The blog/Google reviews
How to ask for Google reviews.
You can ask every customer for a Google review, as long as you ask them all the same way. Below are words you can copy and the steps to find your review link.
Published /5-minute read/By Thomas Carr and Walter Miska
Why it matters
People read
the reviews first.
Before someone lets a stranger into their home or hands over their car keys, they check the reviews. In a 2026 survey of 1,002 US adults by BrightLocal, a company that studies local search, 97% said they read reviews for local businesses.
Reviews also help you show up when people look for what you do on Google and Google Maps. In the words of Google’s own tips for local ranking, “More reviews and positive ratings can help your business’s local ranking.”
In the same survey, most people who were asked to leave a review said they did, though real life often runs lower because plenty of people say yes and then forget. Asking at the right time, with one easy link, helps with that.
When and how
Ask right after
the job is done.
When to ask
The best time is when the work is finished and the customer can see the result, like a fixed leak or a car that runs again. Ask the same day, while it’s fresh. If people leave your office in a hurry, send the text that evening.
How to ask
Ask in person if you can, or have the person who did the job ask, then text the link so it only takes them a minute. Keep the text short and use their name. Make the link the only thing to tap. Ask every customer the same way, whether or not you think they loved it. That’s Google’s rule, and a mix of reviews reads as more believable anyway (Google says so too).
Words you can use
In person, at the end of the job: “Thanks for having us out. Would you leave us a quick Google review? I’ll text you the link so it only takes a minute.” In an office, start with “Thanks for coming in today.”
For the text, swap in your own names and your review link.
- The same day
- Hi Dana, thanks for choosing Miller Plumbing today. Would you leave us a quick Google review? It helps us a lot: (your review link)
- One reminder, a few days later
- Hi Dana, Miller Plumbing again. No pressure, but if you have a minute, here's that review link: (your review link). Thank you!
Send the reminder once, and skip it if their review is already up. Only text people who gave you their number, and if anyone replies STOP, stop.
Get your link
Your review link,
in three steps.
Google gives every business a direct link to its review form. You get it once, on a computer, and after that you paste the same link every time. These steps come from Google’s own help page:
Open your Business Profile
Your Business Profile is your business’s listing on Google Search and Maps. On a computer, sign in to the Google account that manages it and go to business.google.com. If someone else set up your listing, they may need to do these steps.
“Read reviews”, then “Get more reviews”
Select “Read reviews”, then “Get more reviews”. Google shows your review link and a QR code.
Copy the link
Select “Copy”. To get the link onto your phone, email it to yourself or save it in a note that syncs to your phone, so it’s ready to paste into a text. To keep the QR code for a sign or a receipt, right-click it and choose “Save image as”. Google only makes the QR code on a computer, not on a phone.
Test it before you send it to anyone: text the link to yourself and make sure it opens your review form.
Customers need a Google account to leave a review (Google says so here). If someone doesn’t have one, thank them and move on; don’t push.
Google’s rules
What Google
doesn’t allow.
Asking for reviews is allowed, and Google publishes tips for doing it. Google does remove reviews that break its rules. Google’s policy for reviews forbids:
- Offering anything in return, such as payment, a discount or a free service
- Asking only the customers you expect to be happy (Google calls it selectively soliciting positive reviews)
- Pressuring customers to leave one, especially while they’re still with you (a polite ask is fine), or asking them to say anything in particular
- Reviews you write about your own business, or ones from your staff or family
There’s a federal rule too. Since October 2024, the Federal Trade Commission’s rule on consumer reviews has banned offering money or any other reward for a review that says something good (or bad).
Asking is safe as long as you ask every customer the same way and let them say what they think.
Answer every review
Thank people for good reviews. For a bad one, stay calm and keep it short. Don’t argue, and don’t share anything about the person or the job in public; a health office should never even confirm that someone was a patient. A reply that works for any business:
“Thanks for the feedback. We’d like to hear more and talk it through. Please call us at (your number).”
Google’s own tips say the same thing: “Be professional and polite,” “Keep it short and simple” and “Never share a reviewer’s private information.” Future customers read your replies too.
Make it automatic
Ask every customer
without remembering to.
Asking takes a minute, but remembering to ask after every job is harder, especially on a busy day.
Our Google review requests take care of that part. When a job is marked complete in the job or billing software you already use, your customer gets a short text from your business with your review link, sent the same way to every customer and inside Google’s rules. Nobody on your crew has to do anything new, as long as jobs get marked complete. If you’re not sure your software will work with it, text us and ask.
Want us to send the review texts for you?
Text us about your business, and one of the two owners will answer you personally.