How do you get more Google reviews for a restaurant?

Guests read your reviews before they read your menu. Google reads them too. Its help page on local ranking files review count under prominence. It says more reviews and positive ratings can help a business’s local ranking.

Freshness is the part most owners miss. A long list of old reviews does less than a steady stream of new ones. So the goal is not a one-week push before a busy season. It is a habit that adds a few reviews every week. That habit runs on asking. In the same survey, 78% of people had been asked to write a review in the past year. And 28% said they will always write one when asked.

Google lets you ask. Its Maps content policy allows merchants to “solicit or encourage the posting of content that does represent a genuine experience.” The same line adds two limits. You can’t offer a reward, and you can’t try to steer the rating or the words.

Look at the last row again. Asking at the table is fine. Standing over a guest until they post is not. Give them the code and let them do it later.

Review gating means filtering guests before they get to the review page. A common setup sends a short survey after the visit. Guests who pick a high score see the Google link. Guests who pick a low score see a private form instead. Some review tools offer it as a feature.

Google’s policy names the practice. Merchants may not “discourage or prohibit negative reviews, or selectively solicit positive reviews.” So a tool that filters guests breaks the rule, even if every review it collects is honest.

Google can also act on the whole profile. For fake engagement, such as paid reviews, it may block new reviews for a set period. It may unpublish your existing reviews for a time. It may show guests a warning that fake reviews were removed. Don’t bet a store’s profile on a tool that bends Google’s rules.

1. Open your Business Profile on a computer. Google says review QR codes can’t be made on a phone.
2. Select Read Reviews, then Get more reviews.
3. Select Copy to copy the review link.
4. Right-click the QR code and choose Save image as to download it.

Each location has its own profile, so each needs its own link and code. Name the files by store before anyone prints them. A table tent with the wrong store’s code sends reviews to the wrong place.

The link and the code cost nothing. Your real costs are printing and a few seconds of staff time per table. Scan every printed code once before it goes out.

Google’s help pages suggest receipts, thank-you emails and a QR code in the store. They also mention review requests by email, WhatsApp or a Facebook post. The rest of the list follows the same idea. Put the link where a guest already looks after paying.

Ask after the meal, not during it. A guest asked mid-meal has nothing to review yet. A guest asked at the door, with staff watching, may feel pushed. Google tells merchants not to pressure guests on the premises.

Give every shift one line, and use it with every guest. The same words for everyone are your clearest proof that nobody was picked. Keep it short enough to say while clearing plates.

Each of those breaks a line in Google’s policy. The staff contest is an easy one to walk into.

No. Google forbids any reward for a review, good or bad. Reviews posted for one “are not allowed and will be removed from Maps.” The Maps content policy also bans rewards for changing or removing a bad review.

It does not matter what the review says. A reward for an honest one-star review is still a reward. For Google reviews, the answer is always no.

Not on Google. Its policy treats a review based on a conflict of interest as rating manipulation. It names “current or former employment” and “familial relationships” among the conflicts.

This holds even when the review is honest. A server who loves the new menu still has a stake in the store. A brother-in-law with a five-star story does too. Google decides what stays on Maps, and it counts both as conflicts.

Yelp takes a harder line than Google. Its support page tells businesses “Don’t ask anyone to review your business.” It says its software may not recommend reviews that seem prompted. It also says “Your staff should never compete to collect reviews.”

So point your codes and links at Google only. Don’t put a Yelp link in the same email. Guests who like Yelp will still find you there. Your job on Yelp is an accurate listing and a reply to what comes in.

Check the Yelp listing for each store every season. Fix the hours, the menu link and the photos. Reply to new Yelp reviews the same way you reply on Google. A short, specific reply helps a guest there too.

Reply to every review, not only the bad ones. Keep it short and specific. Google’s own tips say not to use replies to push deals. Mention a detail from the visit instead.

For a bad review, apologize where it fits and fix what you can. Ask the guest to call or email so you can sort it out privately. Never post their private details. Never threaten them or press them to take the review down.

Then run the same play in every store. Use one script everywhere. Give each store its own code. Name one person who writes the replies. Count new Google reviews per location each week. Compare each store with its own last month, not with your busiest store. Reviews sit beside the other local marketing a franchisee runs, so plan them together.

Reviews and creator videos do different jobs. A review is a guest’s own words on your profile. A creator video shows new guests what a visit looks like. CreatoRain makes done-for-you creator videos for chains and franchises, at $300 a video with the creator’s pay included. Never ask a creator for a Google review in return for a meal. See what to do when a creator never posts.