How do you get your Google review link?

What is a Google review link?

A Google review link is a short web address that opens the review box for one business. Your customer taps it, and the right profile is already chosen. There is nothing to search for and nothing to spell.

Here is how Google describes it on its link and QR code page.

"To make it easier for customers to leave reviews on your Business Profile, you can create and share a link or QR code to request reviews."

So there are two things, not one. A link you can paste into a message, and a code you can print.

The link matters because most people will not go looking for you. They will tap what is in front of them. Take away the search step and more of them finish the job.

There is one thing the link does not do. It does not pick who gets asked, and it does not shape what they write. Those are your decisions, and that is where the rules start to bite.

How do you find your Google review link?

Google documents one path, and it runs through your own dashboard.

1. Open your Business Profile.
2. Select Read Reviews.
3. Select Get more reviews.
4. Copy the link, or create the QR code.

That is the route on Google's help page. You need to be signed in to a Google Account that owns or manages the profile.

Access is worth sorting out first. Google's page on owners and managers says each user needs their own Google Account, rather than a shared password. It also says a manager cannot add or remove users, or remove the profile.

In practice that means three things. Give your marketing lead manager access under their own account. Keep the owner account with someone who will still be there next year. Then store the link in one shared place, so nobody rebuilds it from memory.

Does Google publish a review link URL format?

No, and it is worth knowing that before you build anything.

Search this topic and you will find URL patterns posted on blogs and in forum threads. People paste them into email templates and pass them around as facts. Google does not document any of them on the page that covers review links.

What Google does document is the button path above, and the QR code. That is the supported route, so that is the one to use.

The practical effect is small but real. Build the link in the dashboard, copy it once, and keep it somewhere your whole team can reach. Do not hand-build an address from a pattern you found elsewhere. If Google changes how the link works, the dashboard moves with it and your pattern does not.

One more trap. An older Google help article used to cover this topic, and that article number now sends you somewhere else. If a guide points you at an old article number, check where it actually lands before you trust anything else on the page.

How do you make a Google review QR code?

Same screen, with one restriction that catches people out.

Google says: "Currently, reviews QR codes can only be generated on a computer browser, not on mobile devices."

So make the code on a laptop or a desktop. Save the image file. After that you can use it anywhere, because the restriction covers making the code, not scanning it.

A QR code earns its place when the customer is holding something, or standing in front of something.

• A card in the box or the delivery bag.
• The printed receipt or the invoice.
• A small sign at the counter or the reception desk.
• A poster in a waiting room.
• The back of a business card.
• A stand at an event.

It is the wrong tool when the code and the camera sit on the same screen. Nobody can scan a code inside the email they are reading on their phone. For an email, a text or a chat message, use the link instead. Keep the code for paper and glass.

Two small things make printed codes work better. Print it large enough to scan from a normal arm's length. And put one plain line of text under it, such as "Scan to review us on Google", so people know what they are pointing at.

Where does Google say to share the link?

Google names three places on the same help page: an email, a WhatsApp message or a Facebook post.

That is a short list, and it tells you something. All three are channels you already own, where the customer already knows who you are. Google is not suggesting you drop the link where a stranger might tap it.

Google's tips page fills in the tone. Tell customers that a review helps and that you read them. Make it easy. Ask everyone, because a mix of positive and negative feedback often feels more trustworthy. Then reply to what arrives.

The last one is the cheapest and the most skipped. A profile where the owner answers reads better than a profile with a slightly higher score and silence under every complaint.

Where else should the link go?

The best placements are messages you already send. The customer opened them for another reason, which is exactly why they get read.

Pick two or three and run them for a quarter. A link in six places that you never measure is worse than a link in two places that you do. Your own website is another spot, and our guide on putting your Google reviews on your website covers Google's display rules.

There is one rule that beats every placement question. Send the same message, at the same point, to every customer. If the timing changes based on what you think someone will say, you have stopped asking and started choosing.

Physical products give you more room than services do. A card in the box can carry a printed code, and it reaches people who never open marketing email. Our supplements page covers what else changes when the order turns up in a box.

What should the message around the link say?

Keep it short, keep it identical for everyone, and say what happens next.

Four lines do the whole job.

• Who you are, in the words the customer already knows you by.
• One sentence saying a review helps, and that you read them.
• The link, on its own line, where a thumb can find it.
• A note that they will need to be signed in to a Google Account.

Google's tips page backs the first two. Tell customers a review is helpful, and make it easy for them to leave one. The fourth line is yours, and it will save you a support email or two.

What you leave out matters more than what you put in. Do not ask for five stars. Do not open with "if you were happy". Do not mention a reward of any kind. And do not write two versions of the message, one for the customers you like and one for the rest.

Here is the whole thing in neutral words. "Thanks for your order. If you have a minute, a review helps other people decide. You will need to be signed in to a Google Account." Then the link, on the next line, and nothing else.

No adjectives, no score, no conditions. A message that plain is also the easiest one to defend if anyone ever asks how you collect reviews.

Health brands carry one more rule on top of that. Never name a person, a condition, a medicine or a dose in a message that someone else might see. Never confirm in public that a named person is a customer or a patient. Send the ask through the channel they already use with you, and keep the wording plain enough that a screenshot would give nothing away.

Why does my Google review link not work?

Most of the time the link is fine, and the customer is not signed in.

Google's tips page says a reviewer has to be signed in to a Google Account. That is the one hard gate in the whole process. Someone who taps your link on a phone with no account signed in sees a sign-in screen, gives up, and tells you the link is broken.

You cannot remove that gate, so plan around it. Say in the message that a Google Account is needed. Expect a share of customers to stop there. And never treat a low reply rate as proof that people are unhappy.

If the customer says they left a review and you cannot see it, the link is not the problem either. Google's page on missing or delayed reviews gives the usual causes.

• The review is still being checked. Google says that "in some cases, this process might take a few days".
• Two profiles were merged, and reviews from both take a few days to appear.
• The phone or the software is old, which Google says can cause trouble when someone tries to leave a review.
• Reviews are switched off for that profile or that business category.
• The review broke a policy. Google says: "Reviews removed for policy violations won't be restored."

Our guide on why a Google review disappeared works through those one at a time.

How to write a Google review for a company

To write a Google review for a company, you sign in to a Google Account, open the company's profile, pick a star rating and say what happened. Google says a reviewer has to be signed in, and that the account can use an email address that is not Gmail.

There are two ways in.

From a link or a code the company sent you.

1. Tap the link, or scan the printed code with your phone camera.
2. Sign in to a Google Account, if you are asked to.
3. Choose a star rating.
4. Write a line or two about what happened, then post it.

From Google Maps, with no link at all.

1. Sign in to Google Maps.
2. Search for the company by name, and open its profile.
3. Select Write a review.
4. Select the stars, add your words, and post it.

Google's tips page names the first route: a Google link or a QR code from the business. The second route is open to anyone, with or without an invitation. That is worth remembering when a profile picks up reviews you did not ask for.

For a business, knowing both routes shapes how you word the ask. The link skips the search, and that is all it does.

After the review publishes, the number under your name moves slowly. Google's page on review scores says the score is the average of all ratings published for that place. It also says "it may take up to 2 weeks to get an updated review score".

So a profile with 40 reviews moves far faster than one with 4,000. Either way, nothing you send today shows up today. Plan in months.

Should you send the link only to happy customers?

No, and this is the one that gets businesses into trouble.

The email that says "if you loved it, review us, and if not, tell support" has a name. It is review gating, and it fails Google's own rules. Google's content policy says a merchant may not discourage or prohibit negative reviews, or selectively solicit positive reviews from customers.

Regulators look at it too, though the detail matters. The FTC's questions and answers say its reviews rule "does not contain a specific prohibition against such conduct". The same answer adds that the practice "could violate the FTC Act". The agency points to its Endorsement Guides, which say the practice may be unfair or deceptive if it leaves the posted reviews more positive than they would otherwise have been.

So it is not a clean ban in that rule, and it is still a bad idea. It breaks the policy you agreed to with Google, and it makes your profile read as staged.

There is a simple test for your own process. Would a customer who had a rotten week get the same message, at the same moment, in the same words? If not, you are choosing, and choosing is the part both sets of rules point at. Our guide to choosing who gets the review request sets out the whole picture.

What if the reviews you get break a policy?

Asking for reviews and reporting rule-breaking ones are two different jobs, and they fix two different problems.

The link fixes a thin profile. Reporting deals with content that should never have been published, such as a fake review, an advert, or a review meant for a different company. Google takes a review down only when it breaks a policy, so a harsh but honest complaint stays. Our guide on why Google keeps most 1-star reviews sorts those two piles.

Doing the first job well makes the second one smaller. A profile with a steady flow of recent reviews carries a bad week far better than a profile with nine reviews and nothing since last year.

That is the work behind our Google review removal service, and what each removal costs is public. Remove One Star charges $475 to $600 per confirmed removal, with nothing paid up front. Google decides every removal, so a review that stays up is a review you never pay for.

What may you never offer in exchange for a review?

Anything of value. This is where the page ends, because it is the rule most likely to cost you the profile.

Google's link and QR code page is blunt.

"Offering incentives, like free or discounted goods or services, to customers in exchange for reviews is considered fake engagement and is strictly prohibited. This includes posting reviews, changing reviews, or removing negative reviews."

Read the last sentence twice. It covers three separate moves, and the third is the one businesses talk themselves into. Offering a refund to make a bad review go away is on the banned list, next to paying for a new one.

In plain terms, none of these may ride along with your review link.

• A discount code, now or on the next order.
• A free product, a sample or an upgrade.
• Loyalty points, credit or cash.
• Entry into a prize draw.
• A gift card, sent after the review appears.
• A refund that depends on a review being changed or taken down.

The FTC covers the same ground from its own side. Its rule on consumer reviews bans compensation or incentives given in exchange for, or conditioned on, reviews that express a particular sentiment. The agency has enforced it. In its case against the telehealth firm NextMed, it said the company offered gift cards to consumers to remove or change negative reviews.

There is a line that keeps you safe. A thank-you that every customer gets, review or no review, is not an incentive. A reward that depends on the review is. Our guide to incentivized reviews works through the grey cases, and sending the link only to happy customers covers the other half of the problem.

Our free Google review QR code generator turns this link into a code you can print.

So run one last check before your review link goes out. Take the reward out of the message, take the filter off the list, and send the same words to everyone you served.