How to get more Google reviews the compliant way

Reviews win contractor jobs. A homeowner choosing between three bids reads them first, and the shop with a wall of recent five-star reviews looks like the safe choice before anyone talks price. The good news: getting them is mostly about asking. The catch: there is a right way and a way that gets your profile suspended.

Why reviews matter more than ever

This is not soft stuff. Per BrightLocal's 2026 consumer survey: 97% of consumers read reviews for local businesses, 47% won't use a business with fewer than 20 reviews, 68% require at least a 4-star average (up from 55% a year earlier), and 74% want to see reviews from the last three months. Reviews also decay: an old five-star wall counts for less than a steady, recent trickle. And 80% of consumers are more likely to use a business that responds to all its reviews, so replying matters too.

The trap: "just ask your happy customers"

Here is where well-meaning contractors get burned. Cherry-picking, only asking customers you think are happy, or screening people before you send the request, is called review gating, and Google explicitly prohibits it. Google's policy says you cannot "selectively solicit positive reviews" or discourage negative ones. You ask everyone, or you break the rule.

Same story with incentives. Offering a discount, a gift card, or anything of value for a review is banned by Google as fake engagement, whether or not it is tied to a star rating. What Google explicitly allows is the clean version: encourage any genuine customer to leave a review, with no incentive and no filtering.

This is federal law now, not just Google's terms

The stakes went up in 2024. The FTC's Consumer Review Rule took effect October 21, 2024. It bans fake reviews, buying or selling reviews, undisclosed insider reviews (an employee or family member reviewing without disclosing the relationship), incentives conditioned on a positive review, and using legal threats to bully a bad review offline. Penalties run up to roughly $53,000 per violation, and that is per violation, so it compounds fast. And it is being enforced against normal businesses, not just big platforms: in December 2025 the FTC sent warning letters to ten companies over the rule. Translation: "have my cousin post a five-star review" is now a legal risk, not a shortcut.

Texting for reviews without a TCPA problem

Text gets read, so it is tempting, but business texting has rules and cold-texting a customer list is class-action bait. If you text past customers for reviews, do all of this:

• Get documented consent. Capture permission to text at time of service, in your intake form, estimate, or contract. A finished job does not by itself give you legal cover to text someone.
• Respect quiet hours. Send only between 8am and 9pm in the customer's local time.
• Honor opt-outs instantly. STOP, and plain-language requests too, must be respected immediately.
• Register your number. Business texting at any scale needs A2P 10DLC registration through a proper platform, not an unregistered cell or VoIP line, or carriers block you.

When in doubt, lead with email (which has none of this exposure) and reserve text for your warmest, clearly-opted-in customers. (Sources: CTIA Messaging Principles; FTC and TCPA guidance.)

The compliant playbook that actually works

• Ask every customer. No filtering. Per BrightLocal, 83% leave a review when asked, so the volume takes care of itself.
• Make it one tap. Use Google's own review short link or QR code. Every extra step loses people.
• Ask at the right moment. Right after the job is done, while they still love the finished kitchen.
• Use email and text. Two channels beat one, within the consent rules above.
• Follow up once. A single polite reminder recovers a lot of people who meant to and forgot.
• Respond to every review. Good or bad. It lifts trust, and 42% of consumers actively avoid businesses that never reply.

That is the entire method: ask everyone, make it easy, ask at the right time, stay compliant, and reply. No gimmicks, no risk. If you would rather not run it yourself, the 5-Star Reboot does exactly this from your existing customer list.