The short version. You may ask every customer for a Google review, hand them a link or a QR code, remind them, and reply to what they write. You may not pay or discount for a review, ask only the happy customers, make people review while they're still in the shop, give staff a quota, tell anyone what to write, pre-fill stars or text, or post reviews yourself. Google enforces its half by removing reviews and restricting profiles; since October 2024 the FTC enforces its half with civil penalties. Yelp is a separate rulebook that forbids asking at all.
The two rulebooks
Google's is the Maps user-generated content policy — the rules for what a review may be and how a business may ask for one. It's a platform policy: break it and the penalty is on the listing.
The FTC's is the Rule on the Use of Consumer Reviews and Testimonials, 16 CFR Part 465, announced in August 2024 and in force 60 days after publication — from October 21, 2024. It's federal law for US businesses: break it and the penalty is money. The FTC says the rule lets it "seek civil penalties against knowing violators," which it previously couldn't do for most of this conduct.
Most of what the two prohibit overlaps. Where they differ is in what they can do to you.
What's allowed
Google's policy states the permitted version plainly. Businesses may "solicit or encourage the posting of content that does represent a genuine experience, without offering incentives." Its Tips to get more reviews page adds the method: "To leave reviews, you can ask customers to visit a Google link or scan a QR code."
So, allowed:
- Asking every customer, in person, on a receipt, on a card, in an email.
- Sharing your review link or QR code — Google generates both from your Business Profile.
- Reminding someone who said they would.
- Replying to every review, positive or negative.
- A private feedback option, offered to everyone alongside the public link — not instead of it for some. (This is how Oh Local's page is built — see how Oh Local can help.)
- Making good on a real problem (replacing the meal, redoing the cut), as long as it isn't traded for what they post.
What's not allowed — Google's words
From the "rating manipulation" section of Google's policy, verbatim:
- Incentives. "Offer incentives – such as payment, discounts, free goods and/or services – in exchange for posting any review or revision or removal of a negative review." No "10% off for a review," no "free coffee if you leave us five stars," no refund for taking one down.
- Gating. "Discourage or prohibit negative reviews, or selectively solicit positive reviews from customers." Sending happy customers to Google and unhappy ones to a private form is this rule.
- On the premises. "When soliciting reviews, merchants should not require or pressure users to leave ratings or write reviews while on the premises." The review kiosk, the tablet handed across the counter, the "just do it now while I wait."
- Quotas. "Merchants requesting that staff solicit a certain number of reviews."
- Scripted content. "Merchants requesting that staff solicit reviews that include specific content."
- Fake engagement generally — reviews that don't "reflect a genuine experience": reviews you write yourself, reviews from staff posing as customers, bought reviews, reviews from someone who was never there.
What's not allowed — the FTC's words
The rule's sections, as listed at 16 CFR Part 465: fake or false reviews (§465.2); buying positive or negative reviews (§465.4); insider reviews without disclosure (§465.5); company-controlled review sites (§465.6); review suppression (§465.7); fake social-media indicators (§465.8). The two that touch an ordinary local business, in the rule's own words:
- § 465.4 — buying reviews. "It is an unfair or deceptive act or practice … for a business to provide compensation or other incentives in exchange for, or conditioned expressly or by implication on, the writing or creation of consumer reviews expressing a particular sentiment, whether positive or negative." That is the discount for a good review — "conditioned … by implication" is why "leave us a review and get $5 off" is not saved by omitting the word "good."
- § 465.7 — review suppression. Two halves: using "an unfounded or groundless legal threat, a physical threat, intimidation, or a public false accusation" to stop a review being written or to get one removed; and claiming the reviews you display "represent most or all the reviews submitted" when you are holding back the negative ones. (The rule allows suppressing a review that is defamatory, contains personal information, appears fake, or is off-topic.)
The rest, in the FTC's own summary:
- Reviews that "misrepresent that they are by someone who does not exist, such as AI-generated fake reviews."
- Reviews by officers or managers that "fail to clearly and conspicuously disclose the giver's material connection to the business."
- Misrepresenting that "a website or entity it controls provides independent reviews."
- Buying or selling "fake indicators of social media influence."
The FTC had already made Fashion Nova pay $4.2 million in 2022 for holding back reviews under four stars from its site — before this rule existed. The rule makes that kind of case simpler to bring.
The six that actually hurt small businesses
Most owners aren't buying bot reviews. The violations that show up on real listings are ordinary-sounding:
- The discount card. "Leave us a review and get $5 off your next visit." Prohibited by Google outright; prohibited by the FTC when it's conditioned on sentiment (and "leave us a good review" always is).
- The two-door funnel. Happy → Google, unhappy → "tell us privately." Gating, under both rulebooks.
- The tablet at the register. On-premises pressure, in the policy's own words — and a batch of reviews written in the shop within minutes of each other is exactly the shape the fake-engagement rule describes.
- The staff contest. "Most reviews this month wins a bonus." A quota, and it produces exactly the clustered, similar-sounding reviews Google removes.
- The owner's cousin. Reviews from family, staff or the owner's own account, undisclosed. Fake engagement under Google; insider reviews under the FTC.
- The refund for removal. "Take the review down and we'll refund you." Google names "removal of a negative review" in the incentives rule specifically. Make the customer whole because the meal was bad, and let the review be whatever it is.
What it costs
Google: reviews it judges to be fake engagement removed, the review section restricted, and in serious cases the profile suspended — the listing that brings in the walk-ins, gone from the map. Google's reporting page is the only route back, and it takes days at best.
FTC: civil penalties per violation for knowing violators, on top of whatever refunds or orders come with a case. The rule is written so that every fake review or every conditioned incentive can count separately.
Yelp, for completeness: a public "Consumer Alert" banner on your Yelp page telling customers you were caught soliciting reviews. Yelp's rule is stricter than either of the above — "any action taken to prompt, encourage, or request a review" is banned — so the Google card, the receipt line and the follow-up email must never mention Yelp.
A one-minute check for your own shop
- Does anything you hand out promise something for a review? Remove it.
- Do unhappy customers get sent somewhere other than the same link happy ones get? Give everyone both.
- Is there a device in the shop that customers review on? Take it home with them instead — a card, a receipt line.
- Do staff have a number to hit? Replace it with three words at hand-off.
- Has anyone connected to the business reviewed it? Take those down yourselves.
- Does your review card or sign carry a Yelp logo? Google only.
How Oh Local helps with this
Everything Oh Local puts in front of a customer is built inside these rules: the same link for every customer, the form opens empty, nothing is offered for a review, and Yelp is never asked. The private feedback route sits beside the public link, never instead of it. It's a guardrail, not a compliance review — what you do at the counter is still yours. The free audit reads your public profile for reply rate, unanswered reviews, and anything on the listing that looks like one of the six above.
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
Can a business ask customers for Google reviews?
Yes. Google's own help page tells businesses to ask customers to visit a Google link or scan a QR code. Its policy allows soliciting "content that does represent a genuine experience, without offering incentives." Ask everyone, offer nothing, and don't pressure anyone to do it on the spot.
Can I offer a discount or gift for a Google review?
No. Google's policy prohibits offering "payment, discounts, free goods and/or services" in exchange for posting, changing or removing a review, and the FTC's rule bans compensation conditioned on a review expressing a particular sentiment. Making good on a real problem is fine as long as it isn't traded for the review.
Is review gating illegal?
Sending only happy customers to Google while steering unhappy ones elsewhere violates Google's policy ("selectively solicit positive reviews") and, under the FTC's rule, misrepresenting that displayed reviews are representative when negative ones are suppressed is review suppression. Offer a private feedback channel to everyone, beside the public link — never instead of it.
Can my employees leave reviews for my business?
Not without disclosure, and in practice not at all. Google treats reviews from people with a conflict of interest as fake engagement, and the FTC's rule requires officers and managers to clearly disclose their connection. Staff reviews are one of the most common reasons a small business's recent reviews get removed together.
Can I put a review tablet at the register?
No. Google's policy says merchants "should not require or pressure users to leave ratings or write reviews while on the premises." Give the customer something to take home instead — a card or a receipt line with the link. They review from their own phone, later.
What are the Yelp review rules?
Yelp prohibits asking for reviews in any form — "any action taken to prompt, encourage, or request a review" — and marks businesses it catches with a public Consumer Alert. Never put a Yelp logo on a review card or ask for Yelp reviews by email; you can still reply to Yelp reviews from your business account.
