What Google actually allows when you ask for reviews
19 September 2026 · 5 min read
Google encourages businesses to ask for reviews. It prohibits two specific things, and both of them are easy to do by accident.
Asking is allowed — and encouraged
Google's own guidance tells businesses to remind customers to leave feedback, and the Business Profile has an "Ask for reviews" link built in. A sign on your counter is the same request in physical form.
Incentives are not
Offering a discount, a free coffee, entry into a prize draw or anything else in exchange for a review breaks the policy, even when you do not ask for a positive one. Reviews obtained that way can be removed and repeat offences can affect the whole profile.
Thanking someone afterwards is fine. Paying them, in any currency, is not.
Review gating is the one most shops get wrong
Gating means asking customers how they felt first, then sending only the happy ones to Google and the unhappy ones to a private form. It is explicitly prohibited, and several review tools have been built around doing exactly that.
A sign avoids the problem by design: everyone who taps reaches the same public form. You are not filtering anyone, so there is nothing to disclose.
Questions, answered
- Can I ask only my happy customers?
- You can choose who you speak to in person. What you cannot do is build a system that routes unhappy customers away from the public review form.
- Can staff leave a review for the business?
- No. Reviews from owners, staff or family are conflict-of-interest reviews and Google removes them.
