Help center · Google's rules
Google's rules on asking for reviews
What Google allows and forbids when a business asks customers for reviews.
Google lets a business ask its customers for reviews. It also sets limits on how. This is a plain-language summary. The rules themselves are in Google's prohibited and restricted content policy and its tips to get more reviews. Google can change them, so read the originals.
What you can do
- Ask customers for a review of a real experience.
- Give them a link or a QR code to make it easy.
What you can't do
- Offer anything in return. No payment, discount, free item or other reward for a review, or for changing or removing one.
- Pick who you ask. Don't ask only the customers you expect to be happy, and don't steer unhappy customers away from reviewing.
- Pressure people on the spot. Don't require a review, or stand over a customer while they write one on your premises.
- Tell people what to write. Don't ask for a particular rating or for particular words.
- Set review targets for staff. Don't require staff to bring in a set number of reviews.
- Review yourself. Owners and staff shouldn't review their own business, and nobody should review a competitor to do it harm.
Reviews that break these rules can be removed, and Google can restrict a Business Profile that breaks them.
How RaveCounter is built around them
- Every customer gets the same link. There is no "happy or unhappy?" step.
- There is no feature for rewards, and the sign maker warns you if a headline sounds like an offer.
- The leaderboard counts asks, as opens and sends. It doesn't count reviews, and it has no review targets.
- A sign and a link let the customer review later, in their own time.
A good way to ask
"If you have a minute, we'd love a review. The code is right there." Say it once, to everyone, and leave it to them.
RaveCounter is not affiliated with Google, and this page is not legal advice.
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