15 proven tactics to get more Google Business Profile Reviews

Author: Frank Young

Why Are Reviews Important?

Google Business Profile reviews allow you to build trust, influence customer decisions, and shape your online reputation. They impact search rankings, on-site engagement, and conversion rates. With a proper review solicitation strategy, you can see the following benefits:

Benefit 1: Rank at the Top of Google’s Map Pack

Google’s Map Pack shows the top-ranking businesses near a searcher’s location. Reviews, along with relevance and distance from the search, are the three strongest ranking signals in Google’s Map Pack:

Benefit 2: Rank at the Top of Google Maps

When someone searches a service on Google Maps, the rankings are once again influenced by relevance, distance, and reviews:

Benefit 3: Clicks and Calls on Your Profile

It is not enough to rank in the Google Map Pack or at the top of Google Maps. You need to entice the user to visit your website or contact you. Having a higher rating than your competitors plays a key part in which option the user clicks on.

Benefit 4: Build Brand Trust

Reviews are a powerful tool for building brand trust and driving conversions. If users see other people “like” your business on Google, they’ll be more likely to click on your listing versus the competition. They’ll also be more primed for conversion on your site.

Benefit 5: Reviews are Easy to Solicit

Soliciting reviews is easy compared to other SEO tactics, like link building. It is also something most large brands struggle with, given the complexity of their business. If you understand the power of reviews and are ready to put in the effort, your business can easily outrank your competition.

How to solicit reviews (according to Google)

I often find Google help center content unhelpful. It is usually a mix of obvious recommendations and vague advice.

That said, it’s not all junk. Let’s go through the five recommendations Google provides in it’s help center article here.

1: Verify your Business Profile

I view this as more of a prerequisite than a recommendation. If you have not completed your Google Business Profile (formerly Google My Business), follow the step-by-step instructions here.

2: Remind customers to review your business

Really? All I have to do is ask? This is some helpful stuff…what else do you have for me?

3: Reply to reviews to build customer trust

Agreed. While not the most impactful tactic, you should do this regularly. More on this in Tactic #7 below.

4: Value all reviews

If you value them, more will come. Law of attraction, right? And if that doesn’t work, there’s this thing called Google Ads they’d like to tell you about…

5: Share a custom link

Agreed. Google talks about sharing this link in emails, texts, and receipts. We’ll build on this in Tactic #4.

15 Review Solicitation Tactics

Google has some advice, but it’s limited. Here are 15 additional tactics you can use to get more reviews.

Tactic 1: Ensure no duplicate profiles

Many businesses are unaware they have more than one Google Business Profile per location.

This can cause a variety of issues, such as splitting reviews between profiles, which reduces the chance of either profile ranking against competition.

One of the easiest ways to evaluate whether you have multiple profiles is to search your business name in Google Maps. If you find duplicates, follow the instructions here.

Tactic 2: Ensure you are the profile owner

If you do not have access, you cannot update your profile and respond to reviews.

I’ve worked with too many clients with no access to their Google Business Profile. This usually happens when a profile was set up by a former employee of a company, or representative agency, who used their personal contact information.

I cannot emphasize enough how much of a pain it can be to request ownership. It can take months as the verification process is finicky at best. If you don’t have access, start that process now. Need help gaining access? Hit me up.

Tactic 3: Audit your existing reviews

First, identify what customers don’t like about your business.

Bad reviews signal a potential customer experience issue. If these issues aren’t addressed, your efforts spent on review solicitation will be undermined by the problems causing the negative reviews in the first place.

Tactic 4: Screen reviews with a feedback form

Create a feedback form on a new page of your website. Keep the form short. Three questions max. If a customer indicates they had a bad experience, show a message thanking them for the feedback. If the customer had a good experience, send them to your Google Business Profile for a review.

This works best with tactics like automated emails that solicit a review after a service is rendered. Using this tactic, you mitigate the chances of negative reviews while capturing valuable feedback your team can use to improve your business.

Tactic 5: Create a review card

Review cards are physical reminders with simple instructions to leave a review. You can hand these out to customers and provide them to your best employees to maximize their effect.

They should include a short, memorable link that takes a customer directly to your Google Business Profile review page.

Tactic 6: Physical reminders

Place signs or posters in your physical locations to encourage customers to leave a review. Remember, convenience is key so include a short bit.ly link or QR code that leads them to your Google review page.

Additionally, include a reminder on your business cards, receipts, or any printed materials you provide to customers.

Tactic 7: Respond to positive AND negative reviews

By genuinely responding to positive and negative reviews, you show you care. This will not directly impact the number of reviews you receive. However, it will lead to more clicks, calls, and visits, all opportunities to solicit more reviews.

Pro tip – NO response is better than a CANNED response. We’ve all seen the “we appreciate your feedback and are sorry you had a bad experience. Please reach out to our management team and we’ll see what we can do.”

This does more harm than good. If you cannot write a genuine message, don’t write it. If you aren’t sure how to respond, there are plenty of guides out there that break down the art of a successful negative review response.

Tactic 8: Ask vendors and partners to review your business

I stole this tactic from WordStream. It is easy to implement and powerful for those with little to no reviews.

Pro Tip: Ask the partner/vendor to review the business as a partner/vendor. Give them prompts to get better reviews. For example, if you own a restaurant, you could ask them to include what they think about your cleanliness and food safety.

This may result in a great review like this: “I’ve been in the food business for 10 years and seen a lot. One thing that has stood out to me about Joe’s Pizza is the cleanliness of the establishment. They take food safety seriously and it shows.”

Tactic 9: Send a one-off email asking for reviews

This can be a campaign or an individual email. The point is that you are giving the customer a call to action. For example, “Did you enjoy your experience at our business? We’d like to hear about it!”

Sure, most people might ignore the email, but even getting a small number of responses can make a huge difference.

Tactic 10: Integrate reviews into your email stream

This is the most scalable way to increase reviews.

Most CRMs (Customer Resource Management) systems like Salesforce, email marketing platforms like Mailchimp and Hubspot, and website builders like Squarespace allow you to configure a post-transaction email (service rendered or product purchased) where you insert a link asking for a review.

Tactic 11: Integrate reviews into your chat experience

Most chat widget conversations end with a satisfaction survey. If the customer indicates they had a good experience, ask for a review!

Tactic 12: In-person solicitation

Identify customers who appreciate your business and ask them for reviews. Make it easy by providing a review card and emphasizing it takes less than a minute.

Tactic 13: Leverage your best employees

Scale the effectiveness of in-person solicitation by incentivizing your best employees to ask for reviews from satisfied customers. Make it easy by providing them review cards they can hand out to satisfied customers.

These employees are already receiving positive reviews. Maximize the benefit of these reviews by getting them on your Google Business Profile.

Tactic 14: Incentivize reviews with discounts

Paying for good reviews is wrong. Paying for feedback is right. You are asking them to take some time out of their day to consult on your business. Some level of compensation makes sense. Just be clear that you want their feedback, not a positive review.

This doesn’t have to be expensive either. It can be a raffle for a free stay at your resort or a free product giveaway.

Tactic 15: Use your social media channels

Share a link to the feedback page you created above on social media and incentivize your followers to leave a review. It’s this simple folks.

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