Updated: July 2024
Overpage for Google Business Profile

When a consumer decides which business to buy from, there are a lot of factors in play. From how highly that business is ranked on Google to its branding and imaging, there are many subconscious decisions being made. Among the most influential of these factors issocial proof; this comes in the form of customer reviews. 

You can bombard your customers with evidence of expertise, quality and empathy – and they might believe you. But when your previous customers say it, it’s a lot more convincing. 

Scott Cook, co-founder of Intuit and director of both Ebay and P&G, sums it up perfectly:

“A brand is no longer what we tell the consumer it is – it is what consumers tell each other it is.”

And the proof is in the numbers. Based on their 2023 survey, a report by Power Reviews stated that “a staggering 98% of consumers say reviews are an essential resource when making purchase decisions”. The report also went on to say that 45% of consumers refuse to buy a product if there are no reviews available for it. 

That’s why it’s so important that you get as many positive reviews for your business as you can – and what’s more, you need to get those reviews on your Google Business Profile. 

But what is Google Business Profile? Why is it so important to get your reviews on it? And, how do you even get reviews on there in the first place? Let’s take a look.

What is Google Business Profile and Why is it Important?

Previously known as Google My Business, Google Business Profile is a free tool that gives you control over how your business is presented on Google Search, Google Shopping, and Google Maps. From providing up to date information such as your business address and opening hours, to listing products and services, you can quickly give an insight into who you are, what you do, and where you do it.
Beyond this, it’s important to make sure your Google Business Profile information is accurate for a number of reasons. Firstly, having your location information will help Google show your business on local searches, and display your business in the local pack.

Google Local Pack after searching for “Plumbers in Bristol”.

Secondly, potential customers will get frustrated with outdated business information, and making a good first impression really matters. Finally, it makes it easier for customers to find your business profile and leave you a review. This final point is absolutely vital. Customer reviews are one of the best ways to build credibility and trust with your prospective customers, so it pays to make it as easy as possible for your customers to leave one. 

While there are a number of other review sites you should consider taking advantage of (more on these later), Google Business Profile is arguably the most important place to get your customer reviews. A lot of business searches will start on Google, so by optimising your Google Business Profile, you’re offering prospective customers the most direct route to your business. 

How to Get Reviews For Your Business

In an ideal world, every customer you have will love your product or service so much, they rush to leave a review for you. Unfortunately, this doesn’t often happen, even when your customers are thrilled with your service. Instead, most customers will need a gentle prompt to leave you a review. 

A good way to initiate this prompt is to ask your customers directly what they thought of your business. If the things they say are more negative, thank them for their honesty, and promise to review what they’ve said. Your customer will feel heard and appreciated, and you’ll have some insight into how you can improve your offering. Hopefully though, your customer will have positive things to say, which leads nicely into your chance to ask them to leave a review on your Google Business Profile.

It’s important to note that your customer will need to have a Google account in order to leave a review. Luckily, most people will already have a Google account. If not, it’s extremely simple to sign up for one.

There can be a bit of an art to asking customers for a review, especially if you’re not having a face to face conversation where you can gauge how the conversation is going. Here are a few tips on how to increase your chances of receiving a customer review:

  1. Get your timing right

In other words, don’t ask too soon, and don’t leave it too late either. Ask too soon and your customer may not have had time to fully appreciate all of the benefits that your product or service can provide. Ask too late and you risk your customer losing that feeling of satisfaction or excitement that your business gave them. If you’re not sure what classes as too late or too soon, learn by trial and error. 

  1. Make it easy

Your customer is doing a favour by leaving you a good review. There’s not much in it for them, which means they’re unlikely to be willing to spend a lot of time or effort to leave that review. Make it quick and easy for them by giving them a link that takes them directly to where they need to go to leave a review.

  1. Integrate with your email marketing

If you’re using email to communicate with your customers, take advantage of this and use your email marketing to ask what they thought of your business and to leave a review if they had a positive experience. You can make it easy for them to do this by incorporating a CTA (call to action) either in the email content or even in your signature. 

How to Link to Your Google Review Page

If your customers are doing you a favour and taking the time out of their day to leave a review and help your business, the very least you can do is make it as easy as possible for them to do this. 

This means giving them a link in an easily accessible manner which will take them directly to the review page. Here’s the easiest way to get this link to them:

  1. Access Google Profile Manager

If you’re already logged in, simply click the apps tab and select Business Profile Manager.

Accessing Business Profile Manager via Google Homepage

If you’re not already logged in, just Google search “my business”. Click the first result for Google Business Profile and login. Once you’ve logged in, it should take you directly to Business Profile Manager.

  1. Select “Ask For Reviews”

Once you’ve accessed Business Profile Manager, you should see your business profile’s insights and actions. One of these actions is “Ask for reviews” – click this. 

Click “Ask For Reviews” on your Business Profile Manager
  1. Copy the Link from the Google Review Box

This link will take anyone directly to your review page, making it easy for them to write a review. 

This pop up box will provide you with your review link
  1. Start Getting Reviews

Now that you’ve got your link handy, you can start sending it to your customers and hopefully getting some reviews. Don’t forget, you can utilise this link on buttons and hyperlinks to make it all look more professional. 

The Alternative Way

If you’re struggling with the first method, or can’t login to your Google Business Profile, here’s another method you can try to get that link to your review page.

  1. Google Your Business

Search your business name in Google Maps. This is the easiest way to find a Google Business Profile, as profiles don’t always show up automatically on Google Search. 

  1. Click “Write a Review”

Select your business, and scroll down until you get to the reviews section. Click “Write a Review”.

The review section on Google Maps
  1. Shorten Your URL

Once the review box pops open, take the URL from the address bar at the top. You’ll probably want to shorten this link to make it easier to manage and generally make it look nicer. To do this, we’d recommend visiting https://bitly.com/. There you can insert your link, and receive a shorter link to use. Your new link will look something like ‘https://bit.ly/3K27gIe.’

Shortening your link on bitly

Bonus Tips to Secure Google Business Profile Reviews

Firstly, don’t be afraid to ask your customers for a review over the phone. Let them know how much of a difference it can make to you and your business and show them how much it means to you.

Secondly, don’t hesitate to remind customers who have forgotten to leave a review. While you certainly shouldn’t pester them, people can genuinely just forget, and will appreciate a gentle reminder. 

Finally, don’t keep that review link hidden. Place it on your website, on your social media posts, and in your email signature. To make it look that much better, you can even turn it into a button. 

Going Beyond Google Business Profile

While this article focuses mainly on Google due to its importance and high volume of usage, this doesn’t mean you shouldn’t stick to it alone. Your customers are likely to use other review platforms too, which is why you should expand your horizons. 

There are several great review sites out there that can be useful for any business to have reviews on. Trustpilot is a great all rounder, and Yelp is generally best for service based businesses, making it a great site for businesses such as electricians, gyms and dentists to have their reviews. Social media platforms like Facebook, LinkedIn, Instagram, YouTube and X shouldn’t be ignored either.

There are also review sites that are more industry specific. Checkatrade is perfect for tradespeople, while Booking.com, Expedia and Tripadvisor are all perfect for all things tourism, including hotels, restaurants and attractions. 

Do some research for your niche or industry, and see if there are any review sites that are better suited for your business.

If ranking on Google is how you’re hoping to bring in new customers, it’s absolutely vital that you’ve put in the work with your Google Business Profile, particularly with your customer reviews. Not only do they help you rank higher on Google, they can quickly build trust with visitors, because like it or not, consumers care massively about what their peers say about your business – so don’t neglect your reviews!

If you have any questions or thoughts on collecting reviews for Google Business Profile, leave a comment and we’ll get back to you as soon as we can.

Otherwise, happy review collecting!

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Comments

Joe Cox

14 September 2016

Really great article. I think there is still an under appreciation from sole traders and startups as to the real power of online reviews. With star ratings showing up in Google’s local pack it really should be a no-brainer for small businesses to be asking all their clients or customers to leave online reviews.
Interesting to note though how Amazon recently took legal action over a number of of fake reviewers on its site. Do you think fake reviews could become a problem by undermining the authenticity of all online reviews?

Paul Morris

14 September 2016

Hi Joe
Thanks for your comment. Many businesses seem ‘too busy’ to ask their clients for reviews, even though their value is beyond doubt.
Regarding fake reviews, this is a big problem. Most platforms try their best to ‘weed’ them out. To leave a Google My Business review for instance you need a Google account and platforms such as Yelp are so stringent in their efforts to only keep genuine reviews that there have been many complaints that real reviews are being removed.
Ultimately if a company goes to great lengths to make it’s ‘fake’ reviews look genuine then there is little these platforms can do about it. Although for the effort required, surely it would just be easier to get genuine reviews in the first place.
Leaving fake reviews, either positive for your own business or negative for a competitor’s business is illegal. There are now a growing number of cases both in the US and UK where regulators are taking action against those caught in the act https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/online-reviews-and-endorsements-advice-for-businesses/online-reviews-giving-consumers-the-full-picture.

Richard Keeves

20 June 2019

Hi Paul,
It’s the same here in Australia. There are some serious cases of serious fines for fake or misleading reviews, including one famous case a couple of years ago with reviews on TripAdvisor.
Here’s a link to the story. https://www.accc.gov.au/media-release/court-finds-meriton-misled-and-deceived-consumers-on-tripadvisor

Ramiz Syed

20 September 2016

Hi Paul Morris,
Great write up, i had already use the same trick but could’t get success, now i restudy and start again, i would like to add one more bounce tips for all users,
After getting a short url add in your email signature as Review Us link short url, it will work like a slow poison, don’t need to wait for bulk email.
Happy blogging!!!

Paul Morris

20 September 2016

Hi Ramiz
Great tip…adding the short URL to your email signature will really help those reviews come in.
Thanks for your input. Happy review collecting 🙂

Jo Lynn Barnicoat

20 September 2016

This was such perfect timing! Just had this discussion with my client during their SEO review – today! Thank you for the fantastic update!

Paul Morris

20 September 2016

Hi Jo
Thanks for your comments. Glad you found the article useful.

Chris Fritch

4 October 2016

It asks me to log in to my gmail – what if they don’y have a gmail account?

Jitendra Raulo

10 October 2018

Awesome and Very Informative Article. Thank you so much, It Helps me a lot!

Paul Morris

11 October 2018

Glad you found it useful. Happy review collecting!

Andy

8 January 2019

Hi. I’ve used this technique as a link on my website. It works great with desktops but mobiles don’t link to the review page. Is there a simple explanation for this?
Many thanks
Andy

Paul Morris

31 January 2019

Hi Andy, this method only works on a desktop (or laptop).

Emilio López

24 January 2019

Shortening the URL isn’t necessary IF you send the reviews link via an email marketing campaign through MailChimp or Constant Contact, for example.

Paul Morris

31 January 2019

Thanks, Emilio. Shortening the URL isn’t necessary at all really. We’ve recommended it so you can have a nice clean, short URL.
Many of our customers hyperlink a button or graphic to link to their reviews page.

Emilio López

20 February 2019

That, of course, makes a lot of sense Paul! Actually short links DO have some conversion value beyond the analytics you get from using them.

Richard Keeves

20 June 2019

Paul, thanks. This is a valuable and well-written article on an increasingly important topic.
Just to let you know, we are including links to this in the Further Information resources at IQ Seven. (https://www.iqseven.com) We’re happy to recommend it. Good stuff.
Thanks
Richard Keeves
IQ Seven Actionable Intelligence

Paul Morris

21 June 2019

Hi Richard, glad you enjoyed the article and thanks for recommending.

Strip Curtain Solutions

3 May 2020

Thanks for your guidance here Paul.
We are about to start requesting reviews from past customers and that’s how we found your article.
Regards
Eddie

Paul Morris

4 May 2020

Glad the article helped. Good luck with your review collecting.
Stay safe!

Chris

15 September 2020

Paul, thanks for a great article. This is really valuable and I will be adding to my knowledge with such a well-written article. Being a local business, this topic has become essential in attracting new customers. I will be recommending this article as part of my continued development as a digital marketing provider too.
Happy to recommend, this is excellent stuff.

Paul Morris

16 September 2020

Hi Chris, glad you found the article useful. Demonstrating that you’re a trustworthy and reliable business through building up client reviews is a really easy and simple way of attracting new business. And it really doesn’t cost anything 🙂

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