12 reviews. 87 reviews. Same street. Same service. Similar prices. Which business gets the call?
Most advice on getting more Google reviews repeats the same handful of points. Finish the profile. Grab the review link. Ask at the right time. Don’t pay for reviews. Reply to everything.
None of it’s wrong. It just doesn’t say much about how to do it well. So we sat down with Luke, one of our Google Business Profile specialists at Websites That Sell, to find out how he advises business owners on their GBP review outreach.
The first move is always the same: get the Google Business Profile right before asking a single customer for anything. That means the profile is claimed, verified, and fully filled out- hours, categories, photos, since reviews sit on top of whatever foundation is already there. Once that’s sorted, the next step is to grab the direct review link from Google and keep it ready to send. Only then should the asking start, and only for experiences worth reviewing.
Table of Contents
Fix the Profile First
A five-star review pointing at a half-finished profile with two blurry photos doesn’t do much. The profile is the foundation, and reviews get built on top of it.
The direct review link matters too. That’s the link off the Google profile that drops a customer straight into the review box, no searching required. It should be saved and ready before it’s needed. In a world where people move so quickly from one task to the next, saving them the step of googling your business before leaving a review can be the difference.
However, before that link goes out, it’s worth asking a plain question: is this experience worth reviewing? Maybe the job sat outside the usual scope, or something didn’t go to plan. A review isn’t worth chasing without confidence it’ll land well. And once you drop to 4 stars, it’s nearly impossible to get back up to 5.
Timing Decides the Quality of the Review
The best time to ask is right at the peak of the customer’s satisfaction, straight after the job is done. The emotion’s still there, and so are the details. Wait a week, and both fade. A late ask tends to get something flat: “Oh yeah, he came round, it was good, thanks.” An ask made on the spot gets more detail and more warmth, for the exact same job.
Ask On The Spot
Standing there in person beats anything automated sent afterwards.
Automated Follow-Up
By the time a follow-up text lands, most customers have moved on to whatever’s next.
Make It a Two-Second Job
Keep the ask simple: “Could I ask you a small favour? If you wouldn’t mind giving us a review.” No script. Just a normal sentence between two people who’ve built a bit of rapport over the course of the job.
What’s handed over probably matters more than what’s said. A QR code on a business card or a link pulled up on a phone gives the customer something to act on immediately. Leaving a Google review requires being signed in to a Google account, so sending the link straight to the customer’s device means there’s a good chance they’re already signed in. “Just look us up on Google” adds a step most people won’t bother with and, in the early days of optimisation, can mean they don’t even find the right company.
| Ask Method | Effectiveness |
|---|---|
| QR code or link handed straight to the customer | Yes |
| Link on a phone, customer already signed in | Yes |
| Follow-up text a week later | Limited |
| “Just look us up on Google” | No |
Unless the job was outstanding enough that customers can’t help but talk about it, they’re doing the business a favour by leaving a review at all, so return the favour by making the process simple.
“Just find us on Google” rarely works as an ask. It sounds simple, but it functions as homework, and most customers won’t do homework for a business. Once you send that link, asking more than once is fine within the same chat. A short follow-up text a week later, thanking the customer again and mentioning the link (or attaching it if you forgot to the first time), isn’t pestering; it’s a reasonable nudge for someone who’s busy. Most people are happy to contribute in this small way.
Put Your Staff to Work
A team offers more chances to ask than a single person working alone. Staff can be encouraged, even incentivised, to ask for reviews. What can’t happen is incentivising the customer for the review itself.
Motivating a team to ask is one thing. Offering a discount or reward for the review, even hinting at one, is another. Google bans that outright, and under Australian Consumer Law, it risks being treated as misleading conduct, particularly if the incentive goes only to customers who leave a positive review.
Responding to Reviews Is Where Most Businesses Drop the Ball
We see the same error all the time; businesses build a wall of five-star reviews and never engage with a single one. That’s a missed chance to connect with the customer, and it signals to Google that the profile isn’t being actively managed.
Generic replies don’t cut it. If every reply reads “thanks, [name], we really appreciate your business,” it starts to read as nothing at all. A short, specific reply barely takes longer to write and reads completely differently.
A one-star review can become a four-star review once a business resolves the issue, sometimes with a note explaining exactly that. Anyone reading it later sees the whole story, and if you’re straight onto it, the 1-star might not be seen at all by many potential customers.
Speed matters most on negative reviews. A prompt response might resolve the issue before it settles in, and customers can edit reviews after the fact.
Every negative reply is really written for the people who haven’t read it yet. That’s the real audience. Staying calm, acknowledging how the customer feels, apologising where it’s warranted, and offering to take the matter offline all say more about how a business operates than the original complaint does.
Positive Reviews
A short, specific reply barely takes longer to write and reads completely differently from a generic “thanks, we appreciate your business.”
Fair Negative Reviews
Staying calm, acknowledging how the customer feels, apologising where it’s warranted, and offering to take the matter offline all say more about how a business operates than the original complaint does.
Fake or Unrelated Reviews
A review that’s fake, or unrelated to the business, such as commentary about how a branded work vehicle was driven on the road, say, rather than the job itself, can be reported and removed.
Negative reviews that are actually fair shouldn’t be buried. That carries both a Google risk and a legal one.
If you’re too busy to manage and respond to reviews, someone trustworthy from your team can speak on the business’s behalf using the Google Business account. The main thing is that you don’t leave your reviewer on read!
When responding to reviews, name the service you provided or where you did the job. For example, “We loved being able to work on your pipe relining; Bondi is such a beautiful area!”. You’ve just done some very basic local SEO to signal to Google that you’re the real deal.
What Actually Separates the 87-Review Businesses
Get the profile right.
Ask at the moment someone’s genuinely happy, not later.
Make it easy to act.
Skip the shortcut of paying for reviews.
Let reviews build up naturally instead of in bursts.
Reply properly and personally once they arrive.
None of that’s complicated on its own. What separates a thin review profile from one that’s doing the heavy lifting in the background is doing it all consistently, including the inconvenient parts.
The Most Common Review Mistake Costing Businesses
Fake or bought reviews are easy to spot. They land in quick succession and are usually templated and low-quality. Getting caught incurs a Google penalty, and, depending on the situation, it can cross into legal territory as well.
A sudden run of genuine reviews can look just as bad as fake ones, and catches most business owners off guard.
Natural Trickle
A deliberate push for reviews over a set month is fine. Reviews trickling in naturally read as authentic.
Sudden Burst
Three reviews over six months, followed by thirty in a week because you sent everyone the link at your client function, look engineered, even when every one is real.
Reviews trickling in naturally read as authentic. A flood reads as manufactured, whether it was or not.
You Do the Work, We’ll Handle the Reviews
All of this works. But it takes time, and most business owners are already stretched thin running the business itself.
Luke, the Google Business Profile specialist behind the advice in this article, works with the team at Websites That Sell, an Australian agency that manages Google Business Profiles for local businesses, including review generation and response. For businesses looking for a proper system for this rather than another ad hoc task, WTS’s GBP management services cover profile setup, ongoing posting, and reviews, month to month, so you don’t have to.
As one of the most underutilised free tools in Google’s toolbox, it’s time to let your GBP do some of the heavy lifting for your marketing funnel.