What does Google policy say?
Google prohibits fake engagement, incentivised reviews and selectively inviting satisfied customers. Discouraging negative reviews or inviting only happy customers breaches the policy, and Google can remove reviews or suspend the profile.
- No buying or swapping reviews, including between business owners.
- No discount, free product or prize draw in exchange for a review.
- No reviews written about your own business or about a competitor.
- No selective invitations that systematically skip unhappy customers.
Google does not ask you to leave your customers alone. Asking is allowed, and Google hands you a shareable link for it. The difference lies in who you ask and what you give back.
What do Belgian and European rules say?
The Omnibus Directive was transposed in Belgium into Book VI of the Code of Economic Law. Since then, a trader displaying reviews has to take reasonable steps to verify that they come from real customers, and has to explain how they do it.
Two practices sit explicitly on the blacklist of unfair commercial practices. First: claiming reviews come from real users without verifying it. Second: submitting or commissioning fake reviews, and manipulating reviews to promote a product.
For Google reviews, Google performs part of that verification, but your own communication remains your responsibility. So never claim your reviews are verified when you cannot demonstrate it.
What exactly is review gating?
Review gating means checking satisfaction first and only sending happy customers on to Google. That selection is prohibited. Asking how it went and helping both answers along, without denying anyone the route to Google, is allowed.
| Approach | Allowed | Why |
|---|---|---|
| Everyone gets the same question with the same link | Yes | No selection, no reward |
| Ask how it went, then give everyone the Google link too | Yes | Nobody is held back |
| Only happy customers get the Google link | No | Selective invitation |
| Discount for a five-star review | No | Reward and steering of the rating |
| Reviews written by staff or family | No | Fake review |
The safe setup looks like this: after the job you ask how it went. Happy customers get the review link. Unhappy ones first get a private field to say so, and then the same link anyway. The complaint reaches you without cutting anyone off from Google.
What are you allowed to do?
You may ask systematically, follow up, ask again at the next visit, put up a QR code, add your link to your signature and write to your entire customer list. As long as everyone gets the same question with nothing in return, you stay inside the lines.
- 1Ask every customer, without pre-selecting on satisfaction.
- 2Send one reminder, and respect anyone who declines.
- 3Reward nothing, not even a small gift or a prize draw entry.
- 4Ask for an honest review, never for a specific number of stars.
- 5Give unhappy customers an easy route to you, without blocking the public route.
What do you risk if you breach the rules?
Google can remove reviews, suspend your profile or take your business out of Maps. On top of that, the FPS Economy can act against unfair commercial practices, with fines that in widespread infringements can reach a percentage of your annual turnover.
In practice the reputational risk often weighs heavier than the fine. A competitor or a customer who notices bought reviews needs one screenshot.
The opposite risk exists too: asking for nothing at all, out of fear of getting it wrong, hands your competitor dozens of honest reviews every year.
How do you explain this to your team?
Give your team one sentence and one link. The sentence: we ask everyone, and we never give anything in return. The link is your review link. That way nobody accidentally promises a discount at the counter.
Put that one sentence up near the till and repeat it to every new hire. The article on collecting reviews as a team explains how to fix that in place without turning it into a procedure.
ReviewsPro asks everyone the same question and keeps the follow-up per customer, so you can show afterwards that nobody was skipped.
Frequently asked questions
- Can I offer a discount in exchange for a Google review?
- No. Tying a reward to a review breaches Google policy and European rules on unfair commercial practices. Asking is always allowed, paying or rewarding never is.
- Is it forbidden to check satisfaction first?
- Checking is fine. It becomes prohibited when you use that answer to send only happy customers to Google. Give everyone the same access to the public review link, including anyone who was unhappy.
- Can I ask my staff to write a review?
- No. Reviews from employees, family or friends count as fake reviews because of the conflict of interest. Google removes them when it detects them, and they fall under the blacklist of unfair practices.
- Do I have to state how I collect reviews?
- If you display reviews on your own website, you have to be able to explain whether they come from real customers and how you check that. Put that in one paragraph next to your reviews or in your terms.
- Can I ask a customer to remove a negative review?
- Asking is allowed, pressing is not, and offering anything in return certainly is not. The correct order is to solve the problem first, then politely ask whether they would update their review.