Say a customer in Unionville answers your “How did we do?” email with five stars, and the next screen offers a link to review you on Google. A customer who gives you two stars gets a thank-you and nothing else. That setup breaks one of Google’s rules. The fix: give your review link to every customer, whatever score they gave you.
Your Google reviews show on your Business Profile, Google’s name for the listing that shows your business on Search and Maps. Google’s content policy for Maps lists what it does not allow businesses to do. One item, in Google’s words: “Discourage or prohibit negative reviews, or selectively solicit positive reviews from customers.” Google says a Business Profile that breaks its guidelines becomes disabled or suspended and won’t show to other users on Google until the problem is fixed.
The same list bars pressing customers to review while they’re at your business, and asking for specific content. It also bars asking staff to bring in a set number of reviews, or reviews that name a staff member. Asking is fine: Google allows you to invite customers to post about a genuine experience, with no reward and no attempt to steer the rating or the review.
Federal guidance warns against it too, and Yelp goes further
The Federal Trade Commission, or FTC, is the federal agency that enforces the law against unfair or deceptive business practices. Its 2024 rule on reviews has no specific ban on asking only happy customers. But FTC staff say the practice could still break that law, the FTC Act.
Staff point to the agency’s Endorsement Guides, which explain how that law applies to endorsements and testimonials in advertising. One example there is close to the email above. A seller asks recent buyers for feedback. It invites those who give very positive feedback to post reviews on other websites, and simply thanks the rest. Such a practice “may be an unfair or deceptive practice if it results in the posted reviews being substantially more positive than if the marketer had not engaged in the practice,” the Guides say. Had the seller invited all recent buyers instead, the request would not have been unfair or deceptive, even if it said it hoped for positive reviews.
Yelp, the review website, is stricter than both: don’t ask anyone. One reason it gives is that many businesses only ask happy customers, which leads to biased ratings. Yelp says not to ask after a survey or contact form. Its software may not recommend reviews that seem prompted or encouraged by the business. Those reviews still sit behind a link at the bottom of your Yelp page, but they don’t count toward your star rating or review count. On Yelp, even asking every customer breaks the rule.
Put your link where every customer sees it
Google suggests putting your review link on receipts and in thank-you emails, adding it at the end of a chat, and showing its QR code, a square barcode customers scan with a phone, in your store. Each of those reaches a customer whatever they thought of you. To get the link:
- Go to your Business Profile and select Read Reviews, then Get more reviews.
- Select Copy to copy the link.
- For the QR code, right-click it and select Save image as.... Google says that currently works only in a computer browser, not on a phone.
Then go through your own receipt, thank-you email and any survey as a customer would. If the link shows up only after a high score, move it where everyone sees it.
The Standard: Give your Google review link to every customer, not only the happy ones. On Yelp, don’t ask anyone.
Source: Google Maps User Generated Content Policy Help, “Prohibited & restricted content“; Google Business Profile Help, “Tips to get more reviews,” “Create a Google link or QR code to request reviews” and “Find your business on Google“; FTC, “The Consumer Reviews and Testimonials Rule: Questions and Answers“; FTC Endorsement Guides, 16 CFR 255.0 and 255.2, and the Rule on the Use of Consumer Reviews and Testimonials, 16 CFR Part 465, via eCFR; Yelp Support Center, “Don’t Ask for Reviews“; Yelp Trust & Safety, “Recommendation software,” all read Oct. 12, 2026.
This coverage is supported by Farmington Storage, 155 Scott Swamp Road, the only storage facility in Connecticut with Museum air. Your review link belongs on every receipt; the boxes of old receipts you’re not ready to toss belong somewhere too. 860.777.4001 📦
Jack Beckett has covered Farmington long enough to know that the people who show up to speak at a public hearing are rarely a random sample. Neither, Google points out, are the customers you hand-pick. He is on his second coffee. ☕
The Farmington Mercury covers the town: Town Council and the land use boards, the police log, the schools, elections, and the businesses in Farmington and Unionville. Our motto is “Always last to breaking news,” and nobody has ever accused us of breaking it. Find us at farmingtonmercury.com and tell a neighbor. 📰