How to Get More Google Reviews Without Breaking UK Law or Google’s Rules

Why reviews matter more than ever

• People read them, and they want recent ones. In BrightLocal’s 2026 survey of US consumers, 41% said they always read reviews when choosing a local business (up from 29% a year earlier), and 74% look for reviews from the past three months.
• Replies count. 80% are more likely to use a business that responds to all its reviews, but half are put off by generic, copy-pasted replies.
• They help you rank. In Whitespark’s 2026 survey of local SEO experts, reviews are the second-biggest factor in Google’s map results, after the Business Profile itself.
• AI reads them. Google’s AI quotes review text when it answers questions about your business, so detailed reviews describe you in your customers’ own words. More on that in our guide to how Google’s AI describes your business.

What’s now banned

UK law. Since 6 April 2025, the Digital Markets, Competition and Consumers Act has banned:

• writing, commissioning or posting fake reviews, including reviews of your own business;
• reviews that hide the fact that they were incentivised;
• presenting reviews in a misleading way, for example hiding the bad ones or passing off a hand-picked few as typical.

The Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) can now fine businesses directly, up to 10% of global turnover, and in March 2026 it opened its first formal fake-review investigations under the Act. One looks at whether staff were asked to write positive reviews; another at whether customers were given discounts for five-star reviews without that being disclosed. (An investigation isn’t a finding of wrongdoing, but it shows where the CMA is looking.)

Google’s rules go further. Under its Maps content policy, you can’t:

• offer anything in exchange for a review, such as money, discounts or free goods or services, even if you disclose it;
• ask only the customers you expect to be happy, or discourage negative reviews;
• set staff targets for a number of reviews, or ask for reviews that include specific content, such as a staff member’s name (both added in April 2026);
• require or pressure customers to leave a review while they’re on your premises;
• review your own business, or have employees, former employees or contractors do it;
• offer anything to get a negative review changed or removed.

Google enforces this. Under commitments it gave the CMA in January 2025, UK businesses caught inflating their rating can have new reviews switched off and a warning shown on their profile saying suspicious activity has been detected. Repeat offenders can lose all their reviews for six months or more. Google Maps also asks some visitors whether a business offers rewards for reviews.

Swipe sideways to see both columns →

A simple system that works

1. Get your review link. In your Business Profile, open Read reviews, then Get more reviews. Copy the link, and download the QR code while you’re there (you’ll need a computer for the QR code).
2. Ask everyone, at the right moment. The best time is just after a good outcome: the job’s finished, the order’s arrived, the client has signed off. Make it part of how every job ends, not something you remember on a good day.
3. Make it one tap. Send the link by WhatsApp or email, add it to receipts, invoices and your email signature, and put the QR code where customers pay. Asking in person is fine; pressure isn’t.
4. Ask an open question, not for a script. “How did we do?” invites the kind of detail that helps other customers, without telling anyone what to write.
5. Follow up once, then leave it. One friendly reminder a few days later is plenty.
6. Keep it steady. A few reviews every month beat a burst once a year: people look at how recent your reviews are.

A message that works on WhatsApp or by email:

“Hi [name], thanks again for choosing us for [the job]. If you’ve got a minute, we’d really appreciate an honest review on Google. It helps other people find us: [your review link]. Thanks, [your name]”

How to reply to reviews

• Reply to every review, ideally within a couple of days. Use the customer’s name and mention what you did for them.
• Keep replies to negative reviews calm and short. Thank them, acknowledge the problem without arguing, and offer to sort it out directly. You’re writing for the next customer as much as for this one.
• Never offer anything to change or remove a bad review. Putting the problem right is fine; trading it for the review isn’t.
• Report reviews that break the rules, such as fake reviews, spam, or a conflict of interest like a former employee or a competitor, from your Business Profile. Google now emails owners when it spots a spike in spam reviews.
• Don’t paste the same reply everywhere. Generic replies are exactly what puts people off.

Using reviews on your own website

Showing reviews on your website is a good idea, as long as the picture is honest. If you show a star rating, show your real overall rating and where it comes from, link to your full Google reviews, and don’t present a hand-picked few as typical. And don’t add review markup to your own pages hoping for stars in Google’s results: Google stopped showing stars for reviews a business publishes about itself in 2019.

What’s changed recently

Updated October 2026.

• September 2026: Google Maps asks people to sign in to read all of a business’s reviews.
• September 2026: Google emails owners when it detects a spike in spam reviews.
• April 2026: Google’s policy adds staff review targets, and requests for specific content such as staff names, to its banned practices.
• March 2026: the CMA opens its first formal fake-review investigations under the DMCC Act.