Google tells you to ask. It also tells you how not to
This is the one platform in the section whose own help page hands you a script. It also names, in the same breath, the practice that gets a profile treated as fake and misleading content. Both halves are worth reading before you print anything.
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What Google's guidance actually permits
Three of these come from Google's tips page for owners and one from the federal rule that sits underneath every platform here.
Asking is allowed and documented. Google's own tips point customers at a review link or a QR code.
You do not need a clever workaround here. The mechanism Google recommends is the mechanism to use.
Offering anything in exchange for a review, a changed review or a removed review is treated as fake and misleading content and is prohibited.
That covers the raffle, the free coffee and the discount code. It also covers paying somebody to take a bad review down, which owners rarely think of as an incentive.
Google's guidance treats a mix of positive and negative feedback as the trustworthy shape for a profile.
A page of nothing but five stars is not the goal, and it is not what a shopper is looking for either.
The FTC rule that took effect in October 2024 reaches reviews from company insiders, and the FTC says paying a customer to change or remove a truthful negative review may break the FTC Act instead.
Your staff writing reviews is not a grey area. Buying a bad review back is not covered by the rule itself, which is a narrower thing than being allowed: the FTC's own answer is that it may be an unfair or deceptive practice.
A request flow that stays inside both rulebooks
Five steps. The third is the one that keeps you compliant, and it is also the one everybody wants to skip.
Get the review link from the profile
Google's own guidance is to send customers to a review link or have them scan a QR code, so start with the link the profile gives you rather than a screenshot of the listing.
Put it where the transaction ends
On the receipt, on the counter, in the follow up message. The ask works when it lands while the visit is still in the customer's head, not a fortnight later.
Ask every customer, in the same words
One message, one link, everybody. Choosing who gets asked on the basis of how the visit went is selective solicitation, and it is the single thing that turns a review programme into a policy problem.
Offer nothing in return
No discount, no entry into a draw, no free side. Google treats an incentive in exchange for a review as fake and misleading content, and the FTC rule is stricter still.
Answer what arrives, including the bad ones
Google's tips list replying to reviews as part of getting more of them, and a profile with visible replies reads as a business that is actually there.
What GetSetReply does about asking, and the plan it sits on
GetSetReply builds the link and the printable code, sends the request where your plan includes it, and drafts the reply to whatever comes back. It never posts a review and never writes one.
- Your review funnel link and the printable QR code are on every plan, so the counter and the receipt are covered whatever you pay.
- The same request goes to every contact on the list, because there is no setting anywhere in the product for asking a subset.
- Nothing is published on your behalf. A review is written by a customer or it is not a review.
Review requests by email and SMS are included on Professional and Enterprise. Your review funnel links, QR codes and contacts are on every plan.
Two pages to read next
One covers how the Google connection pulls the new reviews in. The other is what to write when a good one arrives.
Google is one of the places we watch
Every platform below lands in the same queue, so a Google review and a review from anywhere else are read, drafted and answered in one place.
- Yelp
- TripAdvisor
- DoorDash
- Trustpilot
- Etsy
- Square
Asking for Google reviews, answered
From Google's own tips page and the FTC's rule guidance, both cited below.
Is it against the rules to ask customers for a Google review?
No. Google's own guidance tells owners to ask, and suggests pointing customers at a review link or a QR code to scan.
Can I offer a discount for leaving a review?
No. Google treats offering free or discounted goods or services in exchange for posting, changing or removing a review as fake and misleading content, and says it is strictly prohibited.
Can I ask only the customers who seemed pleased?
No. Choosing who to ask on the basis of how the visit went is selective solicitation. Ask everybody in the same words, and answer whatever arrives.
Can my staff leave reviews to get things started?
Not without disclosure, and we would say not at all. The FTC rule that took effect in October 2024 is about undisclosed insider reviews: a review from someone connected to the business needs a clear and conspicuous disclosure of that relationship, and the FTC adds that insider reviews lifting your average rating could break the FTC Act even when they are disclosed. A profile seeded by the people who work there is also the first thing a reader spots.
Does GetSetReply write reviews?
No. It drafts replies to reviews other people wrote. Nothing in the product creates or posts a review.
Where the rules on this page came from
Google's own tips page for owners, and the FTC's guidance on the rule that sits underneath it.
Google reviews
Ask once, then answer well
Print the code, send the link, and let the replies to what arrives be drafted for you.