How do I get more Google reviews — and what do I do about a bad one?

Why the pace matters more than the total

Google’s own description of prominence names review count and score as inputs. In practice what moves the map pack is reviews arriving — a business gaining four a month, every month, reads as busy and current, while one with two hundred reviews and nothing new since 2023 reads as a business that may have changed hands. The recency also matters to the customer, who reads the last five and not the first fifty.

The AI engines read reviews too, and not just the stars — it is one of the ways a business gets recommended by ChatGPT. When ChatGPT or Google’s AI Mode explains why it named a business, the reasons come from the review text: “praised for showing up on time,” “customers mention clean-up.” The words in your reviews are the words the engines use to describe you.

The ask that works

Every contractor knows they should ask. Most do not, because the ask feels awkward, gets delayed to “when I do the invoice,” and then is forgotten. The fix is to make it a step in closing the job, done by the person the customer just thanked:

1. The moment: the walk-through, when the customer says the work looks good. That is the peak of their goodwill and it never comes back.
2. The words: “Would you mind putting that in a Google review? It is the thing that helps us most. I will text you the link right now so it is easy.”
3. The link: the short direct link from the Business Profile, saved as a text template on every phone. Not “search for us on Google.” One tap, or it does not happen.
4. The follow-up: one reminder, two days later, from the office: “Thanks again for having us out — here is that review link in case it got buried.” Then stop.

Done on every job, this alone will outproduce any review software. The software is useful for the follow-up and the tracking — that is the CRM’s job — but it does not replace the tech asking at the door.

What Google’s policy forbids

Google’s review policies are short and worth reading once. The parts that catch small businesses:

• No incentives. No discount, gift card, entry in a drawing or anything else in exchange for a review, good or bad.
• No gating. You may not ask only the customers you expect to be happy, or route unhappy ones to a private form and happy ones to Google. Ask everyone.
• No conflicts of interest. Employees, owners, family and anyone paid to review may not review. Neither may you review a competitor.
• No fakes, obviously. Bought reviews are removed in batches, and a listing built on them can be suspended.

Google also states it may restrict or remove reviews, and even limit a business’s ability to receive them, when it detects patterns like these. A wave of reviews disappearing is worse than the reviews never having existed, because the customer who counted 120 last week now sees 60 and wonders why.

Reply to all of them

A reply is written for the next reader, not for the reviewer. For a good review, one sentence that names the job: “Thanks, Karen — glad the new gutters held up through last week’s storm.” It shows the business is attentive and it puts one more specific in the record.

For a bad review, four parts, calm, once:

1. Acknowledge without arguing: “I am sorry the experience did not match what you expected.”
2. State the facts briefly, if they matter: the date, what was done, what was quoted — no accusations, no “as we explained.”
3. Offer to make it right, off the platform: “Please call me directly at the office and I will sort it out personally.”
4. Stop. One reply. No second round, whatever they add. The next reader is judging your composure, not the score.

A one-star review answered this way does you more good than harm: it is proof that you are a business someone can deal with when things go wrong, which is what everyone hiring a stranger for their home is trying to find out.

When a review can be removed, and when it cannot

Google removes reviews that break its policy — spam, fake, off-topic, from someone with a conflict of interest, containing personal information, or about a different business. It does not remove reviews for being unfair, exaggerated or wrong about what happened. “The customer is lying about the price” is a reply, not a removal.

If a review clearly breaks policy: flag it from the profile, wait, and if it stands, use the review-management tool to appeal. Keep evidence — the invoice showing the person was never a customer, the competitor’s name matching the reviewer’s. Expect the process to be slow and often unsuccessful, and write the reply anyway, because it may be there for a long time.

Put the reviews to work

A review that mentions the job, the town and the crew member is a specific an engine can quote. Put those on the site — on the service page they describe, not a generic testimonials page — with the reviewer’s first name, the date, and the source. Read the best ones aloud in a Short. Screenshot them for the Business Profile posts. The review is content you did not have to write, and it is the most convincing kind, because a customer wrote it.

And ask the right customers for the wording that helps most. Not scripts — never scripts — but a nudge: “If you can, mention the town and what we did; it helps people find us.” That is allowed, and it is the difference between “great job!” and “replaced our roof in Spring Hill in one day and cleaned up every nail.”