How to get Google reviews: a link and ready-made messages

When someone searches Google for a hairdresser, a mechanic or a company that builds terraces, they see several businesses with stars and a number of reviews. A business rated 4.9 with 120 reviews beats one with 4.8 and 9 reviews, even if the latter does better work. The customer doesn’t know your work. They know only what others have written.

Reviews also affect your actual position in the results. In its Business Profile help, Google states plainly that the number of reviews and their rating matter for ranking in local results. The good news: satisfied customers usually leave a review willingly. You just have to ask them at the right moment and make it as easy as possible.

Step 1: get the direct review link

Most reviews are lost at the stage of “where do I click”. So instead of writing “leave us a review on Google”, you send a link that opens the star window straight away.

You will find the link in your Google Business Profile:

1. Log in to the Google account that manages the listing.
2. Search Google for your business name. A profile management panel appears above the results.
3. Click Read reviews, then Get more reviews (the share icon). Google will show a short link: click Copy. Google changes button names from time to time, so look for the option related to asking for reviews.

You will find the same in the Google Maps app, in the view of your business. Save the link in your phone, in an email template and in your notes, so you always have it at hand. You can also turn it into a QR code in my free tool: you immediately get a printable sign and ready-made SMS, email and WhatsApp messages. You can print the code on an invoice, a business card or a sticker at your service point.

Step 2: ask at the right moment

The best moment is when the customer is at their happiest:

• right after the job is finished, when you look together at the finished terrace, bathroom or new door,
• after the customer picks up a car, equipment or an order, if everything is in order,
• on the day of the visit, not a week later, when the customer has already forgotten.

A short face-to-face conversation works best (“May I send you a link to leave a Google review? It matters a lot to us”), followed right away by an SMS with the link. One reminder after 3–5 days is fine. Anything more is pestering.

Step 3: ready-made messages

Short, personal and with the link. The customer’s name and a specific detail from the work you did make a big difference.

SMS right after the visit:

Hello, this is Marek from Pomost. Thank you for today, and I hope the terrace will serve you for years. If you are happy with it, I’d be grateful for a short Google review: [link]. It takes a minute and helps us a lot.

Email with the invoice:

Hello, I’m attaching the invoice for the door installation. Thank you for your trust. If everything is in order, I’d be grateful for a few words on Google: [link]. Reviews like that help other customers choose a proven company. If anything is wrong, please write to me directly and I’ll take care of it right away.

Reminder after a few days:

Hello, is everything working as it should? If you have a moment, here is the link to leave a review: [link]. Thank you!

Note the sentence “If anything is wrong, please write to me”. It gives an unhappy customer a quick route to you. A warning, though: send the request to all customers, not only to those who looked satisfied. More on that in a moment.

If you carry out dozens of jobs a month, the request can be sent automatically, for example by SMS the day after the job is closed in your system. I set up this kind of automation as part of the SMS API service.

Step 4: reply to every review

Replies are read not only by the authors of reviews but above all by future customers. In them you show how you treat people.

To a positive review, reply briefly and specifically, preferably referring to the work done:

Thank you, Anna! We’re glad the composite decking terrace is holding up well. See you at the spring check-up.

To a negative review, reply calmly, without arguing and without revealing details of the job:

We’re sorry the installation took longer than planned. The delay came from a materials delivery, but we should have told you about it earlier. Please contact us at 600 000 000, we want to sort this out.

To a review that looks fake (there was no such customer, the review is about a different business), reply briefly that you can’t find such a job, and report it to Google in the review management panel.

Don’t reply in the heat of the moment. Write the reply, wait an hour and only then publish it.

What you must not do

This is where trouble is easy to get into, so, specifically:

• Rewards for reviews. A discount, a freebie or entry into a prize draw in exchange for a review are prohibited by Google’s policies.
• Asking only the satisfied. Google’s policies prohibit discouraging negative reviews and selectively collecting positive ones. Send the request to all customers.
• Reviews from family, employees and “friends of friends”. Google catches and removes them, and sometimes imposes restrictions on the whole profile.
• Buying reviews. Since 2023, Polish law, implementing the EU Omnibus Directive, explicitly treats posting and commissioning fake reviews as an unfair market practice.
• Writing a review for the customer on their phone “to make it quicker”. The review should be theirs, not yours.

Reviews on your website

It’s worth showing Google reviews on your website as well, for example in a “What customers say” section. A few rules:

• quote real reviews, ideally with the first name and the first letter of the surname and the note “review from Google”,
• state whether and how you check that the reviews come from customers (this has been an obligation since 2023),
• don’t count on getting stars in Google results thanks to reviews on your own site: since 2019 Google hasn’t shown them for reviews that a business publishes about itself.

If you don’t have a website yet, you can add reviews in my free website builder: it has a section for real customer reviews, copied for example from a Google Business Profile.

How many reviews do you need?

It depends on your area and industry. In one city a plumber with 30 reviews is the leader, in another you need 150. Check it for free in my competitor audit: you enter a service and a city, and after a minute you see the ranking in Google Maps, the median number of reviews in the area and how many you are short of the leader. How to read the result, I describe in the article on the competitor audit in Google Maps.

Summary

All you need is a link, a good moment and a short, personal message. Reply to every review and don’t get creative with rewards. Businesses that ask for reviews systematically overtake, after a few months, the competitors who wait for customers to remember on their own.

If your listing is incomplete or you want to automate review requests, write to me. I will complete and optimize your Google Business Profile and set up the sending of requests. I reply within 24 hours, and new clients get a 20% discount on their first order.