How do I get Google reviews for my business? What trades should say and when

How do I get Google reviews for my business? As a trade, you ask every customer on the day the job is signed off, and you send your direct review link in the same message as the finished photos so they can do it with one tap.

Then you follow up once, about a week later, and keep the link on every invoice and job sheet. The rest of this guide gives you the exact words for WhatsApp, text and email, and the rules Google enforces on asking.

Most advice on reviews is written for shops and salons: a sign at the till, a code on the receipt. A trade asks at different moments, on the doorstep, with the invoice or in the WhatsApp with the photos. Reviews also feed how you show up on Google Maps, which is the work our SEO for trades page covers. If you only need the link, the free Google review link and QR code generator gives it to you in a minute.

Why do Google reviews matter more than directory reviews for a trade?

Because they stay with your business. Reviews on your Google Business Profile sit on your own listing, whatever you pay anyone else, and you keep them if you stop paying for a directory. Reviews on a directory stay on that directory, under its terms, and you may not be able to take them with you when you leave.

Rated People shows what that means. Its help page for tradespeople, read on 27 October 2026, says it "closed all memberships before it became part of Checkatrade" and that leads are now routed to Checkatrade tradespeople. Its answer to "What happens to my reviews?" is "Your existing reviews stay where they are", followed by an invitation to join Checkatrade and start collecting reviews. Our guide to what happened to Rated People has the full story.

It is not only Rated People. When we read MyBuilder's tradesperson terms and help pages on 2 October 2026, nothing in them offered a way to take your reviews with you if you close your account.

Google reviews also do a second job. Google's own help page on local ranking says "More reviews and positive ratings can help your business's local ranking", alongside how relevant your profile is to the search and how near you are. None of this means leaving a directory that works for you. It means every customer, wherever they found you, gets asked for a Google review as well.

When should you ask a customer for a review?

Ask while the customer can see the finished job. For most trades there are three moments, and the habit that works is to use all three on every job.

1. At sign-off, on the doorstep. Walk the customer round the finished work, answer their questions, then say it out loud: "Would you mind leaving us a Google review? I'll send you the link now." Send it before you get in the van.

2. With the final invoice. The invoice is a message the customer has to read. Put the request in the email or text that carries it, with the link, not only in the small print.

3. One follow-up, about a week later. A short, friendly nudge catches the customers who meant to and forgot. Send one, and then leave it.

Do not stand over them while they write it. Google's policy says businesses "should not require or pressure users to leave ratings or write reviews while on the premises". That line is written for a shop or office, but the same applies on a customer's doorstep: ask, send the link, and let them do it in their own time.

Where do you get the link to send customers?

From your Google Business Profile. On a computer, open your profile, select Read reviews, then Get more reviews, and copy the link. Google's help page says the QR code version can only be made on a computer browser, not on a phone.

If you do not manage the profile, or you want the link, a printable code and cards in one go, our free Google review link and QR code generator finds your business and builds the same link. It needs no signup, and the code never expires because it holds Google's own link. Save the link in your phone's notes so you can paste it on site.

What should the message say?

Short, personal and the same for every customer: thank them, name the job, ask for an honest review and give the link. Google's help page lists WhatsApp and email as ways to send review requests. Copy the three below and swap the words in square brackets.

WhatsApp, with the finished photos

Send it straight after the photos of the finished job.

Hi [customer name], here are the photos of your finished [job]. Thanks for having us.

Would you leave us a Google review saying how it went? It helps people near you find us, and it takes about a minute: [your review link]

Thanks, [your name], [business name]

Text message, on the day

Short enough to read on a lock screen. Send it before you leave.

Hi [customer name], it's [your name] from [business name]. Thanks for having us today. Would you leave a quick Google review of the job? It takes about a minute: [your review link]

Email, with the final invoice

Use this as the body of the email that carries the invoice.

Subject: Your invoice for [job], and a quick favour

Hello [customer name],

Thank you for choosing [business name]. Your invoice for [job] is attached.

If you have a minute, would you leave us a Google review? An honest line or two about how the job went helps other people in [town] decide who to call: [your review link]

If anything is not right with the work, reply to this email or ring me on [phone number] and I will come back and sort it.

Thanks again, [your name] [business name]

The last line of the email is not instead of the review. Every customer gets the same link, and the offer to put things right sits alongside it. Steering unhappy customers away from reviewing is what Google's policy bans as discouraging negative reviews (more on that below).

None of the three asks for five stars or says what to write: Google's policy says businesses should not "request that specific content be included".

Where else should the link go?

On the paperwork customers already keep, so the link is there when they remember.

• The invoice. A line at the bottom with the link, or the 190 by 40mm footer strip from the review link and QR code generator, which drops into a Word, Xero or QuickBooks template.
• The job sheet. If the customer signs off the work on a job sheet, add the link or code in the notes at the bottom. Our free job sheet template fills in on your phone and sends as a PDF, so the link goes with it.
• The quote. The customer has not had the work yet, so this is not the place to ask for a review. Put a line pointing to your existing Google reviews instead, so they can read what past customers said. Add it under your details on the builder quote template.
• The van. A printed code on the van is for customers who see it on a return visit or a second job. The generator's 300mm decal is sized to scan from a couple of metres.
• A handover card. The generator's "How to leave us a Google review" card puts the steps and your code on one card, for customers who are not sure how.

How do you ask past customers without it being awkward?

Message them one at a time, mention the job, and ask once. What feels awkward is a message that looks like it went to everyone, so make each one personal.

Go back through the last year of invoices and send each customer something like this:

Hi [customer name], it's [your name] from [business name]. We did your [job] back in [month]. I'm asking past customers for a Google review this month, and I'd be grateful for an honest one if you have a minute: [your review link]. Thanks either way.

A few rules for doing it well:

• Ask everyone on the list, not only the jobs you remember as easy. Picking out the happy ones is selective asking, which Google's policy bans.
• Spread the messages over a few weeks. Google's policy lists "unusual volumes or patterns of review contributions" under rating manipulation. Spreading them out is our reading of that line: Google gives no numbers.
• One message and one nudge at most. If they do not reply, leave it.

What does Google not allow when you ask for reviews?

Google allows you to ask for reviews of a genuine experience, "without offering incentives to do so or attempting to influence the rating or the contents of the review". Everything else on this list comes from its prohibited content policy for Maps, read on 27 October 2026.

What Google bans	In Google's words	What it means on a job
Incentives	Businesses must not "Offer incentives", such as "payment, discounts, free of cost goods and/or services", in exchange for "posting any review or revision or removal of a negative review"	No money off the invoice, no free extra, no gift, for a review or for changing one
Discouraging bad reviews	Businesses must not "Discourage or prohibit negative reviews"	No asking customers to come to you instead of posting, no pressure to take a review down
Asking only the happy ones	Businesses must not "selectively solicit positive reviews from customers"	Every customer gets the same message, the same way
Conflicts of interest	Reviews "based on a conflict of interest", which Google says may include "current or former employment, a contractual or consultory relationship" and "familial relationships"	No reviews from your staff, past staff, subcontractors who work for you or your family
Pressure and scripts	Businesses should not "require or pressure users to leave ratings or write reviews while on the premises, nor should they request that specific content be included"	Ask, then leave it with them. Do not tell them what to write
Staff targets	"Merchants requesting that staff solicit a certain number of reviews"	No review quotas for your team

Breaking these rules can cost more than the review. Google's help page on profile restrictions says a business that breaks its fake engagement policy can be stopped from getting new reviews for a set period, have its existing reviews unpublished for a set period, or have a warning shown that fake reviews were removed.

There is no review link that fills in five stars. The link opens the form; the customer picks the stars.

What UK law says

Fake reviews are also against UK law. Since 6 April 2025, the Digital Markets, Competition and Consumers Act 2024 bans submitting or commissioning a fake review, or a review that hides the fact it was incentivised. "Commissioning" includes "incentivising by any means" (Schedule 20, paragraph 13). The Competition and Markets Authority's guidance says commissioning "could include a trader requesting a member of staff to write a review", and its guidance for businesses warns that misleading practices can lead to "a fine of up to 10% of global turnover, and potentially be a criminal offence".

The same paragraph covers reviews you show yourself. If you put reviews on your own website, the Act says hiding the negative ones while showing the positive ones counts as publishing them "in a misleading way". This is a summary, not legal advice.

Do you need to reply to every review?

No, but reply to every bad or mixed one, and to good ones when you have something useful to add. Google's tips page says "you don't need to thank every reviewer publicly". A short, genuine thank you is fine; the same copied line on every review adds nothing.

To reply you need a verified profile. Google says replies are checked against its content policies, usually in up to 10 minutes but sometimes up to 30 days, and the customer is told when you reply.

To a negative review, reply calmly, stick to the facts of the job and offer to talk it through by phone. Google says the customer can still change their review after your reply, and the next customer reads your answer too. If a review is fake, or from someone you never worked for, our guide on how to remove a bad or fake Google review sets out what Google will take down and how to ask.

How many Google reviews do you need?

There is no single number, and Google does not publish one. You need enough to look as trusted as the trades you are up against in your area, and you can check that in two minutes.

1. Open Google Maps on your phone and search your trade and the town you want work in, for example "roofer Stockport".
2. Note the top three results. For each, write down the number of reviews, the star rating and the date of the newest review.
3. Repeat for the two or three towns you most want to work in, because the results change with the place.
4. Set your target from what you see. If, for example, the top three have 40 to 80 reviews and the newest is from last week, that is the range to work towards, steadily.

Google ranks local results on relevance, distance and prominence, and says the number of reviews is part of prominence. So reviews alone will not put you first, but a profile with a handful of old reviews is easy to pass over. Recent reviews also tell a customer you are still trading.

Keep asking after you reach it. Asking every customer on the day is what keeps reviews coming.