Google Review Policy: What Businesses Can and Cannot Do

Google's review policy lets a business ask its customers for reviews. It forbids three things above all: rewarding people for reviews, steering only satisfied customers toward leaving one, and reviews that do not reflect a genuine experience. Most of what an ordinary business needs to know follows from those three. This guide goes through what Google's own pages say, in plain words, with links so you can read the originals.

A note before we start. This is a summary of Google's published rules, not legal advice, and Google changes its policies from time to time. Where a point matters to you, follow the link and read the current wording.

Where are Google's review rules written down?

In two places.

The main one is the prohibited and restricted content policy for user contributions to Google Maps. It applies to everyone who posts a review, a photo or a rating, and to businesses that try to influence what gets posted.

The second is Google's help for business owners, especially its tips for getting more reviews, which restates the rules from the owner's side.

The idea behind both fits in one sentence from the policy: contributions should reflect a genuine experience at a place or business. Most of the specific rules are that sentence applied to a particular shortcut.

Can you ask customers for reviews?

Yes. The policy explicitly permits soliciting or encouraging content that represents a genuine experience, as long as no incentive is offered. Google's business help goes further and recommends it: remind customers to leave reviews, and give them a link or a QR code so it is easy.

So asking is fine. Asking in person, by email, on a receipt, with a sign or with a card on the counter is fine. The rules are about what you attach to the request and who you make it to.

Can you offer a reward for a review?

No. This is the clearest rule in the policy. A business may not offer incentives, such as payment, discounts, free goods or free services, in exchange for posting a review.

Things that count as an incentive:

• A discount on the next visit for anyone who leaves a review.
• A free drink, dessert or product sample.
• Entry into a prize draw.
• Loyalty points or store credit.

Notice that the rule is not limited to rewards for good reviews. An offer of "ten percent off for any honest review, good or bad" is still an incentive in exchange for a review. Google's help page on review links and QR codes puts it bluntly: offering incentives to customers in exchange for reviews is considered fake engagement and is strictly prohibited.

Thanking a customer in words after they have left a review is not an incentive. A reward promised in advance is.

What is review gating, and is it allowed?

Review gating means finding out how a customer feels first, and then asking only the satisfied ones for a public review while the unhappy ones are sent somewhere else. Google's policy does not use the word, but it covers the practice. Businesses may not discourage or prohibit negative reviews, and may not selectively solicit positive reviews from customers.

Gating can be done with software, and it can be done by a person. A member of staff who hands the review card only to customers who seemed pleased is doing the same thing as a web page that hides the Google link from anyone who picks two stars.

This matters for any tool that asks a question before the review step. That includes ours, so here is exactly what ours does. A Smart Review Stand card opens a page that asks for a star rating. A high rating opens the Google review form. A low rating is offered a private note to the business first, and the link to the Google review page stays on the page. Every customer can reach Google, whatever rating they pick, and nobody is blocked from posting.

We are not going to tell you that a private feedback form makes a review process acceptable to Google. A form does not settle that question. What Google's wording asks is whether you discourage negative reviews or solicit only positive ones. Read the policy, look at each screen a customer sees in whatever tool you use, and judge it against those words. The how it works page describes our sequence so you can do that for ours.

Who is not allowed to review your business?

People with a stake in it. The policy prohibits content based on a conflict of interest, and gives current or former employment and contractual or consulting relationships as examples.

In practice that rules out:

• The owner, reviewing their own business.
• Current and former employees.
• Contractors, consultants and agencies working for the business.

Friends and family are not named in the wording we have quoted, so apply the main test. Has this person been a customer, and is the review an honest account of that? If not, it does not reflect a genuine experience.

What makes a review fake?

Under the policy, a review is a problem when it does not reflect a genuine experience at the business. That covers purchased reviews, reviews the business writes about itself, and reviews from people who were never customers.

Buying reviews fails twice over: the writer has no experience of the business, and they are being paid.

A less obvious case is the review written to order. If you dictate what a customer should say, or fill in the review for them on your own device, the words are yours and not theirs. Hand over the link and let the customer write.

Which reviews will Google remove?

Fewer than many owners hope. Google's page on reporting inappropriate reviews says only reviews that violate its policies are eligible for removal. It asks businesses not to report a review just because they disagree with it or dislike it, and it says Google does not get involved when a business and a customer disagree about the facts.

So an unfair review from a real customer generally stays. A review that breaks the policy can be reported, either from your profile or through Google's Reviews Management Tool. Google says evaluation typically takes several days. If the first decision goes against you, a one-time appeal is available.

For a review that will stay, the useful response is a reply. See how to respond to Google reviews.

Do the rules apply to your replies as well?

Yes. Google's page on managing customer reviews explains that replies are checked against its content policies, and that a reply which is not approved has to be edited before it is posted. Google's advice for replies also tells businesses to protect privacy and avoid personal attacks. Do not reveal details about a customer in a reply, even to correct the record.

What happens if you break the rules?

Google's pages are firm about what is prohibited and say less about consequences, so we will not guess at them. What the pages do say is that reviews which violate the policy are eligible for removal. Reviews gathered with rewards or by gating are reviews you could lose.

There is also a cost that has nothing to do with Google. A profile full of short, similar, perfect reviews does not read as real. Google itself observes that a mix of positive and negative feedback often feels more trustworthy, and that honest and balanced reviews help customers decide.

Are there laws about reviews as well?

In many places, yes. Consumer protection and advertising rules often cover fake or paid-for reviews, and they differ from one place to the next. They are separate from Google's policy, and following one does not guarantee that you follow the other. This guide covers only Google's rules. For the law where you trade, check with the relevant authority or a qualified adviser.

How do you check your own review process?

Go through these questions. A "no" to any of them is worth fixing.

1. Do you ask every customer, not just the ones who seemed happy?
2. Is the request the same for everyone?
3. Is the request free of rewards: no discount, gift, points or prize?
4. Can every customer reach your Google review form, whatever they think of the visit?
5. Have owners, staff and contractors been told not to review the business?
6. Do customers write their own reviews, in their own words, on their own devices?
7. Do your replies leave out personal details?
8. Do you report only the reviews that break Google's policies?

If every answer is yes, your process matches the rules described here, and you can put your effort into the part that grows a profile: asking well and asking often. Our guide on how to get more Google reviews covers that, and the FAQ answers common questions about how our own cards handle ratings.