How to get more Google reviews and stay within the rules

Why Google business reviews matter for a practice

Most new patients look you up before they book, even when a friend or GP has recommended you. The first thing they see is usually your Google Business Profile: your star rating, how many reviews you have and how recent they are. A physio with 60 recent reviews reads very differently from one with four from 2021, whatever the quality of the care.

Reviews also affect whether you appear at all. Google's own guidance on local ranking says prominence is one of the three things it weighs, alongside relevance and distance, and that more reviews and positive ratings can help a business's local ranking. It also says there is no way to pay for a better local position. Reviews are one of the few levers you control directly.

Reviews can't fix a profile in the wrong category or a website that says nothing about what you treat. They work best on top of the basics, not instead of them.

When and how to ask for a Google review

The best time to ask is the moment the patient feels the benefit. That moment is different in every discipline.

Pick the right moment

• Physiotherapy, osteopathy and chiropractic: at discharge or the last session of a course, when the patient is moving better and you have agreed a plan.
• Aesthetics: at the review appointment, once the result has settled, rather than straight after the treatment when there may still be swelling.
• Dental: when a course of treatment is finished, or after a routine visit for regular patients.
• Nutrition and dietetics: after a follow-up where the patient can see progress, not at the first consultation.
• Personal training and Pilates: at the end of a block of sessions or a course.

Ask in person, then send the link the same day

A short spoken ask works better than a sign, because it is personal. Something like: "If you've found this helpful, a Google review makes a real difference to a small practice. I'll send you the link later today, no pressure either way." Then send it while the appointment is still fresh, by email or text from your practice system. Many practice systems can send this automatically.

What to put in the message

Keep it short, plain and the same for everyone. Don't mention the treatment or condition in a text message, because the preview can be read on a locked phone screen by anyone nearby. A message such as "Thank you for coming to see us. If you'd like to leave a Google review, here's the link" is enough. Patients need a Google Account to post, but it doesn't have to be a Gmail address.

Make it routine, not a campaign

Put the ask on your discharge or aftercare checklist so it happens every time. A steady trickle of reviews looks natural. A burst of twenty in a week followed by nothing for a year does not, and Google watches for unusual patterns.

Use a review link and QR code

Asking someone to "find us on Google" loses half of them. A direct review link opens the review box straight away. You get it from your Business Profile: open your profile, select Read reviews, then Get more reviews, and copy the link. The same panel gives you a QR code, which Google says can only be generated in a computer browser, not on a phone.

Good places for the link and code:

• The follow-up email or text after an appointment
• Your aftercare sheet or discharge letter
• Your email signature
• A small card at reception, which Google's own help suggests is fine

A printed code is fine. What Google's policy rules out is pressure: staff standing over a patient with a tablet until they leave five stars is the kind of thing it targets. For the full step by step on phones and computers, see our guide to getting your Google review link.

What Google, the ASA and your professional body allow

Three sets of rules apply: Google's, UK consumer and advertising law, and your regulator or membership body's.

Google's rules

Google's policy on fake engagement and rating manipulation is specific. Businesses must not:

• Offer anything in return for a review, including discounts, free products, free sessions or entry into a prize draw. That also covers rewards for changing or removing a negative review.
• Discourage negative reviews or selectively ask only patients they expect to be positive. A "How did we do?" screen that sends happy patients to Google and unhappy ones to a private form falls into this.
• Pressure people to review while they are on the premises, or ask for specific content, including asking them to name a particular practitioner.
• Set staff targets for a certain number of reviews.

Reviews from staff, former staff or family count as a conflict of interest and are not allowed either. Google removes reviews it finds in breach.

UK consumer law

Since 6 April 2025, the Digital Markets, Competition and Consumers Act has made it illegal in the UK to write, commission or publish fake reviews, or reviews that hide the fact they were incentivised. The Competition and Markets Authority can fine businesses directly. Asking genuine patients for honest reviews is not affected.

The ASA, once a review is in your marketing

A review sitting on Google is the patient's. Once you copy it onto your website, an Instagram post or an ad, it becomes your marketing, and the advertising rules apply. The ASA's guidance on claims in testimonials says testimonials alone are not evidence, so any claim in them that isn't clearly subjective needs to be backed up. "Lovely, calm clinic" is fine. "Cured my sciatica in two sessions" is a claim you would need evidence for. You also need the person's permission, and to be able to show the testimonial is genuine.

Aesthetics clinics have an extra trap. Botulinum toxin is a prescription-only medicine and can't be advertised to the public, so reposting a review that names it can put your post in breach even if the patient wrote it. Our page on SEO for aesthetic clinics covers compliant treatment pages.

Professional bodies

• HCPC registrants (physios, dietitians, practitioner psychologists, OTs and others): the standards of conduct don't mention reviews by name, but they require promotional activity to be accurate and not likely to mislead, and they require you to treat information about service users as confidential.
• UKCP members: the UKCP Code of Ethics says members must not include testimonials from clients in any advertising.
• BACP members: the Ethical Framework doesn't name testimonials, but it does require accurate information about your services and rules out exploiting clients in any way. Many counsellors decide that asking a client for a public review sits badly with that, because a review publicly shows that someone has been in therapy and the request comes from a position of trust.
• Doctors and dentists: GMC and GDC guidance put the weight on confidentiality and respecting a patient's right to complain, which matters most when you reply.

How to respond to negative reviews in healthcare

The rule that catches clinics out is simple: a reply must not confirm that the reviewer is, or was, your patient.

That applies to good reviews too. "Thanks Sarah, so glad your shoulder is better" confirms Sarah's attendance and her condition on a public page. A reply that defends your care in detail does the same thing with more information attached.

Medical Protection's advice for UK practices is to post a general reply that doesn't engage with the detail, then deal with the substance privately. A reply in this shape works for most negative reviews:

What to do behind the reply

1. Treat it as a complaint. If you can identify the person, look at your records and follow your normal complaints process.
2. If you can contact them through their usual channel, do so privately, listen, and explain what you will change.
3. Keep a note and a screenshot in a complaints file, separate from the clinical record.
4. If the matter is serious or the review is threatening, speak to your indemnity provider before you reply.

What not to do

• Don't argue, correct their account or mention appointment dates or treatment.
• Don't offer a refund or a free session in return for removing or changing the review. That breaks Google's rules.
• Don't reply in anger. Google checks replies before they go live, usually within minutes but occasionally longer, and the reviewer is notified when one appears.

You can't delete a review because it is negative. You can flag one that breaks Google's policies, for example one from someone who has never been a patient, a competitor or a former employee, and Google decides whether to remove it.

How many Google reviews do you need?

There is no magic number for the map results, and anyone quoting one is guessing. What matters is how you compare with the practices that appear for the searches you care about.

Search for your main service and town, for example "sports massage Bristol" or "cosmetic dentist Harrogate", and look at the three practices in the map results. Note how many reviews each has, their rating and how recent the latest ones are. That is your benchmark. If they have 40 and you have 6, closing the gap is worth the effort. If you already match them, steady new reviews matter more than a bigger total.

Can you get a 5 star rating?

Google shows your average rating to one decimal place, so a 5.0 needs almost every review to be five stars. The arithmetic is unforgiving: twenty five-star reviews and one one-star review averages about 4.8. That is fine. Google's own tips point out that a mix of feedback often feels more trustworthy than a perfect score, and patients tend to agree. A 4.8 from 80 recent reviews will usually beat a 5.0 from three.