Google reviews: how to ask for them, how to reply, and what Google and Irish law forbid

Google's advice is to remind customers to leave a review, by sending them a Google link or showing them a QR code. Both come from your Business Profile: select Read reviews, then Get more reviews, and copy the link or save the QR code. Google says the QR code can only be made in a browser on a computer, not on a phone.

It suggests putting the link or code on receipts, in thank-you emails, at the end of a chat and on a printed QR code in the shop, and says requests can also go by email, WhatsApp or a Facebook post. The customer has to be signed in to a Google Account to leave a review, and Google notes that the account can be set up with an email address that is not Gmail.

Google also asks businesses to value every review. It says honest and balanced reviews can help customers decide, and that a mix of positive and negative feedback often feels more trustworthy.

Google's policy on prohibited and restricted content for Maps says a review should reflect an actual experience with the business, and be genuine and unbiased. A business may ask for reviews, as long as it offers no incentive and does not try to influence the rating or what the review says. It may not:

Google removes reviews that break the policy, and says reviews removed for policy violations will not be restored. Where it finds that a business owner has broken its fake engagement policy, it can also restrict the Business Profile. Its examples: the profile cannot receive new reviews or ratings for a set period, its existing reviews and ratings are unpublished for a set period, or it shows a warning telling customers that fake reviews were removed.

Google says it emails the owner if it plans to restrict a profile, and that the business can appeal the decision.

A business has to verify its Business Profile before it can reply. Then go to the Business Profile, select Read reviews, select Reply next to the review, write the reply and select Reply again. The same place lets you edit or delete a reply later.

Google checks each reply against its content policies before posting it, and asks for an edit if it is not approved; it says this usually takes up to 10 minutes and sometimes up to 30 days. The reply appears under the review as the business's, without your personal name, and the customer is told you replied. They can still change their review afterwards, and if they do, its date changes to show the update.

Google's advice on what to write:

Google's view is that a negative review is not necessarily a sign of poor business practice, and that a constructive reply, with a follow-up on the concern, may even encourage the customer to update their review. Like reviews, replies have to follow Google's content policies. Its advice for a negative one:

Any review can be reported, but Google says only those that break its policies are eligible for removal. It asks businesses not to report a review only because they disagree with it or dislike it, and says it does not get involved in conflicts between businesses and customers.

To report one, go to the Business Profile, select Read reviews, select Report next to the review, choose the reason, such as spam or profanity, and send the report. Google says evaluation typically takes several days, and its Reviews Management Tool shows the status of each report. If Google finds no policy violation, the business can make a one-time appeal, choosing up to 10 reviews.

Google's automated spam detection can remove a legitimate review by mistake. Its advice then is to contact support.

Directive (EU) 2019/2161 added consumer reviews to the EU's Unfair Commercial Practices Directive. It put two practices on the list in Annex I, which that Directive says are in all circumstances unfair: stating that reviews come from consumers who used or bought the product without reasonable and proportionate steps to check, and submitting false consumer reviews or endorsements, commissioning someone else to, or misrepresenting consumer reviews, to promote products (points 23b and 23c). Member States had to apply the new rules from 28 May 2022.

Ireland gave effect to them in the Consumer Rights Act 2022, whose long title names Articles 1, 3 and 4 of that Directive. Its section 157 added them to the prohibited commercial practices in section 55(1) of the Consumer Protection Act 2007, in force since 29 November 2022. Since then, a trader shall not engage in:

Neither paragraph of the Act mentions incentives by name, while Google's policy forbids any incentive for a review outright, a genuine customer's review included. The CCPC's guidance for businesses adds that you must not present paid-for reviews as independent.

The Directive's recitals give an example of manipulating reviews: publishing only positive reviews and deleting the negative ones (recital 49). Google's policy also forbids selectively asking for positive reviews, before any review is posted.

Section 155 of the 2022 Act added a rule for a trader that provides access to consumer reviews, for example on its own website. Under section 46(3B) of the 2007 Act, information on "whether and how the trader ensures that the published reviews originate from consumers who have actually used or purchased the products" is treated as material information. Leaving out material information is misleading under section 46(1) where it would be likely to cause the average consumer to make a transactional decision they would not otherwise make, and section 47 makes engaging in that practice an offence.

Recital 47 of the Directive gives examples of what that information covers: how the checks are made, whether all reviews, positive and negative, are posted, and whether any were sponsored or influenced by a contractual relationship with the trader. A site that states its reviews come from customers who used or bought what it sells needs, under paragraph (za), reasonable and proportionate steps to check that they do. The CCPC's guidance puts it as a rule for promotion: you cannot promote consumer reviews about your business unless you have taken reasonable steps to ensure they are genuine.

Google lists replying to reviews among its tips for local ranking, and says positive reviews and helpful replies can help a business stand out. It says local results are mainly based on relevance, distance and popularity, and under the heading of prominence describes how well known a business is, based partly on how many websites link to it and how many reviews it has. In Google's words: "More reviews and positive ratings can help your business's local ranking." It also says there is no way to request or pay for a better local ranking.

The score shown is the average of all ratings published on Google for the business, and Google says it may take up to 2 weeks to update after a new review. For relevance, Google's advice is complete and detailed business information on the profile: a Business Profile for a business with no shopfront covers the rules for setting one up. Setting up the profile is a priced extra on our Websites page, and the larger site includes it.