How to ask for a Google review, and what to say

Asking is most of the work. The most useful figure I found comes from a firm that sells review software, which surveyed 1,002 adults in the US in 2026. 78% had been asked for a review in the previous year, and 65% had written one after being asked.

It matters in this trade in particular. Back in 2015 the Competition and Markets Authority estimated that people spent £3.93 billion a year on home improvements after reading online reviews.

This post is the mechanics: getting the link, the words to use, and the lines you can't cross. Google's review rules are set out in the Business Profile post, and when to ask is in getting your first customers. The short version of both: every customer, when the job's done.

Get the link, and the QR code

Google's steps, from its own help page:

1. Go to your Business Profile.
2. Select Read reviews, then Get more reviews.
3. To copy the link, select Copy.
4. For the QR code, right-click it and choose Save image as.

Google says the QR code can only be made in a computer's browser, not on a phone, so do this one at a desk. Then open the link on your own phone before you send it to anyone, so you know what your customer will see.

Your customer needs to be signed in to a Google account to leave the review. Google says they can make one with any email address, not just Gmail, which is worth knowing when someone says they haven't got one.

What to say

Every version below follows the same four rules, which come from Google's policy and the UK's consumer law further down. Ask everyone the same way. Don't mention stars. Don't suggest what to write. Don't offer anything for it.

In person, when the job's done. Short, and nothing to agree to on the spot:

Thanks for having me in. Would you mind leaving a review on Google? It helps a small business more than you'd think. Can I text you the link?

By text, once they've said yes. One message, with your name in it, because the number may not be in their phone:

Hi Sarah, it's Dave from Allan Electrical. Here's the review link you said I could send: [link]. Thanks again.

By email, after the invoice has gone. The UK regulator's guidance says that merely emailing customers generally to ask if they'd like to leave a review is not prohibited:

Thanks for choosing us for the rewire. If you have a minute, a review on Google helps other people decide whether to call us: [link]

On the invoice, a card or the van. One line and the QR code:

How did the job go? A review on Google helps: [short link or QR code]

And what not to write:

• "If you're happy with the work, please leave us a review." That's an ask aimed at the happy customers only.
• "A five-star review would really help." Google says a business shouldn't ask for specific content, and a rating is the most specific thing there is.
• "Could you mention how tidy we were?" Suggesting what to say is the same problem.
• "Leave us a review and get 10% off next time." That's an incentive, and Google bans them outright.

Two more. Don't send the link to some customers and not others, and don't write the review for them, even if they ask you to.

Google's rules, and what happens if you break them

Google's policy for reviews is stricter than most people expect. A business mustn't offer incentives, such as payment, discounts, or free goods or services, for a review or for changing or removing one. It mustn't selectively ask for positive reviews or discourage negative ones. It shouldn't require or pressure people to review while they're on its premises, or ask for particular content. And it can't set staff a target number of reviews to collect.

The penalties are now concrete. Google can stop a profile receiving new reviews, hide its existing ones and show a warning that fake reviews were removed. In commitments the CMA announced in January 2025, Google agreed what happens to a business that breaks the rules. The first time, a warning on its profile and new reviews blocked for at least 30 days. A second time, at least 60 days, with all its reviews hidden. A third, at least 180 days.

The law since April 2025

The Digital Markets, Competition and Consumers Act 2024 bans a list of practices outright, and reviews have a paragraph of their own, in force since 6 April 2025. It bans writing or commissioning a fake review, or a review that conceals that it was incentivised. It also bans publishing reviews in a misleading way. "Commissioning" includes incentivising by any means. The CMA can fine a business up to £300,000 or 10% of its turnover, whichever is higher.

The CMA's guidance on fake reviews is plainer than the Act. Asking is fine: emailing customers generally to ask if they wish to review is not prohibited. For reviews a business shows itself, on its own website or flyers, the guidance adds three more:

• don't stop and start your requests to steer what gets written;
• don't make an offer to sort out a complaint depend on the customer not leaving a negative review;
• encouraging only the satisfied customers to review is one of its examples of cherry-picking.

One place the law is softer than Google: the CMA's guidance says entering reviewers into a prize draw is unlikely to count as commissioning. Google's ban covers incentives generally, so on Google, don't.

Texting a customer

Asking for a review by text sits in a grey area. The ICO's rules on marketing texts need either the person's consent or what it calls a soft opt-in. A soft opt-in means three things. You got their number while they were buying or asking for a quote. The message is about similar services. And you offered a way to opt out then, and in every message since. I couldn't find anything from the ICO that says whether a review request counts as marketing.

The way round it is the one above. Ask in person, and text the link once they've said yes. The ICO's guidance says a message somebody specifically asked for can be sent without consent. Send one message, with no offer in it, and don't put them on a list.

When the review isn't a good one

Reply, as the business, briefly and politely, and never with the customer's personal details. The Business Profile post covers replying and reporting. You can report a review only on policy grounds, not because you disagree with it.

Two things the rules add. Don't offer a refund, a discount or a free fix in return for the review changing or coming down. Google's policy bans offering anything for the revision or removal of a negative review. And sometimes a sudden run of one- and two-star reviews arrives with a demand for money to take them down. Google's advice is not to engage or pay, and it has a form for reporting the extortion.

Where grafter.ly fits

If you have a website with us, you can add your review link to it. Your site then gets a short link, your-name.findagrafter.com/review, that forwards to wherever your reviews are. You also get a QR code for it, to download or to print as cards, eight to a sheet.

What we've changed. Until this week, those cards said "Happy with the job?". Checked against the rules for this post, that reads as an ask aimed at the happy customers. They now ask "How did the job go?".

Two limits. grafter.ly doesn't send review requests for you, and it doesn't count how many people scan the code. The asking is still yours, at the end of every job. The website side is here.

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Sources. Google Business Profile Help on getting a review link or QR code, reading and replying to reviews, replying, reporting reviews, restrictions for fake engagement and review extortion; Google's prohibited and restricted content policy; the CMA's announcement of Google's commitments (24 January 2025) and Google's undertaking (signed 19 December 2024); the Digital Markets, Competition and Consumers Act 2024, Schedule 20, section 182 and section 237; the CMA's fake reviews guidance (CMA208, 4 April 2025) and its reviews guidance for businesses; the ICO on key concepts in electronic mail marketing, complying with the rules and identifying direct marketing; regulation 22 of the Privacy and Electronic Communications Regulations; the CMA's 2015 report Online reviews and endorsements (GfK, 3,729 adults); and BrightLocal's Local Consumer Review Survey 2026 (1,002 US adults, published by a firm that sells review software). All checked 14 October 2026. Nothing here is legal advice.