Guides

How to get more Google reviews for a trade business

By Ashton Foran, director. Published 14th September 2026.

Open your Google Business Profile, use "Ask for reviews" and copy the short link it gives you. Save that link in the notes app on your phone. The day a job finishes, send the customer one message with the link in it. That habit, repeated on every job, is what builds a review count.

Most tradespeople have a handful of reviews and never asked for any of them. A count in the tens is built by asking, every time, on the day.

Why the count matters to Google

Google ranks local businesses in the map results on relevance, distance and prominence. Its own guidance says review count and review score feed prominence, and it recommends responding to reviews as well.

So reviews do two jobs. They are what a customer reads before deciding whether to ring you, and they are part of what decides whether that customer is shown your business at all. The rest of that picture is in our guide on getting found on Google.

Where is the review link?

It is inside your Google Business Profile. Open the profile and use the "Ask for reviews" option, which you can also reach by searching your own business name on Google while signed in as the owner. It gives you a short link that opens the review form directly, so the customer lands on the box where they type with the stars already in front of them.

Copy it once and keep it in the notes app on the phone. A link you have to go hunting for is a link that does not get sent.

The message that works

Send it by WhatsApp the day the job finishes:

"Thanks again for having us. If you've a minute, a Google review helps us more than anything: [link]"

That is the whole thing. One message, no chasing. If somebody says they will and then forgets, one reminder a week later is fine, and then you leave it.

The day the job finishes. The customer is still looking at the finished work and they are pleased with you. Send it then. A month later they still like the job, but the moment has passed and your message arrives as a chore.

What a competitive count looks like

Checked on Google Maps in September 2026, the painters sitting at the top of the map for Cork show 61, 110 and 232 reviews, and the aerial installer at the top for Kerry shows 41.

A business with five reviews is not in that conversation yet. Two jobs a week, asked on the day, is a hundred asks a year, and that is how the gap closes.

The rules you have to stay inside

Google's review policies are short and they are enforced.

No paying for reviews, and no discounts, free work or gifts in exchange for one. No asking only the customers you expect to be happy, which Google calls review gating and treats as a policy breach even when every review you collect is real. No writing reviews on a customer's behalf and none posted from your own phone or laptop. No reviews from staff or family.

Breaking any of these can get the reviews removed or the profile suspended, which costs you the map position you were building.

Reply to every one

Reply to each review in a sentence or two, use the person's name, and do it within a few days. Thank the good ones plainly and move on.

For a bad one, reply once, calmly, with the facts and an offer to sort it out over the phone. Never argue in the reply. The audience is the next customer reading the page, and they are working out whether you are a business that handles a problem or one that squares up to it.

A steady trickle beats a burst

Google shows how old each review is. A profile whose last review is a year old reads as a business that has gone quiet, whatever the average score says. Ten reviews spread across the year do more for you than ten collected in one week and then nothing, which is the argument for making the ask part of finishing a job rather than something you do when you remember.

Ask for a photo when the work looks good

A customer can attach a photo to their review. When a job has come out well, it is worth asking. A review carrying a photo of the finished work does more for the person reading it than the same words on their own.

The same reviews can sit on your website

Reviews can be shown on your website as well, pulled straight from Google, so one ask feeds both places. What people do once they arrive on the site is covered in what your website numbers mean.

Common questions

How many Google reviews do you need? Enough to stand beside whoever is top of the map for your trade and your area, which is usually tens rather than a handful. Open the map, look at what the top three are showing, and that is your target.

Can you offer a discount in exchange for a review? No. Google's policies prohibit paying for reviews, and that covers discounts, gifts and free work offered in exchange for one. A review bought that way can be removed and the profile itself suspended.

Can you ask only the customers you know are happy? No. Filtering who gets asked is review gating and it breaches Google's policies. Ask everybody the same way, on the same day, and take what comes.

What do you do about a bad review? Reply once, within a few days, with the facts and an offer to sort it out by phone. Keep it short and civil, because the audience is the next customer rather than the reviewer. Then leave it alone.

The next job you finish is the next review. Put the link in your phone notes before you pack the van, so the ask takes ten seconds.