How to get more Google reviews, the allowed way.

Most happy customers are willing to leave a review. They just don't think of it, or they mean to and forget. The businesses with hundreds of reviews aren't always better than their competitors. They're usually just better at asking.

This guide covers how to ask, and just as importantly, the lines you can't cross.

Why reviews matter so much

• They help you show up. The number of reviews, how recent they are and your rating are all part of how Google decides who appears in the local map results.
• They help people choose you. When someone sees three businesses in the map, the one with 80 recent reviews and a 4.8 usually gets the call over the one with six reviews from 2021.
• They tell you what's working. Reviews are free feedback. Patterns in what people praise or complain about are worth paying attention to.

Six ways to get more reviews

1. Ask everyone, every time

Make asking part of how you finish a job, not something you remember once a month. Ask every customer, not just the ones you think loved you (there's a rule about this, below).

2. Ask at the right moment

The best time is right after the good part: the job's done, the problem's fixed, the order arrived. A quick "If you were happy with how it went, a Google review really helps a small business like ours" goes a long way.

3. Make it one tap

Every extra step loses people. Get the direct review link from your Google Business Profile and use it everywhere: a text after the job, a line in your email signature, a QR code on your invoice or counter card.

4. Follow up once

A single friendly reminder a few days later is fine and often doubles your results. More than that starts to feel like nagging.

5. Reply to every review

Thank people for good reviews, and respond calmly to bad ones. Replies show future customers that someone's paying attention, and people are more likely to leave a review when they can see the owner reads them.

6. Make your team part of it

The person who did the work is usually the best one to ask. Give staff a simple line to use and the link to send. (Just don't let them review the business themselves. More on that below.)

What Google doesn't allow

Google's review policies are stricter than most owners realize. Breaking them can get reviews removed, and in bad cases, restrictions on your profile. Don't:

• Offer anything in exchange for a review. No discounts, gift cards, contest entries or freebies, even for an "honest" review. That also goes for offering something to change or remove a negative review.
• Only ask happy customers. Sending a survey first and only passing the 5-star people to Google (often called review gating) isn't allowed. Ask everyone the same way.
• Discourage negative reviews.
• Pressure people to review on the spot, like handing them a tablet at the counter and waiting.
• Review yourself, or have staff do it. Owners, employees, and people with a business relationship to you have a conflict of interest.
• Buy reviews or use a service that "generates" them.

What Canadian law says

This isn't just a Google issue. Canada's Competition Bureau treats fake reviews as misleading advertising under the Competition Act. It has warned businesses that reviews written by employees, or by anyone with an undisclosed connection to the business, can mislead customers even when the opinion is honest, and that both the person and the business can face significant penalties.

The practical takeaway: real customers, real experiences, no strings attached. If someone connected to your business does post about you, the connection needs to be clearly disclosed.

Extra rules for regulated health professionals

If you're a regulated health professional in Ontario, your college's advertising rules sit on top of everything above, and they can be much stricter.

For example, the College of Registered Psychotherapists of Ontario (CRPO) says using client testimonials in advertising is professional misconduct, and that it's inappropriate to ask clients to write reviews. Clients can still review you on their own, as long as you didn't ask and don't influence which reviews are shown. Linking your advertising to a review site can also be treated as using testimonials.

Other colleges have their own rules about testimonials, incentives and claims. Dentists, physicians, physios, chiropractors and others should check their college's current advertising standard before setting up any review requests. In some professions, the right answer is to focus on a great profile, prompt replies and patient experience, and let reviews come on their own.

We work with clinics on this all the time. Our reputation management for behavioral health clinics is built around these rules.

How to handle a bad review

1. Don't reply angry. Wait until you can write calmly.
2. Reply publicly, briefly and politely. Thank them, acknowledge the problem, and offer to sort it out offline with a phone number or email.
3. Don't share private details. Especially for health practices, even confirming someone was a client can be a privacy problem.
4. Fix the real issue if there is one. Future customers care more about how you respond than about one bad review.
5. Report reviews that break Google's rules (spam, fake, off-topic, hateful). Don't expect Google to remove a review just because it's negative or unfair.

And never offer a refund or discount in exchange for removing a review. That's against Google's rules too.