The short version. Google makes the code for you: on a computer, open your Business Profile, choose Read reviews → Get more reviews, right-click the QR code and Save image as…. It encodes Google's own review link, so a scan opens the real review form, empty. Print it dark on light and at least an inch square, put it on something the customer takes home, and test it with three phones before you print five hundred.
Get the code from Google, not a generator
Google's help page gives the steps and one constraint: "Currently, reviews QR codes can only be generated on a computer browser, not on mobile devices." So:
- On a computer, search your business name on Google while signed in to the account that manages the profile.
- Select Read reviews, then Get more reviews.
- Right-click the QR code and Save image as… (Or select Copy for the link itself.)
Any QR generator will encode the same link, and that's fine — the code is just the link, drawn as squares. Two reasons to prefer Google's anyway: it always points at your current listing, and it's free forever. Which brings up the trap.
Static or "dynamic" — and why the free one is the right one
A static QR code encodes the destination directly. Google's is effectively static: it encodes Google's own review link and nothing of anyone else's, so it never expires and no third party can switch it off.
A dynamic QR code, which most generator sites push, encodes their short link, which then redirects to yours. That's what makes the "edit the destination later" feature possible — and the "$9/month or your code stops working" business model. A generator's free trial ending is the most common reason a printed review code dies. If you want scan counts, buy them from a service you'd be happy to keep paying; if you don't, use Google's static code and never think about it again.
What the code should open
Google's form — with no stars chosen and no text written. That's what Google's link does. Don't route the code through a page that pre-selects five stars or offers a "copy this text": Google's content policy treats rating manipulation as fake engagement, and a form that opens pre-filled is the plainest example of it.
If you want something between the scan and the form — a page that captures the customer's email, offers a private channel for a complaint alongside the public one, and counts scans — that's a different product (it's what Oh Local is). The rule for that page is the same: every review option, no incentive, no gating. See how Oh Local can help.
Why printed codes fail, and how to make one that doesn't
A code that scans on your monitor can fail at the counter, and it fails silently — the phone just doesn't react. Two things decide it; neither is visible in a design tool.
Contrast. Dark modules on a light background. The design tool renders a sage-on-cream code beautifully; under café lighting the phone's camera sees mush. In our own scan tests, a code at a contrast level that passes for readable text decoded only about half the time. Black on white scans; your darkest brand ink on white or near-white scans; anything tinted needs testing in the room it'll live in.
Size. The phone has to resolve each module from arm's length. On a business card, about an inch square (25 mm) is the floor. On a table tent, two inches. In a window, six inches or more, because people scan windows from the pavement. On thermal receipt paper — lower resolution, greyer black — go bigger, not smaller.
Two smaller things: leave a clear white margin (the "quiet zone") around the code — the standard calls for four modules' width on every side — and skip the logo-in-the-middle unless you test it — it works by hiding part of the code behind error correction, which is margin you've just spent.
The test is the whole method: print one at final size on the final paper, scan it with three different phones from where a customer would stand, in the light they'd have. Then print the batch.
Where a review QR code belongs
The customer who'll review you has already paid and gone, so the code belongs on whatever leaves with them:
- The receipt — most POS systems will print it under the total; see the receipt guides for your system.
- A take-home card in the bag or handed over with the change — the Google review card covers the layout.
- A table tent in a sit-down place, standing, for people to scan when they choose to.
- The window or the door, on the way out — at window size.
- An email or text, for the customers whose address you hold. (Google's own screen will send the request for you.)
Where it does not belong: on a tablet handed across the counter, or at a "review station." Google's policy says merchants "should not require or pressure users to leave ratings or write reviews while on the premises." A code they scan later, on their own phone, is fine. A device you hand them while they wait for their card back is the thing the policy names.
And keep Yelp off it. Yelp forbids asking for reviews in any form; a Google review code is fine, a Yelp logo next to it is not.
What a QR code can't tell you
Whether anyone scanned it. Which placement works. Who the customer was. Whether they were unhappy before they got to the form. Google's static code is a door with no counter on it — perfect for a first year, and blind after that. If you want to know, the answer is a page behind the code that measures.
How Oh Local helps with this
Google's code is a door with no counter. Oh Local's code points at a page that counts scans by placement, offers every review option without pre-filling anything, captures the customer's email, and gives an unhappy customer a private word first — and the printed card comes with it, already at the contrast and size that scan. The free audit shows whether your reviews are arriving fast enough for the measuring to matter yet.
How it works
- Run the free audit. We read your public Google reviews and replies and send you the numbers: reply rate, the reviews still waiting for an answer, and the oldest of them — with the table on this page to put them beside.
- Claim your page. Pick your listing, and your QR card and short link are ready to print — from your own phone, no onboarding call.
- Get the weekly email. Every new review with its reply drafted, private feedback that came in, and the short list of what to fix on your listing and site.
- Approve, and that’s it. You press approve on the replies you like. The rest — the card, the page, the measuring — runs on its own.
What you get
Your review page
A printed QR card and a short link that open every review option — Google, Tripadvisor, Facebook — capture the customer’s email, and give an unhappy customer a private word first. About four minutes to a printable QR.
Reviews handled
Every new review on your platforms, with the reply drafted in your voice, in one weekly email. Negative ones first. You approve, edit or skip; nothing posts without you.
Local standing
Where you rank around your shop, what competitors are doing, what changed on your listing — with the exact fix for each. Recommendations can lead to better rankings and more visibility; no tool can promise a position, including ours.
| Industry | Audited | Reviews a month (median) | Top quarter |
|---|---|---|---|
| Dallas restaurants | 358 | 9.3 | 17.4+ |
| Dallas dental practices | 85 | 6 | 8.7+ |
| Dallas retail shops | 83 | 0.9 | 3.2+ |
| Dallas tattoo studios | 82 | 2.2 | 8+ |
| Dallas barbershops | 81 | 2.1 | 4.4+ |
| Dallas plastic surgeons | 75 | 1 | 2.7+ |
| Dallas med spas | 74 | 2.9 | 6.7+ |
FAQ
How do I get a QR code for Google reviews?
From your Business Profile, on a computer: Read reviews → Get more reviews, then right-click the QR code and Save image as…. Google notes the QR code can only be generated in a computer browser, not on a phone. It encodes your Google review link, so a scan opens the review form directly.
Is the Google review QR code free?
Yes. Google generates it at no cost from your Business Profile, and because it's a static code — the review link itself — it never expires. Third-party "dynamic" codes usually depend on a subscription and stop working when it lapses.
Why doesn't my review QR code scan?
Almost always contrast or size. Print dark modules on a light background (black on white is safest), keep the code at least an inch square on a card and larger on tents and windows, leave a clear margin around it, and test the printed version with several phones in the actual room.
Can I put a review QR code on the table or at the register?
Yes, for customers to scan when they choose — a table tent or a card they take. What Google's policy prohibits is requiring or pressuring customers to review while on the premises, such as a tablet handed over at the counter or a review kiosk.
Should the QR code go to Google or to my website?
To Google's review form, empty, or to a page that offers every review option without pre-filling anything. Never to a page that pre-selects stars, supplies text, or shows the Google link only to happy customers — that's the fake-engagement and gating behaviour Google removes reviews for.
