What is allowed is asking all customers for a review in person, by card or by QR code. Forbidden are rewards, bought reviews, reviews from staff and collecting only positive voices on purpose. For email, SMS or WhatsApp you need consent first.
More Google reviews bring more trust and more enquiries. That is why the temptation is great to help things along a little: a small discount for five stars, a request to the family or an email to all customers at once. This is exactly where it gets tricky. Some things breach Google's policies, some breach competition law, and in the worst case Google deletes reviews or suspends the profile.
In this article I show you how to collect reviews without getting into trouble: what is allowed, what is forbidden and where the grey areas are.
Important: This article explains the basic rules from my own practice and is not legal advice. If you are unsure in an individual case, please ask a lawyer.
The basic rule: genuine, voluntary, nothing in return
Everything that follows comes down to one sentence: A review has to be the genuine, voluntary opinion of a real customer. As soon as you buy a review, reward it or collect it only from happy customers, it is no longer neutral. Google sees it that way, and German competition law sees it the same way.
What is allowed
- Ask in person: Saying after a job well done “If you were happy, I would appreciate a Google review” is the best and safest way.
- Review link and QR code: A card at the counter, a stand or a QR code on the printed invoice that leads straight to the review window.
- Ask all customers equally: You may ask for a review as long as you ask everyone and not just those you expect praise from.
- Reply to reviews: Say thank you, respond to criticism calmly, offer a conversation. This is expressly welcome.
- Show reviews on your website: With the right notice, more on that below.
What is forbidden
Something in return for a review
A discount on the next visit, a free coffee, entry into a prize draw: Every reward for a review is forbidden under Google's policies. That also applies if you expressly add “no matter how many stars”. Under competition law, a paid review without a notice to that effect is misleading. Competitors or associations can issue a warning against you for it.
Bought or invented reviews
Buying reviews from agencies or writing them yourself has been expressly forbidden since 2022 by the German Act Against Unfair Competition (UWG). Google is also getting better at spotting such reviews, deletes them and can restrict the profile, for instance by blocking new reviews for a while.
Reviews from staff, family and friends
Anyone who works in the business or is close to you is not neutral. Google forbids such reviews as a conflict of interest. So do not ask your team or relatives for stars. The exception is if they were genuinely ordinary customers, and even then restraint is wiser.
Sending only happy customers to review
Some tools first ask “How satisfied were you?” and only forward people to Google if they give four or five stars, while the others end up in an internal form. This is called review gating. Google expressly forbids collecting only positive reviews on purpose, and under competition law it is risky too, because it distorts the overall picture.
The grey area: asking for reviews by email, SMS or WhatsApp
This is where most mistakes happen. In 2018, Germany's Federal Court of Justice ruled that a request for a review by email counts as advertising, even if it is in the same email as the invoice. Advertising by email is generally not allowed without prior consent. The same applies to SMS and WhatsApp.
For you, that means:
- Get consent beforehand, for example with a separate tick box when booking an appointment or in the order: “I agree that [business] may ask me once by email for a review after the appointment.” The box must not be ticked in advance.
- Without consent, rather ask in person, by phone during the conversation, or with a QR code on the printed invoice and a card to take away.
- Send one reminder at most and stop if someone does not respond.
Showing reviews on your own website
If you show reviews on your website, for example as stars, quotes or an embedded review widget, the law requires a notice stating whether and how you check that the reviews come from real customers. If you do not check yourself, you must say that too. A short sentence near the reviews is enough, for example:
“The reviews come from Google. I do not check myself whether they come from customers who used my service.”
If you only show selected reviews, say so as well. And one more point: If the review widget is loaded directly from Google, data flows to Google. That usually needs consent via your cookie notice. A screenshot or a link to the profile is simpler from a data protection point of view.
How to build a clean routine
- Get your review link in the Google Business Profile via “Get more reviews” and turn it into a QR code.
- Put cards or a stand where the job ends: at the till, in the car, in the invoice folder.
- Ask every customer at the end, in a friendly way and without pressure. A fixed sentence helps so that you do not forget.
- Include a consent tick box in your booking or order if you want to follow up by email.
- Reply to every review within a few days.
You will find more practical ideas in my article Google reviews: how to get more reviews.
Conclusion
You cannot take shortcuts with reviews, but you can make it easy for customers. Ask everyone, ask in person, reward nothing and get consent beforehand for emails. Your profile will then grow more slowly than with tricks, but lastingly and without the risk of Google cleaning up.
If you would like cards, stands or a clean process in your booking for this, I am happy to help. What I do on the topic of reviews for businesses is on my services page.
Stefanos Svarnas, Knusperholz in Ludwigsburg. I build websites and make sure businesses get found on Google. Personally, without agency detours.
