What Every Small Business Owner Needs to Know About the Google Review Policy

Learning how to encourage and respond to Google reviews as a small business owner can be overwhelming. Not to mention, the Google Review policy is strict and can lead to severe consequences if violated.

You cannot ignore Google reviews either, because they are inseparable from your brand’s online reputation and should form part of your business’s ongoing reputation management. Consider this: 93% of consumers reported that discovering positive online reviews after a Google search has swayed their purchasing decision. Moreover, Google is the Internet’s most-visited website and an excellent platform for both good business reviews and, importantly, bad reviews.

This means you simply must understand Google’s Review policy to know exactly how your customers feel about your brand.

What is Google’s Review Policy?

Chances are you’re familiar with Google reviews. You have most likely pulled up Google Maps to find a local business and read its Google Business Profile to discover the personal experiences of people who interact with the business. These profiles reveal basic details about companies, including addresses, operating hours, website URLs, and contact information.

Customers often use these profiles to upload reviews, photographs, and videos. If you have a Google Business Profile, you can use its extensive resources to help your customers post views and put your brand on the digital map. But you must adhere to the Google Review Policy.

This policy is a set of guidelines put together by Google. If you do not comply with them, you will find it challenging to get your customer reviews to appear on your business listing. The guidelines require that all reviews must be based on genuine experiences, whether it is a 5-star review or a 0-star rating. Google’s review policies make it possible for you to ask for positive reviews within set boundaries.

Why Google Reviews Matter for Small Businesses

There is no denying the potency of Google’s popularity. This search engine helps you increase your brand’s visibility by positioning it directly in front of Google Maps users searching for local shops and services.

On top of boosting brand recognition with an entry on this platform, displaying a handful of reviews will also help you build up the sparkling reputation customers demand. And if the feedback you receive is less than stellar, instead of falling to pieces, unpack what those customers have to say and get to work on fixing whatever is holding back your business.

With 81% of shoppers using Google Reviews in the past year, it’s time to get on board if you’ve been sleeping on this one. No matter how you look at it, if you have your own business, using this mega-popular search engine’s toolset is a surefire way to drive up web traffic and gain new leads.

5 Things Small Businesses Can’t Do According to the Google Review Policy

Get off on the right foot by understanding the Google Review policy. We recommend familiarizing yourself with Google Maps’ list of prohibited content, even if you’re optimistic about avoiding controversy.

The current categories of prohibited content include several entries within:

• Civil discourse
• Deceptive content
•  Mature content
• Regulated, dangerous, or illegal
• Information quality

Avoiding such content can help ensure that your business stays on the good side of the Google Review Policy. Below are the five most important things to avoid according to this policy.

Posting Inappropriate or Misleading Content

Remember that disallowed or deceptive content refers not only to the reviews, but also to any images, videos, and even offensive language included in a submission. Content running afoul of these policies will not be published on your Google Business Profile. Nor will any information that is deemed irrelevant, such as items tagged to the wrong listing, and false or exaggerated claims about products or services. If you suspect any reviews posted are violating the rules, you can report them for removal.

Ultimately, like every other aspect of their search engine, Google strives to provide accurate and helpful information to a wide range of demographics. They will not endorse harmful activities and avoid displaying adult content within reviews.

Keep in mind that Google’s review policy continually changes, and it’s your responsibility to stay up-to-date on their policies from official resources.

Asking Employees for Positive Reviews

One of the biggest mistakes you can make is asking your employees to leave glowing reviews to boost your public perception. Not only do these fake reviews go against Google’s review policy but biased opinions can distort reality. And don’t for one second believe that potential customers cannot instantly recognize a fake review.

Employees have a vested interest in the success of their paycheck provider, so promoting related products requires disclosure of their affiliation, and should never occur within review or rating systems. Plus, whenever companies are caught bumping up their review scores, the press has a field day raking them over the coals for this conflict of interest. Don’t risk your reputation or the prospect of landing on the Federal Trade Commission’s well-tuned radars.

If your employees are eager to support the company via public channels, don’t let them post fake reviews. A better plan? Provide detailed guidelines for when, where, and how employees should endorse your brand with full disclosure of their association to avoid an embarrassing backlash.

Incentivizing or Offering Money for Reviews

Paying for reviews goes against Google’s deceptive content policy, and this rule exists for a reason. Feedback will be 100% less genuine when motivated by money or other valuable rewards. Honest reviews should not have any strings attached, so skip the freebies and discounts.

If getting banned from Google Reviews does not steer you away from paid reviews fast enough, you should know that the Federal Trade Commission also has strict regulations regarding disclosure whenever reviews are incentivized. Breaking the rules just isn’t worth the unpleasant repercussions.

Instead, stay within the boundaries of the Google Review guidelines by encouraging your customers to provide candid feedback so you can gain valuable customer experience insight. Emphasize how their evaluations will help you make meaningful improvements based on data rather than guesswork.

Buying Fake Reviews

Buying fake reviews is another common practice strictly prohibited by Google’s review policy. Google expects all reviews to represent the experience of a user. This means you cannot ask someone who has never interacted with your business to leave a review, and you certainly cannot pay them to do so. Furthermore, someone affiliated with your business or related to you is not permitted to leave reviews on your business listing.

Review Gating

Review gating refers to filtering out all negative reviews and focusing solely on gathering positive customer reviews. If you’re asking your customers for reviews and testimonials and receive negative responses in between the good ones, you must give them all equal attention. Allow customers to post good and bad reviews and show your work when responding and resolving issues.

What Small Businesses CAN Do According to Google’s Review Policy

Fortunately, Google’s Review Policy is not all about restrictions. There are many ways, approved by Google, to enhance your business’s online profile within the set guidelines:

Ask for Google Reviews

One of the best ways to gain more reviews is by stepping up and asking. It may surprise you that most satisfied customers will be happy to help when invited to share. We found that 77% of customers will write reviews upon request, with impressive results via email or text (just ensure you have their permission to contact them first).

The best time to ask for a customer review is immediately after completing a sale. Allow enough time for delivery, if applicable. The key is to catch your customers while the transaction is still fresh in their minds. A lengthy delay could decrease your response rate and lead to inaccurate recollections.

We recommend keeping your review requests short and to the point. Here’s a basic template you can copy and customize:

[CUSTOMER NAME], thanks for choosing us! We want to hear from you. Would you mind leaving us a review of your experience with this link? [LINK]

Charm Customers by Responding to Every Review

Your customer took the time to express their impressions of your products or services, so acknowledging their review with a response is not only polite but expected. ReviewTrackers found that 52% of customers anticipated a reply to their reviews within a week, and pressure rose if the feedback skewed negatively.

Show gratitude for the positive reviews and remorse when you failed to meet expectations. In the latter situation, you will earn back points by attempting to correct the issue. And not just with the customer who complained but with anyone else observing how your business handles its misadventures.

When you show empathy and attempt to fix poor impressions, a couple of negative reviews are less likely to hold back your brand. Surveys show that it’s off-putting when a company lacks disparaging reviews altogether because it’s less believable that every consumer had a perfect experience. Handle criticism with grace, and you may gain admiration instead of spite.

Make It Easier To Leave Google Reviews

You can make it easy for your customers, especially first-time customers, to leave a review on your listing by generating a personalized link that takes them to the right page. You can create this link on your Google Business Profile. Furthermore, you should ask customers for reviews using CTAs (calls to action) on your website, social media accounts, and even email signatures. You can even create something as simple as a unique QR code to direct customers to your review page.

Monitor Reviews and Optimizing

Once you’ve established multiple touchpoints for your customers to use as a gateway to your business listing, you must start tracking your reviews. Use Google Business Insights and other review management tools to track your overall rating and response times. Improve these metrics by responding to all reviews within 24 hours.

Identify positive and negative recurring trends and use this valuable information to address specific concerns. You should also compare your review performance against your direct competitors to analyze the areas in your response that need more work. Continuously optimize your Google Business Profile to ensure your business information is always correct and improve user experience.

Flag and Report Fake and Inappropriate Reviews

You should always flag and report fake reviews and inappropriate content attached to your business listing. If you don’t do this, your listing will violate Google’s Review policies through no fault. Anything that looks like spam, illegal activity, or offensive language must be flagged immediately.

What Happens if You Violate Google’s Review Policy?

If you purposely flout Google’s Review guidelines, you are putting your business’s reputation in harm’s way. Google will detect policy violations, and depending on which rules you break, it may suspend your account or disable your business listing.

This will immediately impact your brand presence and online visibility negatively. Even worse, if Google discovers you’ve been manipulating the review process in any way, you may face legal action with fees and fines that will do massive damage to your business.

Don’t Miss Out on Google’s Brand Resource Center

If you’re still feeling overwhelmed by the Google Review guidelines, drop by their Brand Resource Center for some straightforward recommendations, including how to add official Google Review logos to your website. It’s important to represent yourself the right way to avoid misleading viewers.

After collecting all the facts, grab a marketing kit stuffed with shareable templates, stickers, and posters. Use these digital goodies across social media platforms to gather more reviews from your current and future fans.

Collect More Customer Reviews with Podium

Collecting reviews is necessary to stay competitive today, and the good news is that you don’t have to do this on your own. We built Podium so small businesses like yours can become more productive without pulling all-nighters. Our communication-centric platform helps companies gain the customer reviews needed to build authority in an increasingly online world.