A guide
Getting Google reviews
Without the awkward
Google reviews are the most persuasive thing on your website. Not your logo, not your clever tagline. Actual humans, in their own words, saying you're worth it.
A row of five-star reviews does more to win a wavering customer than anything you could write about yourself. Trouble is, getting them feels awkward. Nobody loves asking. So most businesses just don't, and their widget sits there half-empty while the good work goes unsaid.
Here's how to fix that, minus the cringe. Whether you're starting from zero or topping up, it's the same four moves.
The guide
Four moves
- 01
Your review link is the whole game
Google gives every business a short link that drops your customer straight onto the star-rating screen. No searching, no scrolling, no hunting for the reviews tab. One tap and they're writing.
That link is the difference between "yeah, I'll do it later" (they won't) and a review landing while they're still buzzing about your work. Get it, save it somewhere you can grab it fast, and use it every single time.
How to find yours
- Sign in to the Google account that manages your business.
- Search your business name on Google, or go to business.google.com.
- Click "Ask for reviews" (sometimes "Get more reviews").
- Copy the short link. That's the one to share.
- 02
Ask for an honest review, not a five-star one
"Great service, highly recommend" is lovely and almost useless. It tells nobody why you're worth it, and AI assistants now read reviews to describe your business, so the words matter more than the stars.
Ask for what it was like working with you. Something like:
Hi [name], thanks again for working with us on [job]. If you've got a couple of minutes, would you mind leaving us a Google review? A sentence or two about what we did and how it went is really useful. Here's the link: [link]
No feeding them keywords. Just a nudge to write something more useful than five stars and a thumbs-up.
- 03
Ask at the right moment, every time
The best time is the day the job finishes, while they're still pleased. The worst time is three weeks later with "just wondering if you ever got around to it".
Make it part of finishing a job, not a thing you remember in December. One message, once, with the link in it.
- 04
Reply, then put them where people can see them
Reply to every review in a sentence or two, the good ones included. It shows the next reader someone is home.
Then get them off Google and onto your website, where the people deciding are looking. A review widget does that automatically.
If you'd rather none of this was a job you have to remember, that's what Reviews on Autopilot is for: the request goes out after each job, the reviews come in, and a reply is drafted for you to approve.
Getting set up with us?
We'll make sure your profile's claimed and verified as part of the job, so by the time you're using this, your link will be ready to go.
Talk to Kirsty