With more than 90% of consumers researching businesses, products, and services online before ever contacting or visiting a business in real life or making a purchase online – positive public business reviews are extremely important for every small business. Get more 5-star reviews on your Google Business Profile (formerly Google My Business, so I’ll be using both in this this article) by creating a direct review link and ask customers for a great review.
(You can skip reading this long tutorial and pay us to create the Google Review link for your business if you prefer. Only $50!)
How do you get reviews on Google Business Profile?
While it is not feasible for every business to directly contact each individual customer and client to ask for a review, those businesses who can – should! And more than asking for a review, businesses should send a direct link to the actual review form to make it super simple for customers to review the business on your Google Business Profile page, especially for businesses who serve local customers.
After completing a project at Search Centered, we send a simple thank you follow-up email to clients. After thanking new clients, we wrap up the email by asking for a review on our Google My Business listing.
With this request, we send a direct link URL to the form for them to leave a review – https://www.searchcentered.com/review
As you see (if you click), this URL automatically loads the Google Business Profile review form so clients can easily leave their review of Search Centered. This direct link means there is no searching, no frustration, and no abandonment of the review mid-process once the client starts to leave a review.
The only thing for the customer to do is click a star and write a few sentences telling the world how great your products, services, and company has treated them.
Google Business Profile review box with star rating and comment box. Note – to leave a review, users must login with a Google account
At Search Centered, we focus on Google Business Profile reviews for our business and for our clients’ businesses because… Well, Google rules the internet, right? Sure, reviews on other websites are nice, but Google is where it’s at! Not to mention, reviews on your Google Business Profile listing will help boost your results in Google search results – general search results, the Google “3-pack,” and on Google Maps.
More than 86% of all internet searches are done through Google and when a potential customer searches for your business with Google, the average rating of your reviews on Google Business Profile are displayed on the results page with a link for the searcher to read all of your Google Business Profile reviews.
Business name, address, phone number, reviews and more information are displayed in the Knowledge Graph when users search for your business name.
Do reviews on Google Business Profile really make a difference?
Online reviews absolutely make a difference for a business, and Google Business Profile reviews are especially valuable for small local businesses. 79% of consumers say they trust online reviews as much as personal recommendations from friends or family members.
Research shows that 5 reviews is the “magic number” of Google Business Profile reviews. Once your business hits 5 reviews on Google, your business will likely start seeing benefits in organic search results, in the “Local Pack” of search results, and on Google Maps.
Google Business Profile reviews boost a business’s organic and local search rankings. NOTE – WebWorks of KC is our other brand. We recently rebranded, but we’re also keeping the well-established brand.
The third way Google Business Profile reviews are valuable is because a user must have a Google account to leave a review.
When an online review it attached to an actual account with a logged-in user, it is more likely to be a legitimate review from a real person, not a fake review created by the business owner to make their business look good.
If your customer wants to remain anonymous, move on to the next customer for a Google review. Don’t spend too much time trying to convince a customer to create an account or to use their real name. Ask that customer to leave your business a review on your business’s Facebook page or email you a testimonial you can add on your website, instead.
How to create a direct URL to the Google Business Profile review box
- Claim your Google Business Profile – Since rebranding to Google Business Profile, Google has made it easier to claim your business if you have not done so already. Search for the name of your business in Google and you will be presented with the option to verify your profile or resolve issues with an already-claimed profile. This can also be done from your profile in the Google Maps app, or by entering the keyword “my business” in the search bar. You can also visit https://www.google.com/business/
- Click “Get More Reviews” on your profile – You can do this from the Google search, from your profile on Google Maps, or within your Google Business Profile Manager – https://business.google.com/
- This will give you a review link directly to the Google review box. This is our link – https://g.page/r/CcMVStToyDSpEAI/review
Now you have your Google Business Profile review link, ready to share with you customers.
But, it’s ugly! As mentioned above, we link to create a professional looking review link using this ugle Google review link. Our link actually looks like this – https://www.searchcentered.com/review – Click the link to see it in action (Leave a rating ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ and write a short review if you learned something today!)
Create a professional shortlink for your Google review link
A personalized and professional URL with your own domain name adds legitimacy to the link you send to your clients. It’s also easier to remember when you’re sending a text or email asking for a review.
As you saw above, our professional Google review link – https://www.searchcentered.com/review – redirects to the ugly Google review URL and opens the Google review.
Create a redirection in your website’s .htaccess file
You can create this redirection in the .htaccess file of your web host. The .htaccess file is in the root of your website. You can usually access it through your hosting control panel (or cPanel) or via FTP.
In your .htaccess file, add the redirection in the format below on a single line.
Redirect 301 /review https://g.page/r/CcMVStToyDSpEAI/review
- 301 – Tells servers this is a “permanent” redirection (don’t worry, you can always change it, that’s just geek-speak, it doesn’t actually mean permanent)
- /review – means this is the part of the URL after your domain name that will be redirected
- Then the URL where the redirection will take the visitor. Make sure to include a space before this URL
Many web hosts have redirection options in the dashboard or settings
Check your specific web host or website platform, many web hosts have a 301 redirection tool built in.
Create a simple 301 redirection in WordPress
WordPress is the most popular web development platform on the internet. WordPress powers 43% of all websites.
I like the Simple Page Redirect plugin for new or novice users.
- Install Simple Page Redirect
- Create a page in your WordPress dashboard and call it “Review”
- Enter your Google review URL in the “Simple Redirect to:” box
- Click “Publish”
- Make sure the WordPress slug is review for this page after it has published. If the slug is review-2, or something similar, this means you have another page that already has the slug review. Go to that page and put your Google review URL in that page instead
I like this method because it helps website owners visualize the page (even though it doesn’t exist) and you can easily change it later – you don’t have to try to remember where you performed the redirection. The Review page is simply a page on your website that has been redirected elsewhere.
If you need help, you can pay us to create this professional review URL for you.
Crafting an email or message to your customer asking for a review
Now that you’ve done all the hard work: get the customer, make the customer happy, created a tool to help you get the review, there’s only one thing left. Ask for the review. My advice when asking for a review – keep it short and sweet. You’ve already made the customer happy – you don’t want to turn that all around by annoying them now.
Our Search Centered Digital Marketing Thank You emails are very simple:
Hi John Doe,
It was a pleasure working on your project!
Would you mind taking a moment to leave Search Centered a short and honest review on our Google Business Profile listing?
Leave your review here – https://www.searchcentered.com/review
Thank you,
Travis Pflanz
searchcentered.com
Encourage customers to add relevant keywords to their review
Instead of asking for a generic review from your customers, give them some hints to encourage them to add some of your business service and/or product keywords into their Google review.
Try to spice it up with a bit more, like:
Hi John Doe,
It was a pleasure working on your project!
Would you mind taking a moment to leave Search Centered a short and honest review on our Google Business Profile listing?
The more detail you can provide, the better, but we would love a short straight-to-the-point review if that’s more of your style.
Do you need inspiration for writing your review?
The best reviews include lots of detail and tips for other people who may be considering our services. Here are a few topics to give you ideas when writing your review:
• Which services did we provide for you?
• At which location did you get service? (if you have multiple locations)
• What do you like about working with us?
• Have you used other products or services we offer?
• Did you work with a specific person who deserves kudos?
• How do our services compare to similar services you’ve used with other companies?
• Do you have any tips to offer others who use our services in the future?
Leave your review here – https://www.searchcentered.com/review
Thank you,
Travis Pflanz
searchcentered.com
Ask for a review via text message
Another tactic we use is to simply text the link to the client. Of course this takes a little more finesse, but if you regularly text with clients, this method is an even quicker way to get that review.
We keep the text message super-simple and keep it under 160 characters, in one message:
Thanks for working with Search Centered! Will you please take 1 minute to review us on Google? → https://searchcentered.com/review Simple reviews are good, detailed reviews are GREAT 😀
Do you need a Google account to leave a Google review?
As mentioned above, and shown in the step-by-step screenshots above, your client must have a Google account of one type or another to leave a review of your business on Google My Business. Google’s goal is to be as accurate as possible. Allowing anonymous reviews does not promote accuracy, and allows for misuse of the Google Business Profile review system. Your customer will always have to be logged in to Google to leave a review of a business on Google My Business.
If that’s a problem for you or your customer, maybe your customer has a Facebook account, ask your customer to review your business on Facebook instead.
If nothing else, ask you customer to email you a testimonial that you can display on your website.
At Search Centered Digital Marketing, most of our clients come to us needing a new website, needing search engine optimization (SEO) for their existing website or needing one of the other various digital marketing services we offer. With every new client, we ask if the client has a Google account, any type of Google account – Android, YouTube, Gmail, Calendar, Drive, Google Business Profile, Analytics, Search Console, Voice, AdWords, Blogger, AdSense, etc – Many times clients are unaware all these websites and services are Google. Any of these accounts will work when leaving a Google Business Profile review.
If a client does not have a Google account, we walk them through the process or create the account for them.
We always integrate Google Analytics and Google Search Console into a client’s website – Both Google websites. Both requiring a Google account. As well, we create a Google Business Profile listing for their business or website… Again requiring a Google account.
Sure, this method works well for a web design or digital marketing company, but what about other industries? Consider including a hint or note at the end of your thank you email, something to the effect of – “Did you know Android, YouTube and Gmail are all Google accounts?”
Gmail is the most used free email service on the internet, more than half of all cell phones in the United States are Android, and YouTube is the 3rd most visited website on the entire internet. There’s a very good chance your customer already has one of these accounts.
Now you know the keys to getting more Google reviews, go out and get those ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐!
Stop hoping customers will leave reviews. Start asking for reviews and top it off by making it even more simple for customers to review your business by giving a direct link to the review form.
Note: This article was originally published on July 29, 2014 and is regularly updated to keep the information fresh.
Thanks man, the google “write a review link” worked a treat,
Thank you Travis. This is going to be a great resource for clients.
Ok everyone – I’ve finally done all the research, and updated this article so that the method works perfectly!
nice work Travis! Thanks for putting in the time to fix the issue!
Still a good write-up, Travis. It got me most of the way there! Google continues to confuse. Looking forward to the update…
The’re a good conversation at Blumenthal’s as well:
http://blumenthals.com/blog/2015/11/27/google-local-and-the-continuing-lack-of-a-clear-google-messaging/
(I hope it’s ok to share that outside link, just trying to connect community resources for local, since Google doesn’t seem to care much about us)
Yes, this direct link is no longer working with the new Google+
Even the old pages that you can get working – they don’t leave the review, it gives an error message.
Looking forward to a new way! 🙂
It appears that the latest Google My Business and Google+ updates have practically killed this method.
Fortunately, I am working on another method, as we speak.
It appears to work a little differently, but very similar. This post will probably be updated after Thanksgiving.
…and I’ll be glued to the follow ups. Happy Holidays.
Bonjour Travis, Many thks for this trick, unfortunately it’s no more functionnal as new Google+ interface came out :-/ Grrrrrr
i’ved found another way of having the review page, from the search result page, check this link for example
https://www.google.com/?gws_rd=ssl#q=horizon+resort+koh+kood&lrd=0x31069bea90d5f2ff:0xe7b93d6cee83b9f8,2
or this one in your case Travis:
https://www.google.com/?gws_rd=ssl#q=web+works+kansas+city&lrd=0x87c0e840c28bc427:0xe4d31c24d6a3b991,2.
It’s composed with the query + the FID and a “,2” to open the review box.
you can have your Fid by copying in a text editor the url of the “See the picture/images” link on your GoogleBusiness “page” displayed on the search result page of google.
You will have this in the url: &pb=!1s0x87c0e840c28bc427:0xe4d31c24d6a3b991
remove “!1s0” and you have your FID: 0x87c0e840c28bc427:0xe4d31c24d6a3b991
Voilà 😉
People must already be connected to have the review page.
Hi Jean
Thanks. Your links work in mobile – android and on my mac.
If I change my link to look like your link it works on my Mac but not on Android? Here’s my link.
https://www.google.co.za/?gws_rd=ssl#q=cape+holidays+agency&lrd=0x1dcc157e2b5e501b:0x92dd0cbd03ba91d1,2
Found a cool tool http://www.uksbd.co.uk/how-to-get-more-google-reviews/
None of these links you suggest open a review box. For instance this one: https://plus.google.com/+WebWorksofKC?hl=en&review=1 Just goes to your G+ page but no review box. This is on a Windows desktop. Did this change? TIA
New g+ has killed the reviews on the business pages – you might want to read https://linknow.com/blog/2015/11/20/did-google-just-kill-customer-reviews-in-google/ – pretty much this article is no longer relevant –
This seems to have stopped working if one switches to the new Google+. Sigh, Google’s mixed messages regarding revews can be quite annoying…
And they wonder why G+ is like the bastard step child of social media. Thanks!
Hi! I’m sending emails to my clients and went to pull up my review link, and it’s no longer available. No “write a review” under the new google plus pages. I’m lost. I can access reviews via the google my business dashboard, but that’s a private access to management, right? Any advice if you’ve seen the newest updates?
Thanks!
Correct, our Google My Business page title is now different than in the screenshots in this article – I am doing some testing of different methods. Search Centered ranks very well locally in Kansas City and we get plenty of organic leads. “Search Centered | SEO & Digital Marketing” is actually a legal DBA for our Missouri based business.
One test – What happens to the link to the review form, if the business name is changed on Google My Business – The answer: Nothing, the link works the same after the business name is changed.
Hi Travis,
Great article – just what I was looking for!
I’m based in the UK and found that using the (un)modified URL review link worked best for me (worked in Chrome also). The modified URL didn’t work.
Now I can send the link directly to clients without explaining the whole process 😉
Thanks again,
Rob
This is a great article and something I will be implementing with my clients, thank you. However….did you realize you are in direct violation of Google’s Guidelines to business names as you have “| SEO & Digital Marketing” in your GMB listing http://screencast.com/t/nBd4d7dPplo – which reads differently to your post above.
I am not complaining in anyway Travis I just find it amusing and wish you all the very best….again, great article!
Andy, are you referring to the guidelines that suggest consistent names across all properties? Or something else? In the section about consistent names, https://support.google.com/business/answer/3038177?hl=en, it sounds like it’s more of a “guideline” in fact that’s the word used, but you could be talking about something totally different.
JL
Excellent.
I have two options:
1) The above to Google Business.
2) Or to a Google form where I take it and publish on my website if they don’t have a Google Account.
BTW: I tried the delete portion of the link edit but it did not work. I also tried yours. But again it did not work.
I then tried the unedited link on my mobile and it worked on Andriod. Not sure what the case is on iPhone
I checked it on the iphone. It worked but not the same. The user needs to scroll past Google Ads, the click on stars, the login then review. By this time she has dropped out.
Brilliant. Thank you!
does any one know how to comment with link but not showing the link just words to click on it for the link
Help! This worked fine for me yesterday, the link was instantly bringing up the review box, but now it doesn’t work anymore! I haven’t changed the address, any ideas?
thank you! Great post, btw! 😀
*Amy
Hi Amy, the second link option in the post (the long one) is a temporary link, it won´t work after a couple of hours or days, Google changes it continuously. At least this is our experience. We are using the &review=1 option, but as said in here, it doesn´t work on mobiles…
Thanks for writing a great article. I’m going to give this a try in the next email I send to my client database.
For anyone who the mobile version is not working, when did you create your Google My Business page (no matter what the service was called at the time you created it – Places, Plus for Business, My Business, etc)?
From all the research, it seems that newer Google My Business pages are the ones having the problems. As you can see with the examples in the article, ALL methods discussed work for Search Centered Google My Business page – I just double-checked to make sure.
Thanks for the update on this. Very useful in our latest round of email newsletters we have going out! Works great without any issues.
I followed your instructions for generating a direct link for mobile devices. It is showing the review now button for the
I-phone but it is not working for the Android. Any suggestions?
Thank you!
I have been experimenting with my clients links over the last several months and have found it best to drop “posts” from the 1st link given. I didn’t think there would be any effect because Google populates “posts” into the link after the fact anyway but I did and do experience much better consistency by dropping “posts.”
Regarding the mobile link, I was able to create a fully functional shortened link for my company website but was not able to reproduce it with a client’s listing. The link for my client opened up the Google search page with the listing, but did not open the testimonials. The test was performed on Android. The only difference I could see is custom Google+ links; ours is custom, there’s is not. I will continue working with it. Excellent Article!
There currently is no way to get the “review” page to popup automatically on Android, according to my testing. You can get it working on a PC, iPhone/iPAD, but not Android. The best you can get is a link that asks user to open in browser or maps, and if they choose maps, then they can click on your business, scroll down and leave a review.
Thank you! This is really helpful.
I am really struggling with this I’m interested in creating a QR code to place on my invoice. As usual mobile is not functioning correctly. My original business link was https://www.google.com/search?q=real+event+enterprises&sourceid=ie7&rls=com.microsoft:en-US:IE-Address&ie=&oe=&gws_rd=ssl#gws_rd=ssl&lrd=0x886b52ef78574335:0x715ca66edca784ac,2
I had modified it to https://www.google.com/webhp?ie=UTF-8#q=real+event+enterprises&lrd=ssl&lrd=0x886b52ef78574335:0x715ca66edca784ac,2
This functions perfectly on a regular browser. However when entered on mobile it will not open the window to review only the business search on Google. I would have lost faith in it due to endless Google updates but your link still works excellent. Your help is greatly appreciated!
Was pretty pumped to see this article. Tried it right away, got my link. It works on desktop but not on the mobile. When I try the link on my mobile there isn’t even a place to press to write a review.
Is anyone else having this problem?
https://www.google.ca/?gfe_rd=cr&ei=l7gFVqH0EKiC8Qexq7-gBA&gws_rd=ssl#q=simon%27s+jewellery+estevan&lrd=0x53202299bf643c99:0xd9564bccf7ac10b5,2
I am able to use it on the desktop and the I-phone only. It does not work on the android.
I am also having trouble using it on android in any mobile browser other than Chrome. In Chrome it works just fine.
Very helpful and easy to use information. Appreciate it!
I have tested on Chrome, Firefox, and Internet Explorer. Your link works on all. I just updated this article to reflect a new discovery – For the review box to popup, a user MUST be logged into Google. Let me know how this works out for you.
Arno, see my comments above to Jonathan – It appears the page is setup as a personal profile page, instead of a Google My Business page.
Jonathan, I had time to do a little more research, and it appears you have your business setup as a personal profile page, instead of the correct way – as a Google My Business page. Make sure you setup your business with the right type of page. Start here – https://www.google.com/business/
This URL will work for you – https://plus.google.com/111191868541865792000/posts?hl=en&review=1
If you provide a link to your Google My Business page, I can take a look
You have the Google My Business ID number in there twice. This URL worked for me – https://plus.google.com/u/0/112715179662741901777?hl=en&review=1
Hi Amanda, I have updated the article, as I just discovered that if you’re not logged into Google, the review box does not appear.
I am not familiar with Czech Republic Google My Business pages. There’s a good chance they function differently than US-based Google My Business pages.
I am trying to follow the steps for providing a direct link to Google My Business review on mobile devices and when I copy the link (after clicking write a review) this is what I get:
https://www.google.com/#q=xip+training+systems&lrd=0x4cb4372aa699f8cd:0x34faac7465dd16f3,2
I don’t see the section I am supposed to cut out – so is it possible this link works on all browsers? I am currently working in Firefox so perhaps that is an issue?
Any help would be awesome as we want to set this up as a clickable link in the newsletters that we send out.
Great article!!! Really appreciate the steps and information provided.
Hello, it doesnt work on my page either 🙁
https://plus.google.com/u/1/b/112715179662741901777/112715179662741901777/posts?hl=cs&review=1
Am i doing something wrong?
Thanks
i did the steps and emailed it to another address i have and when i clicked on the link it took me back to google search
I don’t know of any reason it wouldn’t work. The box does take a second or two to load – Maybe your people are patient the first time, but not patient after the first time?
I have opened the shortened link above to the Search Centered Google My Business page many, many times since it’s been posted here.
It’s a French Google My Business page – My guess is that it does not function the same way a US Google My Business page works.
Once you create this link, can you then text it to a bunch of people and have it work every time? Im trying it and it seems to only work once from each send. I sent it to multiple people (multiple different locations, and each only redirected correctly once.
Arno says:
September 21, 2015 at 3:41 pm
https://plus.google.com/+ParisBabylonTours/posts?hl=en&review=1
no pop up review request
Arno, I cannot get yours to work even though the URL works correctly. IDK what’s wrong with it; my browser is working, as it works on other sites. Your review page is working; I can get to it from maps. But I can’t get the pop-up window to load from the url.
I would suggest that you scroll down further in the post and continue the process. It appears you stopped at step 1. That said, I am not familiar with French Google My Business pages.
https://plus.google.com/+ParisBabylonTours/posts?hl=en&review=1
no pop up review request appears
What steps have you completed and what part of the process did not work?
It is a French business. Anyway to find out how to make it work?
What is not working for you? This method works great. I just double-checked to make sure. Are you in the United States? I am not familiar with non-US Google My Business pages.
Not working for me either has this been fixed by anyone???
I am not familiar with UK Google My Business pages. Can anyone give Chris a little insight?
Hi
This looks like a great idea but on my URL I do not have the ‘ie’ after an & so not sure what part to delete, can you help please.
https://www.google.co.uk/?gfe_rd=cr&ei=brz6VeTbBeeq8wfzvKH4Ag#q=queens+park+dental+team&lrd=0x48739f5a7f54301f:0x385f5bb191f1fbbb,2