Getting work

How to get more Google reviews for your trade business

11 November 2026

That's the whole method. The rest of this post is how to do each part properly, because getting it wrong can cost you the reviews you already have.

Why reviews are worth the effort for a trade

When someone searches for an electrician or a plumber near them, your reviews show next to your Business Profile in Google Maps and Search. They're what a homeowner can read before deciding who to let into their house.

They help you get seen as well. Google says more reviews and positive ratings can help your local ranking, and in the same breath that there's no way to pay for a better ranking. So reviews are something you earn, job by job.

Get your review link before you ask anyone

Asking a customer to "find us on Google and leave a review" puts the work on them. Give them the review link Google makes for you instead.

Google lets you create a review link or QR code from your Business Profile:

1. Go to your Business Profile.
2. Select Read reviews, then Get more reviews.
3. Select Copy to copy the link.

The QR code can only be made on a computer, not on your phone, so do this at the desk. Save the link somewhere you can paste it fast: a quick reply in WhatsApp Business, the footer of your invoice template, the bottom of your quote email. Google suggests putting it on receipts and thank-you emails, and at the end of a chat. It also says you can send review requests by email, WhatsApp or a Facebook post, which suits trades where the whole job, from the first photo of the leak to the invoice, happens on WhatsApp.

The customer will need to be signed into a Google Account to leave the review. If someone tells you it didn't work, that's the first thing to check.

Ask every customer, when the job is done

A good moment is when the work is finished and the customer can see it: the geyser's heating, the DB board's labelled, the gutters are clear. Ask then, in person, and send the link straight after so it's waiting on their phone.

Ask every customer. Google's rules don't allow a business to selectively solicit positive reviews, and they don't allow you to discourage negative ones either. So the job that ran over, or the customer who queried the invoice, gets the same message as every other customer.

Here's an example of a message you could send. Change it to sound like you:

Hi Thandi, thanks for having us out to sort the geyser today. If you have a moment, would you leave us a Google review? Good or bad, it helps us, and it helps the next person looking for a plumber. Here's the link: [your review link]

Notice what it doesn't do. It doesn't suggest a rating, it doesn't ask them to mention anyone by name, and it doesn't offer anything.

What Google won't let you do

These come from Google's rules for content on Maps. Read them as a checklist for how you and your team ask:

• Don't pay for reviews, "directly or in kind". No money, no money off the next job, no gift for leaving a review, changing it or taking a bad review down.
• Don't ask only the customers you think were happy, and don't try to talk anyone out of a bad review.
• Don't pressure customers to write a review on the spot, and don't ask for specific content in it. That includes asking them to name the person who did the job.
• Don't set your staff a review target, or ask them to collect reviews that name them.
• Don't have your employees, past employees or family review the business. Google counts those as a conflict of interest.
• Don't leave reviews on a competitor's profile to drag them down.

What Google does allow is plain asking: encouraging genuine reviews without an incentive and without trying to influence the rating or what's written.

Breaking these rules costs more than the reviews themselves. Besides removing them, Google can restrict your profile: stopping it from receiving new reviews for a period, unpublishing the reviews it already has, or showing a warning to customers that fake reviews were removed. That warning is shown to the very customers you're trying to win.

Make sure your services list matches the work you do

There's a detail here worth knowing. When a customer reviews a service business, Google may ask them which task you did, and that shows in the review. The choices come from your profile's service list, your website, or Google's standard list for your type of business.

Google says that if a job type isn't available, you can add it to your service list. So if you install borehole pumps and the profile only lists plumbing, add the pumps. Put the jobs you want more of in your services, and the reviews for them can say so.

Reply to reviews, the unhappy ones too

You need a verified profile to reply. Go to your Business Profile, select Read reviews, and select Reply next to the review. Your reply shows publicly under the review, in the business's name.

Google's tips for replies are sensible: keep it short and polite, and rather than sending the same "thank you" to every reviewer, say something about that job. Don't use a reply to offer deals.

A bad review deserves real care, because the next customer can read your answer as well as the complaint. Don't share the customer's private details, say honestly what went wrong and what you can and can't do, and if it's complicated, ask them to phone or email you to sort it out. The reviewer is notified when you reply and can change their review after reading it.

An example of a reply to a review about a late arrival:

Thanks for letting us know, Pieter. We should have phoned when we were running late, and we didn't. That's on us. Glad the leak's sorted. If anything's not right with it, call the office and we'll come back.

When a review breaks the rules

You can report a review from your Business Profile: Read reviews, Report next to the review, then choose the reason. Only reviews that break Google's policies are removed, and Google says not to report a review just because you disagree with it, because it doesn't get involved in disputes between businesses and customers. A review from someone who wasn't your customer, or a review full of abuse, is worth reporting. A fair complaint you don't like is worth a good reply. You can follow a report in the Reviews Management Tool, and appeal if Google leaves a review up that you think breaks the rules.

Where Peak Leads fits

Reviews are part of our SEO work, alongside Google Business Profile work aimed at Maps and the local pack: categories, services, photos and posts. We set up a review and citation strategy that builds local trust and keeps your listings consistent. For where reviews sit among everything else that brings in work, How to get more customers for your trade business puts them in order, and Do you still need a website if you have a Google Business Profile? covers what the profile can and can't do on its own.

What to do this week

1. Copy your review link from your Business Profile, and download the QR code from a computer.
2. Put the link in a WhatsApp quick reply and on your invoice and quote templates.
3. Check the services in your profile against the jobs you want more of.
4. Send the link to every recent customer, not only the ones you think were happy.
5. Reply to every review you haven't answered yet, starting with the bad ones.

Then book a call and we'll look at your Business Profile with you.