding money to remove them. Google’s advice is not to engage and not to pay. Report it through the form in its guide to review extortion scams (opens in a new tab), with screenshots of the demands, links to the reviews and the scammer’s contact details. For content you believe breaks the law, Google also has a route to report content for legal reasons (opens in a new tab). If your whole profile has been suspended rather than just hit by bad reviews, read what to do when your Google Business Profile is suspended.

Let your website do some of the work

A website helps in quieter ways:

• A Review us on Google button on the contact page and in the message customers see after they book or enquire.
• A link to your Google reviews rather than copied quotes, so readers see genuine, current feedback where it was written.
• Clear services, prices and timings, so customers arrive knowing what to expect. Fewer surprises usually means fewer disappointed reviews.

Reviews you collect on Justdial or other directories stay on those platforms, which is one reason to put your effort into Google first. We compare the two in Justdial vs your own website.

Every WebNestle plan includes setting up or cleaning up your Google Business Profile alongside a phone-first website with WhatsApp and call buttons (see what each plan includes), so the profile your reviews live on is set up properly from day one. Then the rest is up to you and your customers: ask everyone, reply to everyone, and let the reviews build up honestly.