How do you get more Google reviews?

Ask every customer, not just the ones you think loved you. Ask within a day or two of the job, while it's fresh. Send your Google review link or QR code so it takes seconds. Never offer anything in return. Then reply to the reviews you get, good and bad, so the next customer can see someone's listening.

That's it. Everything below is the detail: where to find the link, what to say, and the traps that can get your reviews wiped.

Get your review link and QR code from Google

Google gives you a direct link to the review box on your Business Profile. Open your profile while signed in, choose Read reviews, then Get more reviews. You can copy the link or save the QR code from there. One quirk worth knowing: Google says the QR code can only be generated in a computer browser, not on your phone.

Then put that link everywhere a customer already is:

  • The bottom of your invoice or receipt
  • Your "thanks for your business" email or text
  • A WhatsApp message after the job's done
  • A printed QR code by the till, on the counter, or on the back of a business card

One small thing that stops a lot of reviews: customers need to be signed in to a Google Account to leave one. Google points out they can make an account with any email address, not just Gmail. If an older customer says "I'm not on Google", that's usually what they mean.

When to ask, and what to actually say

Timing matters more than wording. Ask when the customer is happiest: the boiler's working, the meal's just finished, the new kitchen has been signed off. Leave it three weeks and they've moved on with their life.

Keep the message short and plain. Something like:

"Thanks for having us round today. If you've got a minute, an honest Google review really helps a small business like ours. Here's the link: [your link]. No worries if not."

Notice what that message doesn't do. It doesn't say "five-star", it doesn't tell them what to mention, and it doesn't make them feel cornered. Google's policy says businesses shouldn't ask for specific content in a review or pressure people to write one while they're still on the premises. Handing someone a QR card is fine. Standing over them while they type is not.

The other habit that makes the difference is making it routine. A review request that depends on you remembering on a busy Friday won't happen. Build it into the invoice template or the job-complete text, so every customer gets the same ask.

What you can't do: Google's rules and UK law

This is where plenty of well-meaning owners trip up. Google's fake engagement policy bans offering anything in exchange for a review, such as payment, discounts, or free goods and services. It also bans asking only your happy customers (often called "review gating"), getting staff to post reviews, and setting staff targets for a number of reviews.

If Google decides a profile has broken those rules, its listed restrictions include blocking new reviews for a set period, hiding your existing reviews for a set period, and showing a warning on your profile that fake reviews were removed. For a local business, a warning label on your Google listing is about as bad as advertising gets.

UK law now backs this up. Since April 2025, fake reviews and paid-for reviews that aren't clearly marked as incentivised have been banned practices under the Digital Markets, Competition and Consumers Act 2024, and so is hiding negative reviews. In March 2026 the Competition and Markets Authority opened investigations into five businesses, including one over whether staff were asked to write positive reviews and another over discounts offered for five-star reviews. The CMA hasn't reached conclusions on those cases yet. But the regulator can now decide whether consumer law has been broken without going to court first, so this isn't a risk worth taking.

Reply to every review, especially the bad ones

Replies are public, and the next customer reads them. A short, polite reply to a five-star review is a nice touch. A calm, specific reply to a one-star review is worth far more, because it shows how you behave when something goes wrong.

Google's own advice is sensible: keep it short, don't share the customer's personal details, don't argue, admit what you got wrong, and invite them to call or email so you can sort it. If a review is genuinely fake or breaks Google's content rules, you can flag it for removal. A review you just disagree with is unlikely to come down.

And don't panic about the odd three-star. Google itself says a mix of positive and negative feedback often feels more trustworthy. A wall of perfect scores with no detail is exactly what people have learned to distrust.

Why reviews matter beyond the star rating

Reviews feed into how Google ranks local businesses in the map pack, which we cover in our guide to getting your Leeds business into Google's map pack. They also do a quieter job: real customers describing real jobs, in their own words, is exactly the sort of evidence people look for before they ring you. If you've not checked your profile lately, our rundown of recent Google Business Profile changes is a ten-minute read.

An honest note from us: Vesica is new, and we're building our own reviews the same slow way, one finished job and one polite ask at a time. We've never bought one and never will. If you'd like help setting up your profile, review link and a website that turns those clicks into enquiries, that's part of our local SEO work in Leeds.