Guide
How to get more Google reviews for your business
The short answer: ask for them, and make it effortless. Most satisfied customers never leave a review because nobody asked, not because they refuse. That is exactly what SpinTrust does — without ever buying, conditioning or filtering a review, three practices penalised by Google and by law alike.
Asking for a review is allowed and encouraged.
Buying a review, or trading one for a benefit, is prohibited and penalised.
The compliant way to get there
SpinTrust is an in-store prize game, not a review supplier. The customer spins a wheel on the premises and wins a prize by playing, then is invited to leave an honest review — without that being a condition. This distinction is what separates a lawful promotion from a penalised practice.
The prize is not conditional on the review
The prize is won the moment the wheel stops, before any review is mentioned. The content of the review and the rating given are never checked or required, and have no effect on the prize. That is what separates a promotion from consideration given in exchange.
Listening is not screening
The invitation to leave a review goes to every customer, whatever they have just said. Talking to a customer after handing over their prize is service; offering the review only to happy customers is review gating. The conversation informs the business, it does not select anyone.
Real customers, on the premises
Participants are your own customers, in your own shop, at the time of their visit. No third-party accounts, no outsourced writing, no review written by someone who never walked in.
The risk is not transferred to you
SpinTrust publishes no review on your behalf: there is nothing to detect, nothing to remove, no practice to attribute to you. A supplier who writes reviews for your account, by contrast, exposes you without carrying the risk.
Criticism reaches you instead of being filtered out
An unhappy customer tells you what went wrong, face to face, as the prize is handed over. A system that screens those customers out destroys the information instead of acting on it: the business never learns what is broken. And a customer who feels heard often leaves in better spirits than they arrived.
Billed per game, not per review
SpinTrust charges for game activations from €0.50, not for individual reviews. The distinction is not cosmetic: charging for a review turns it into a paid service, which is precisely what the legislation targets.
Your existing reviews stay untouched
Publishing nothing artificial means exposing nothing to removal. The bulk deletions triggered by a detection also sweep away genuine reviews accumulated over years.
How it works in store
The customer plays and leaves with a code
The spin happens on the premises, on a tablet or through a QR code. The prize is won immediately and the customer receives a collection code by email.
They come to the counter with their code
Staff check the code and hand over the prize, asking for nothing in return. At that point the prize is already owed: the customer earned it by playing.
The team takes a moment to talk
A few words about the visit, the way you would with a regular. This is where the business hears what worked and what did not — something no form ever surfaces. What the customer says changes nothing: not the prize, already handed over, nor the invitation that follows.
The review invitation goes to everyone
The link to the Google profile is presented the same way to every customer, happy or not. Reserving that invitation for satisfied customers would be review gating, which Google penalises.
The order matters: the prize is handed over before any question is asked, and the invitation goes to everyone. Reversing either of those two points would push the whole journey onto the penalised side.
A measured figure beats a promise. Here is what was observed at one equipped site, with its scope and its duration.
400 Google reviews in 3 months — as many as in the previous 7 years.
The site had accumulated roughly 400 reviews since opening, seven years earlier. The same volume was reached in a single quarter, with no review bought, written by a third party or made conditional on a prize: customers played on the premises and were invited to share their opinion, freely.
A result observed at one site over a given period. It depends on footfall, sector, and how the team introduces the game. It is not a guaranteed volume.
What Google allows
Simply asking for a review
Google explicitly allows businesses to ask their customers for reviews. It is the most effective and most neglected method: most satisfied customers never leave a review because nobody asked them to.
Removing friction
Every step removed between the intention and the published review mechanically increases volume. A short link to your profile, a QR code on the table or at the till, a tablet at the counter.
Choosing the right moment
Ask for the review right after a good experience, while the customer is still on the premises. A message sent three days later converts far less.
Replying to every review
Replying publicly to every review, negative ones included, is allowed and recommended. Replies shape how future customers read your profile and signal an active listing to Google.
Reporting a review that breaks the rules
A defamatory, off-topic or plainly fake review can be reported from the Business Profile. Google re-examines it and removes it if it breaches policy. Reporting never works on a review that is merely negative but genuine: that one is answered publicly, not removed.
Training the team
One simple sentence said consistently at the end of a visit outweighs any one-off campaign.
What Google prohibits
Buying reviews
Paying for reviews written by third parties breaches Google's policies. Such reviews are frequently detected and removed in bulk, and the Business Profile can be suspended.
Offering something in exchange for a review
Google prohibits offering anything of value in exchange for a review. A discount, a gift, a prize draw conditional on publishing: this is the rule most often broken in good faith.
Screening customers before sending them to Google
Sending only satisfied customers to Google is called review gating, and it is explicitly prohibited. Asking « are you happy with your visit? » before the invitation is enough to constitute the practice.
Having staff or relatives write reviews
Reviews must reflect a genuine customer experience of the premises.
Swapping reviews between businesses
Reciprocal exchange networks are detected by the same signals as review farms.
What the law says, beyond Google
This is the part most often overlooked. Many business owners think in terms of « will Google notice? ». Buying fake reviews is first and foremost an offence — across the United Kingdom and the European Union alike — regardless of whether anyone detects it.
United Kingdom: banned outright since April 2025
The Digital Markets, Competition and Consumers Act 2024 lists fake reviews, and paid reviews not disclosed as such, among banned commercial practices. The Competition and Markets Authority can act directly, without going through a court, and can impose fines of up to 10% of global annual turnover.
European Union: one harmonised prohibition
The prohibition on fake reviews is harmonised across the entire European Union: it is identical in every member state, only the penalties differ. Annex I of Directive 2005/29/EC, as amended by the Omnibus Directive applicable since May 2022, lists at points 23b and 23c the act of publishing fake consumer reviews or commissioning them from a third party.
A practice deemed unfair in all circumstances
Publishing fake consumer reviews, or instructing a third party to do so, is deemed unfair in all circumstances. No case-by-case assessment is required: the practice is unlawful by its nature, with no need to prove that any consumer was actually misled.
The business placing the order is the one exposed
Liability falls on the trader who commissions the work, not only on the supplier who carries it out. A merchant who buys reviews takes on their own liability, even if they did not know the rule.
Penalties that go well beyond the Google profile
In France, one member state among others, penalties reach five years' imprisonment and a €750,000 fine where the offence is committed through an online public communication service — which a Google review is. The fine may alternatively be set at 10% of average annual turnover. Other member states set their own levels for the same prohibition.
Two penalties that stack
The Google penalty and the regulatory or criminal penalty are independent of each other. A profile can be suspended without any prosecution, and a prosecution can follow without Google having detected anything.
SpinTrust operates in several countries. The rule does not change; the penalties do.
| Territory | Scope | Applicable regime |
|---|---|---|
| United Kingdom | Outside the EU since Brexit | The Digital Markets, Competition and Consumers Act 2024 has made fake reviews, and paid reviews not disclosed as such, banned practices since April 2025. The CMA can impose penalties directly. |
| European Union | France, Spain, Belgium, Germany, the Netherlands… | An identical prohibition everywhere, from the same harmonised annex. Each state sets its own penalties: in France, up to five years and €750,000 for an offence committed online. |
| Switzerland | Outside both the EU and the UK | Neither the European directive nor the UK regime applies. Unfair competition is governed by separate national law: check the regime in force before running any campaign. |
This information is provided for guidance only and does not constitute legal advice.
Frequently asked questions
Can you offer a discount or a gift in exchange for a Google review?
No. Google prohibits offering anything of value in exchange for a review. A business may invite its customers to leave a review, but the review must never be the condition for obtaining a benefit.
Is it allowed to ask customers for a review?
Yes. Google allows and encourages businesses to ask their customers for reviews, as long as the request is not selective and nothing is offered in return.
What is review gating and why is it prohibited?
Review gating means asking the customer how satisfied they are and then sending only the happy ones to Google. Google prohibits it because it distorts the rating by filtering out negative feedback before publication.
What does a business risk by buying reviews?
Two independent penalties. From Google: removal of the reviews concerned, a sharp drop in the rating, and depending on severity the suspension of the Business Profile. From the law: in the United Kingdom the Digital Markets, Competition and Consumers Act 2024 has banned fake reviews since April 2025, with fines of up to 10% of global annual turnover imposed directly by the CMA. Across the European Union the same prohibition applies under Annex I of Directive 2005/29/EC.
Is buying Google reviews illegal in the UK and the EU?
Yes. In the United Kingdom, the Digital Markets, Competition and Consumers Act 2024 lists fake reviews among banned practices, enforceable since April 2025. In the European Union, Annex I of Directive 2005/29/EC ranks the publication of fake consumer reviews among practices deemed unfair in all circumstances. Liability falls on the business that commissions the work, not only on the supplier, and not knowing the rule is no defence.
How much do review-buying services cost, and why be wary of them?
Prices in this market typically run between €4 and €10 per published review. That price pays for a review written by someone who has never visited the business, which is precisely the practice being penalised. The real cost is not the price advertised but the risk carried by the profile and by the company.
What should you do when a customer is unhappy?
Listen, and above all do not push them aside. Preventing an unhappy customer from leaving a review is prohibited, and it is also counterproductive: the business loses the information that would have let it fix the problem. A face-to-face conversation as the prize is handed over lets the criticism be heard, answered and often defused. The customer remains free to publish, and a negative review the business replies to publicly carries less weight than a rating with no explanation.
Do these rules apply outside the United Kingdom?
Yes. Across the European Union the prohibition sits in Annex I of Directive 2005/29/EC, points 23b and 23c, a harmonised list: it applies identically in every member state, with only national penalties differing. Switzerland is governed by separate national law.
How do you remove a fake Google review?
A business owner cannot delete a review directly. They can report it from their Business Profile: Google re-examines it and removes it if it breaches policy — defamatory content, off-topic material, a review plainly written by someone who never visited. A negative but genuine review, by contrast, will not be removed: it breaks no rule. The only useful response there is a public, measured, factual reply.
Do reviews affect local ranking on Google?
Yes. Google states that review count and score contribute to local ranking, alongside relevance and distance. No rule says how many reviews are needed: it is one factor among several, and Google specifies that no payment improves ranking. A steady flow of recent reviews carries more weight than a one-off spike, which is itself a detection signal.
Do these methods work for every kind of business?
They apply anywhere a customer physically visits: restaurants, gyms, hair salons, bakeries, beauty salons, garages. The lever shifts with the point of contact — the till for a bakery, handing back the keys for a garage, the front desk for a gym — but the rule stays the same: ask everyone, condition nothing.
How many reviews can a business expect?
It depends on footfall and on how the team introduces the game. One measured example: a franchised gym fitted in 2026 collected roughly 400 reviews in three months, as many as over the previous seven years. That is an observation at one site, not a guaranteed volume.
How does SpinTrust work within these rules?
SpinTrust is an in-store prize game: the customer spins a wheel and wins a prize by playing, not by publishing a review. Leaving a review remains optional, the content and rating are never checked or made a condition, and the prize is won independently. SpinTrust charges for game activations, not for reviews.
Sources
Every rule cited here can be checked at its source. Legislation changes: the version in force is the one that governs.
- Google — Fake engagement (Maps policies)
- Google — Incentivised or biased reviews
- UK — Digital Markets, Competition and Consumers Act 2024
- CMA — Guidance on fake reviews for businesses and brands
- Google — Improve your local ranking
- Google — Report an inappropriate review
- EUR-Lex — Directive 2005/29/EC (consolidated version)
- Legifrance — French Consumer Code, art. L121-4
- Legifrance — French Consumer Code, art. L132-2